Happy Smooothie Tuesday friends! This vibrant pink mango dragon fruit smoothie bowl arrives just in time after a relaxing long weekend.Well, technically it’s coming in really cold, like frozen, but you get the point.

The best way to tell if I had a great weekend is if I have absolutely no new pictures on my phone. It’s usually a sign that I’ve forgotten I had a phone and was too engrossed in who I was with to take the time to capture the moment. This year, I spent my labor day weekend playing in a pond up in Maine, hanging out with old friends, meeting some new ones, drinking by a campfire and cooking eating s’mores. I’m dirty and drained and happy.

Something we talked about, over beers around the campfire, was how different our middle and high school experiences were compared to kids now, even though it was only 8 years ago. When we were that age, we battled for time to use the dial-up internet and only had to worry about what about our AIM away messages said. The only social media we dealt with was Facebook (when you just communicated through wall-to-walls).

I can’t even imagine the stress that kids feel now, when they’re competing with Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and crazy sites like Yik Yak (it’s like anonymous twitter, but super mean). As someone who works in social media and leverages it with this blog, I know how overwhelming it can be at times. It’s this nebulous space between reality and projections of our lives. What I love is how it brings people together. What I hate is how it warps your perception of real life.

In high school you felt FOMO the day after, because you saw someone post pictures on Facebook of everyone at a party you weren’t invited to, and now it’s feeling FOMO because you’re bombarded 360º by everyone you’re not with, everything you don’t have and everywhere you’re not. I seriously worry because I’m not sure kids are being taught how to “unfilter” what they see and learn how to be present, to be uncomfortable or to be alone.

The reason I bring this up is because while I’m a huge fan of Instagram, it’s just a slice, a curated picture-perfect slice. I love creating and sharing beautiful snapshots of either food (on my blog’s page) or fun moments from day to day life (on my personal page.) While they are real things I did or ate, they are also crafted. My smoothie bowls don’t always just wake up like that. Time goes into setting up how I want the shot to look. Sometimes I use 2 different apps to create the image I want. It’s like wearing fake lashes. It’s still you, just with makeup on. It’s not because I’m afraid to show you what the often messy desk that I actually eat my food at looks like, it’s because I love the process of creating images.

A lot of blogs try to paint a picture of living this easy care free life or that health is super simple if you just have enough kale in the fridge. But it’s not always easy and I hope I’m always transparent with you about that. I guess thats why I care so much, because it’s not easy but it’s still really, really worth it.

But on a side not, pitaya (pink dragon fruit puree) really is this bright pink and this smoothie bowl happens to taste amazing because when frozen bananas and mangos get together you can’t really go wrong.

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Catch last week’s smoothie Tuesday: the Oatmeal Cookie Dough Smoothie. Creamy, sweet and as close to cookie dough as one healthy smoothie can get, you don’t want to miss it!

Your Turn:

• Have you ever felt overwhelmed by any social media?
• How do you like to unplug from any social media?

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