I'm Not In Europe Right Now

But I think maybe everyone else is.

Welcome to Cheaper Than Therapy, a healing newsletter for 80s babies by Shani Silver. This newsletter does not publish free content, but if you’d like to read it you can subscribe here. Thank you for enjoying the work of independent writers.

I love this photo. It’s the first one I ever took while traveling alone in Paris. I was in a taxi from the airport to my hotel. That’s how you really see the city.

This is social media’s fault. Most things are. What else can grow jealousy in a jar as fast, or as effectively? What good mood can it not destroy with entirely unnecessary comparison? Social media really said, “ignorance is bliss—here, know everything.” A firehose of other people’s lives and never a hint of caution, instructions, or warnings. You can’t buy a bottle of Windex without multiple government-mandated safety labels but social media? This seems safe.

Without social media, I’d continue on through seemingly endless summer heat that feels like you’re always reaching in to get something out of the oven without ever experiencing…the pangs. You know the pangs. The jealousy pang: Why are they in Italy and I’m not? The shame pang: Oh, right…because they’re more successful and rich than I am. The guilt pang: I’m so lucky, why am I comparing myself to anyone? On and on, until you throw your phone across the room and use tears as eye cream before bed.