“It’s not all joy and achievement... I have bad days... get overwhelmed... feel hopeless... go into a room and have a cry...,” said Gul Panag in an Instagram post. The actor spoke about how humbled she felt for being an inspiration to many.

What set the post in motion was her previous post, about chasing goals. She explains, “I’d spoken about my private pilot’s license and people said that, ‘you can do everything’, ‘you are such an inspiration’, so on. A lot of times when you are down, you want people to know that it is possible to be goal-oriented yet have moments of self-doubt. It is not all highs as there are lows in life too. We have started propagating a culture where people curate their Instagram carefully as most influencers don’t post a picture which isn’t clicked by a professional. We are creating a bubble, projecting an image which is not normal. What expectations are we setting for people? How are you influencing people to be a better version of themselves?”

The 44-year-old says most days are good as she doesn’t have as many lows as others, she feels a responsibility to tell people that it is okay to be a particular way. She elaborates, “People talk about how fit I am but I’ve shared pics when I’ve gained weight. I can’t just put out the most perfect version of myself. What kind of role model would I be if I put out only the good parts of my life? It is sad that people who are supremely fit, don’t admit what a battle it is to be that way. It is not effortless!”

For Panag, it’s important to keep her social media handles authentic and not bother with what others are posting. “Even if it means low followers, I won’t put up what others do. If I can’t be authentic, I don’t want to be on social media.”