We live in a world where instant gratification and reassurance is highly valuable to us. With cell phones and social media, we're vulnerable to an overwhelming amount of information. We constantly turn to our phones and check Instagram, Facebook or Twitter for a little external validation. We're all guilty of it, even myself, so I decided to quit Instagram for a month.

During that time, I realized that I was victim to the comparison game. Instagram is where people portray their best selves, and these people are usually our favourite celebrities or models. We see a photo of a model and see how happy she looks or how thin and beautiful she is, and assume (wrongly) that her life must be absolutely perfect. 

These women have perfect boyfriends, an endless wardrobe, and seem to be travelling constantly. This can lead to anybody thinking that their life is dull by comparison.

Based on my own experience and talking with other girls, I've realized that we all get caught up in playing the comparison game to some extent. 

And so, shortly after I posted a Halloween picture of my (admittedly incredible) Harley Quinn costume, I disconnected. At the beginning of November, I disabled my Instagram, vowing not to go back on for a month. 

During that month, I realized that comparison had been draining my self-esteem little by little by reinforcing the idea in my head that I wasn't 'enough'.

Now, I almost want to ban the word 'enough' from my vocabulary. Comparison tricks us into thinking that if we only had X, Y or Z, we would be happy and our lives would be perfect. That's a dangerous cycle of thinking, because as long as we keep comparing ourselves to others, we will never be enough.

As hard as it is, the only way to kill comparison is to just stop. That's what led me to disable my Instagram, and I'm so happy I did. With deleting my Instagram, I had fewer things to compare myself to. I felt more comfortable with who I was because I wasn't viewing everyone else through a filtered lens.

On Instagram, people post the best photos from their happiest moments. I'm sure we've all seen groups of girls take hundreds of photos until they get the perfect one to post. That isn't real life! Comparing yourself to what someone portrays online isn't healthy, because you don't know what really goes on behind closed doors.

Quitting Instagram did make me feel a bit out of the loop, but it was also refreshing. Nobody knew what I was up to and after the first few days, I didn't even notice it was gone. My habit was broken, and now, with my return to Instagram, I'm way less addicted.

I think that we need to celebrate ourselves more.  Stop trying to capture and witness only the best moments and start trying to enjoy all aspects of life, even the mundane ones.

Life is a truly beautiful thing and we often forget how great we have it when we're constantly wrapped up in what we don't have. Instead, smile, and focus on all your blessings. That's the real key to happiness.