This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SJU chapter.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on one of my favorite YouTubers, Olivia Jade. In the article, I talked about how I thought it was so cool that Olivia had her own successful YouTube channel, a makeup palette, and was going to college at the same time. I loved watching Olivia because I felt like I could relate to her because we are both freshman in college.

Ironically, a few weeks after that article was posted, Olivia Jade was included in what seemed like every headline as news broke that she had been admitted to the University of Southern California under false pretenses. Her parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli paid $500,000 in order for Olivia and her sister to gain admission to USC as recruits to the school’s crew team even though neither of them took part in the sport.

Photo credit: https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/lori-loughlins-daughter-was-on-usc-board-members-yacht-amid-scam/

This story has had the news buzzing. It seemed like the whole world was talking about this scandal, and outrage was the most popular reaction to it. Of course what was done was wrong and unfair, but instead of focusing on the scandal itself, I’d like to talk about something else I learned from this situation.

If you’ve ever seen an Olivia Jade video, it seemed like she had the perfect life. Her videos were filled with luxury products, travel, celebrities…you name it. She had the picture-perfect lifestyle, and I, along with many other young girls and boys loved to watch it.

Photo credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQTTSyW_IOc

What I learned from this scandal is that everything is not what it seems, especially on the internet. The internet leaves us with this notion of comparison, and it makes me sad to think that there was probably so many young girls and boys wishing that their lives were more like Olivia Jade’s when Olivia Jade wasn’t even living Olivia Jade’s life.

I think that what we can take from this is that nobody’s life is picture-perfect. Don’t let the internet fool you into thinking that you should be living someone else’s life. Continue to work hard to get where you want to go, and you’ll get there someday. But working hard isn’t always pretty and perfect. Nobody’s life is flawless.

Your life is wonderful exactly how it is, so don’t waste your time wishing your life was like somebody else’s, because everything is not always what it seems to be. Maybe we need to spend a little less time watching other people live their lives and start living our own!

HCXO,

Faith

Olivia Jade: Everything is Not What it Seems

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