When Life Isn't Blogworthy or Glamorous {Because Sometimes It's Just Ugh.}

One of the weirdest parts of writing a blog and of living a life that is shared through social media is the emphasis on the beautiful, the inspiring, and the fabulous. I've talked about it before, but I think it's important to revisit on a regular basis. 

Sure, there's the occasional "FML" post or story, the "lets get serious" post, the sharing of a trauma or struggle--and some have even mastered the art of humorous, self-deprecating posts--but these are much more few and far-between than the photos of individuals lounging on the beach, sipping from a coconut (I've posted quite a few of these!), posing in amazing outfits, and sharing successes and features and smiling in their perfect family pics. 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about sharing great successes and beautiful things and inspiration (hello, this is what my blog is about!), but as I've discussed here before, life isn't all roses. There is a non-glamorous side of life that we don't talk about much online, and I really think we should.

I know you don't want to read about the frustrating experiences of my day-to-day existence, because what's fun about that? And I know that talking about the non-blogworthy parts of life can be a slippery slope into monotony and negativity and basically keeping an online therapy journal, but I do think it's important to keep in mind that we all have inspiring stories and sad stories, amazing accomplishments and total embarrassments, and what appears online isn't exactly the truth. 

On the day that I post a gorgeous beach pic to Instagram, I might be there because I'm really anxious and needed to get away from the computer for a second. Or I may be stressing while on the beach. On the day that I post a pic of a healthy meal, I may be eating it out of guilt because I ate pizza and ice cream the night before. When I post a pic of a painting, you can't see the hours of frustration and toil behind it, the total mess of a studio that is hidden in the background, the worries that I'm an impostor and the feelings that my work sucks.

There's more to life than what makes it into the pic and post, is what I'm saying. 

So, in this vein, I wanted to take today to remind you that our journey isn't always blogworthy or Instagram-worthy, and here are some recent happenings from my life that will show you what I mean by this: 

• Face-plant: In one of my classes last week, I was demonstrating this transition that I taught on the blog recently, and I fell flat on my face in front of an entire room of people. I mean, literally, I landed on my face--my nose was the first thing to hit the floor. People were looking at me like, "Eek! You just fell! You expect me to try that now?" and it was really embarrassing. Then, a few classes later, I fell out again. This is a pose that I do ALL the time, and yet I fell out of it twice in one week in front of a bunch of people. I felt really stupid and berated myself for it for quite a while before letting it go...
  
  
• Infestation: As I mentioned Friday, we had to have "Critter Control" come to our house last week due to some scratching and squeaking noises we were hearing in our ceiling. Come to find out, we have both mice AND flying squirrels living in the basement and attic of our "fabulous" Cape Cod home. Sure, the pics are pretty and it looks great from the outside, but there's a whole lot going on under the surface and it's FREAKING ME OUT. Ugh. 
  
  
• Klutzing it up: On Saturday, I had an in-person consulting session with two aspiring bloggers here on the Cape. As I was gesticulating while explaining something, I knocked over my FULL, large glass of Iced Tea, and it went everywhere; In my lap, all over all of our papers, all over the table and floor, and it just missed one of the ladies' laptops. Here I am trying to be professional, and I make a total scene. 
  
  
• Cholesterol woes: Before I left for Costa Rica, I got my yearly physical. Two days before leaving, I got a call from my doctor's office about my blood work. The assistant said, "Everything looks fine, but the doctor wanted me to call and tell you that you have high cholesterol, so you should watch what you eat and exercise more." UMMMMM...whaaaat!?!? I was flipping out. I eat very few of the foods that are known to cause high cholesterol! I'm a yoga teacher! I exercise all the time! What am I supposed to do? Needless to say, when I finally went in to meet with the doctor I found out that this warning was an error, as I have a high number when it comes to the good cholesterol, and a low number what it comes to the bad cholesterol, and my ratio is great. False alarm, but still, total panic and obsession for a couple of days--panic that I didn't blog about because it was too weird to be a yoga teacher with high cholesterol at 29. 
  
  
• Problem child: You know how I'm totally obsessed with my sweet dog-child Sayde? Well, she's AMAZING and is the love of my life (sorry, Ben), but she also has some major issues that I don't like to talk about/dwell on. After 6 months and one round of training she still can't go near other dogs, most strangers (especially men), or children. She tried to bite the Critter Control man on Friday, and totally freaked him out. Not cool, Sayde. Not cool. 

So see? There you go. I don't blog about these things because it wouldn't be fun to read about my freak-outs or my unhealthy obsessions or my embarrassing moments, but I want you to know that I have them (even though they don't make it online very often)--that we all have them, and that that's life, and it's not always inspirational or beautiful or even interesting. 

And you know what? I'm starting to think that embracing and accepting the unpleasant parts of life is JUST as important as celebrating the pleasant parts. Because if we don't let go of the downs, we can't ever really enjoy the ups, ya know!?

What do you think? I promise I'll get back to something uplifting and inspiring tomorrow, but I just wanted to get this off of my chest...

Thanks for being human with me, peeps. Hope I haven't scared you away ;)