Baby, We're the New Romantics...

 I feel like a lot of my blog posts start with "I was on tumblr.." and this one is no different, I'm afraid. Anyway, I was on tumblr, and during my ten minutes of scrolling down, I saw the word "romanticising" three times. Two posts were telling people to stop romanticising their lives, and one was telling them that it was in fact a good idea to romanticise certain aspects of their life, if it helped them cope. I've seen the word thrown around a lot and so I thought I'd look into it, and figure out if I was guilty of romanticising my life and whether that was something I needed to change. 

The word 'romantic' initially was applied to stories of adventure and heroics and idealisation, before it became more commonly used to describe stories of love and, well, romance. It is this definition which applies to the word 'romanticising', I believe, where people idealise certain aspects of their lives in order to appear more interesting/mysterious/cool etc. They'll put filters on their Instagram pictures, and rose-tinted glasses on their eyes in order to make everything seem more peachy, either as an ego-boost or as a coping mechanism for any sense of discontent with their lives. 

After much consideration, I've realised this is something I definitely do, and is something I think everyone does without even realising. Looking at pictures of perfect people, listening to songs about perfect summers and scrolling through Instagram feeds where everything is white and clean and perfectly set up to look like it hasn't at all been set up. Our generation is very visual, and we're being presented the idea of a perfect life from all angles without even realising. Prime examples of this is the phenomenon of YouTubers and bloggers, especially beauty bloggers. They show 10% of their day to day lives, with the right lighting and the right make-up and all the nice clothes they have just bought, and the viewers piece that together to present this idea that their entire life is that photogenic, and then wonder why their lives aren't like that. I began with this attitude, thinking I had to wait until I was rich before showing what clothes I wear, or waiting until I've lost a bit of weight before posting outfit photos, before realising there's no point. A blog with a personality is slightly more interesting, no? 

Outside of the internet, people tend to romanticise relationships too. Reading novels and watching movies of people with perfect relationships filled with grand gestures and kisses in the rain can lead you to believe that your own relationship is failing, purely because you're not both violently in love all of the time. Truth be told, roses and chocolates are boring, and kissing in the rain is actually just kind of wet and cold. The perfect relationship doesn't exist, and you're not going to be violently in love forever, because that actually sounds a little tiring. Someone isn't going to come along and make everything better for you, and they're probably not going to write you a song, or dedicate a painting to you. Life isn't like it is in the movies, and that's okay! 

On the flip side, I think there are some ways in which this can be a positive thing. If having things looking pretty makes you a little calmer, then paint everything in your room pink! If you feel a little more satisfied scrolling down your instagram full of photos that all match, then go for it! At the end of the day, it's not going to kill you. Just make sure you're not too hung up on trying to be perfect, and instead try to live a little more. 

P.S. I have now been informed that it's now cooler to use no filter at all. I'm getting old.