Can I really post that I failed?

Flipping through Facebook this morning and this quote pops up. I couldn’t seem to scroll beyond it. It seems it struck a chord this morning. Read it for a minute and really think about it. I can’t be the only one who gets on social media and sometimes begins to feel less than. Don’t get me wrong, social media is great, it allows me to get my blog out there and hopefully help some other people, but it can also make you feel pretty crappy if we’re being totally honest.

Have you ever thought about how much time you spend on social media? Do you get that little pop up on Sundays now that tells you your phone usage and how it’s up or down? I hate that little message! It makes me feel like I’ve lost those hours of my life, or lost time I could have been doing so many other things in my week. Yet, we’re all so tied to our phones and social media.

I recently started changing the way I start my mornings. Used to, I would get up, have my coffee and immediately go to Instagram and Facebook. I started feeling like that was not a productive way to start my day so I stopped and instead, I start with scripture reading, a devotional, some inspirational readings I follow, and then I let myself get on Instagram and Facebook. It’s ridiculous how hard that was at first and how much I had to fight against that, but I have found that my day starts so much better than feeling inadequate from something I have seen on social media.

I can’t be the only person out there that sees things out there that makes me feel awful about myself. The amazing bodies at the gym that points out that my work outs have been slacking and that spirals into feeling like a slob. Or, maybe you see Martha Stewart incarnate out there decorating, cooking, gardening and you feel like less of a woman or less of a wife or mother.

How about feeling like your friends have left you out of something. Oh….that just struck a chord. Talk about the feelings and emotions that stirs up, and boy does that one spiral out of control, and makes us create all kinds of stuff in our head that quite possibly couldn’t be any farther from the truth. Anybody else? Just me? I doubt it!

Think about something though. How often do you see anybody post that their dinner was a disaster, or their Pinterest inspired creation looks like their baby did it, or that they  barely got to work with their hair halfway done, two different shoes on, and their lunch still sitting on the table? How often do you see anybody post, man, fought with my kid this morning, no, I’m not super mom. Or my husband is so mad at me for running up that card, or buying something we don’t need. NEVER! Never do you see those things! How about I failed that class, my degree is going to take longer but I’m still plugging away at it. No, we will see the graduation picture at the end.

My point is that we never see people be truly honest on Facebook and I’m not preaching to you, I do the exact same thing! I posted so many pics of my 30 pounds I lost. I post of my trips that I’m blessed to go on. I post about my amazing husband, 90% of the time he is amazing. I post meals I cook. I have never posted that I didn’t go to the gym for a week, or my husband left for work mad at me, or I burned the burgers last week, which I did!

We need to stop letting these avenues get us down and making us feel like less of a person because we’re barely hanging on every day and seriously doing the best we can. I’m not saying judge anybody for what they post. I love to see people’s lives being blessed. Seeing them getting healthy, being blessed enough to travel, seeing their kids get awards and being successful, but we must realize, they are not perfect and they have bad days, bad weeks, bad months and years just like we do. Don’t set yourself up for failure before you even try because you’re not feeling like you measure up! And, on a side note, so many people are posting things trying to be inspirational and provide help in this crazy world we live in. Try to see things from that vantage point, not that they’re trying to prove that their life is great, and make you feel bad.

Keep plugging away, striving every day to be the best you can! Keep working out for that healthy body! Keep cooking that meal and trying new recipes until you perfect it! Just keep trying and giving yourself a little more credit for the effort! Don’t compare your life to others and spend your days upset that you don’t measure up! You do measure up, maybe differently, but that’s okay! We all have our stories for a reason! It’s our story! It’s our life and our path, no matter how crooked or ugly it might be sometimes! It’s ours, and it’s okay that we don’t measure up to unrealistic standards!

With love for you all,

Shauna