An exotic vacation in the Maldives, beach bodies and lavish weddings with picture-perfect candids. Social media is inundated with aspirational posts that can lure you into believing that anything less is not enough. However, one shouldn’t believe everything you see as there is always more to people and their lives than what meets the eye.

Some believe that we are a sad generation with happy pictures — this saying best sums up our relationship with social media. Mrunal Thakur’s recent teary-eyed Instagram post was an attempt to break the deceptive nature of social media, where all things appear beautiful at all times.

In an in-depth chat with Bombay Times, Mrunal opened about that post and told us her side of the story. She explained, “We all go through a lot of problems in life. That picture was taken a few days back when I had an emotional turmoil and was going through a tough phase professionally and personally. I didn’t take that photo, thinking I would post it later. I gathered the courage to take that picture and save it on my phone to remind myself that I didn’t want to feel this miserable in the future. That was a memory to tell myself that if I could overcome my problems before, I could do it again. That was the intention behind taking that picture.”

Elaborating on why she chose to post it, she shared, “There are times when I end up posting a happy picture, but I don’t feel the same. The day I posted that picture, I woke up feeling powerful, happy and courageous enough to know that no problem can put you down in life. There are days when we end up losing our self-esteem, confidence and we question our worth. Self-doubt takes over. In a world where there’s an overdose of information and opinions, there are so many voices around you that you stop listening to your inner voice. It takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable in front of the world.”

She explained, “People might say, ‘Oh, your Sri Lanka trip was glamorous, and you looked great’, but are we actually happy? I feel there are less conversations today and people are afraid to share their real emotions. I am glad this happened organically. I want people to know that it’s okay to feel vulnerable and it’s important to listen to your inner voice amidst all the chaos, clutter, and aspirational posts. There is no harm in voicing your thoughts. Your gut instinct never lies to you. Many of us have stopped listening to ourselves.”

The actress hopes people don’t fall for the facade of social media and the feeling that ‘life is all hunky dory’. She added, “We are so caught up on our phones and screens, which give an illusion of a world that doesn’t exist. Everything is not glamorous and aspirational. People who are posting dreamy pictures may also be going through a tough time. Don’t believe what you see as you may feel that everyone is happy, and I am sad. That’s not the case. I want to normalize this. Feeling low is normal. It’s a phase and doesn’t necessarily mean that you are depressed. You can be happy, and you can be low. There are good days and there are bad days. Both are inevitable. Don’t let these social media posts trick you into believing that everyone else has a better life than you.”

Also, Mrunal believes that one must not quit when there’s a storm in your life, believes the actor. She said, “You go through highs and lows, and it’s normal. You must overcome the challenges. For instance, you can’t switch careers if you are going through a tough phase. It took me 10 years to get a film like Sita Ramam. If I had quit, I don’t know what I would be doing today.”

Following her post, netizens speculated if the actress was referring to mental health or depression. Mrunal clarifies, “There are people who need help as far as mental health is concerned. It’s a sensitive topic and can be misinterpreted. That is a separate conversation altogether. Depression is a big word that needs a deeper understanding and shouldn’t be used casually. My intention was to normalize feeling low. We tend to bury these feelings deep inside and don’t want to hear or talk about them. That needs to change. Accepting that you aren’t feeling great can only help you resolve it. I want to tell the world that I am not afraid to show or say what I feel, and you shouldn’t either.”