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:
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 ;)
Mary Catherine
6/16/2014 10:13:34 pm
Miss you, too! xoxo Oh my thank you for posting. Especially about the infestation as I posted something similiar about rats (!!??!!) in our basement and was feeling so ugh about it. I was going to take the post down even tho it's a "how do you take a bad situation and make it good" slant. But the fact is, rodents give me the heeby jeebies and that's just life. I'm leaving it up. You are a sweetie for keeping it real.
Mary Catherine
6/16/2014 10:15:49 pm
I am SOOOOOOO sorry about your rats, Wendy! Eeekkkkkkk! I totally feel you and think it's totally okay to be freaked out (and yes, great slant!). This is life, ya know!?
Sarah
6/16/2014 09:24:13 am
You are a rockstar. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Things can't always be peaches and cream....but sometimes we look at others and compare ourselves and wish we were more...or life was more. Life is beautiful imperfections and all. And sometimes the non glamorous stuff has to be mentioned too! I couldn't agree more with your beautifully stated post! You didn't scare me away....not even a little bit! Only makes me love your blog more!
Mary Catherine
6/16/2014 10:17:22 pm
Thanks, sweetie! I so appreciate your positivity :) xo 6/16/2014 10:28:26 am
Thank you for this. Your social networking life should be the balance between the bad and good. People should accept that, and should not judge others for being so "whiny". We all faceplant by the way. Even if we're usually not a klutz stuff happens. I laugh about it to lessen the shame. Yeah, laughing and crying. A lot of work lol
Mary Catherine
6/16/2014 10:16:47 pm
Yep, that's totally what I did--a lot of laughing and just shrugging it off ;)
Dawn
6/16/2014 08:54:13 pm
Thanks for sharing & the 1st pic says it all "Balance" - can't have the good without the bad and vice versa - we do need to embrace our humanness - otherwise we entertain a false idea of how life should be that is unattainable & continuously disappointing. Thanks for being real!
Marjorie
6/16/2014 11:13:18 pm
This was so helpful for me today. Thank you, Mary Catherine! 6/20/2014 02:42:22 am
Mary I love this post! Thank you for sharing. Too often we get caught up in believing that everyone else has glamorous lives based on what we see across social media. This is a conversation I often have with my young adult clients.
Sherry
6/24/2014 06:30:56 am
Mary Catherine, Comments are closed.
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HELLO!I'm Mary Catherine, a Cape Cod-based yoga teacher, painter, designer, writer, mom, and list-maker extraordinaire. My goal is to inspire you to start living a more creative, simple, joyful, + purposeful life.
{Learn more + read my story}
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