De-Influencing Your Opinion of 2025: Looking Beyond the Social Media Highlight Reel

The Highlight Reel Isn’t the Full Story

In today’s society, broadcasting the highlights of our lives has become the norm. Social media is filled with perfect-looking days, routines, and, in late December, year-end recaps. For those who had a challenging year, seeing reel after reel of happy, memory-filled recaps of 2025 can make it feel as though their year was a failure.

It’s essential to remember that these reels are 60-second edits. They don’t show the bad days, mental health struggles, financial stress, or quiet moments of simply getting through the day. They don’t show the anxiety felt before going to social gatherings, the depression after a pet passed away, or the exhaustion that comes from staying afloat behind the scenes. Much of what impacts our mental health happens privately, away from cameras and captions.

When we view this content without recognizing that it represents only the highest moments of someone’s life, with the lowest moments never shown, it can lead us into a spiral of questioning everything we did, or didn’t, do over the year. Over time, such comparisons can distort how we remember our own experiences.

Why Comparison Hits Mental Health So Hard

For better or worse, our brains are wired to compare; it’s how we make sense of the world around us. When our comparisons become chronically one-sided, this can lead to feelings of anxiety, shame, and inadequacy. When we are struggling and see someone else succeeding, we may question our productivity or whether we “want” to achieve our goals enough.

Before you rush into labeling your 2025 as “good” or “bad,” I invite you to consider looking at it in a different way than you may be used to.

The Invisible Effort That Still Matters

Not all progress is visible. Some years are about learning limits, setting boundaries, or simply staying afloat during difficult circumstances. You may not have reached milestones, but you might have gained insight, resilience, or clarity about what you need moving forward.

Emotional labor, grief, healing, and unlearning old patterns all require effort, even when there’s nothing tangible to show for it. Those experiences still count, even if they don’t translate into highlights or achievements.

Gentle Reflection Prompts

Here are some prompts to gently reflect on your 2025 experience:

1. What hardships did I carry this year that others did not see?
2. What didn’t improve this year, and how did I show up anyway?
3. What am I allowed to release before next year without explanation?

Tips & Tricks to De-Influence Your Perspective

1. Limit End-of-Year Comparison Content: If year-end recaps increase feelings of distress, consider muting or taking a break from them.
2. Redefine Success: Success doesn’t have to mean growth or achievement. Stability, rest, and survival are valid outcomes.
3. Practice Self-Validation: Remind yourself that just because something was hard doesn’t mean you failed.
4. Name What You Got Through: Sometimes acknowledging what you endured is more meaningful than listing accomplishments.

Your Year Still Counts

Don’t let others saying that 2025 was their “best year ever” make you feel like yours was a waste or like you didn’t do “enough.” Life is hard, and making it to the end of the year, especially when it wasn’t easy, is something to be proud of. Survival counts. Showing up counts. You don’t need to justify your year to make it matter.