They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I love taking pictures. I love documenting all the random moments in my life. A lot of times I post pictures through the day because I have a terrible memory, and I can look back and see when certain events happened.
I try to keep it real on Facebook. I share the good and the bad...but not always. Social media has a way of making people think they need to live up to a certain standard, or that life should look a certain way. Every morning I check my memories on Facebook. They pop up old posts from previous years. In general I love looking a pictures, watching videos and reading funny things that happened. Sometimes though, a photo will pop up and I just cringe because I'll flashback to what was really going on.
I've gone through and deleted some because I needed to do it in order to move forward. Others I keep as a reminder that life isn't always as it seems on someone's Facebook/Instagram etc.
I'll give you some examples of my own.
This is the smile of a mom who was one hundred percent OVER life. Yes. Life. She had cried a thousand tears in the days/weeks leading up to this picture. Every ounce of her was trying to stay happy and positive, while trying to figure out how the heck they would pay plumbing bills and exterminator bills. She was starting to spiral, but had to smile for the the picture.
Here's a woman who traveled all day. Tried not to engage in stress that was being put on her. She wanted to do something fun, while her spouse wanted to go to sleep at the hotel at 4 in the afternoon while she entertained kids. Then when she was finally able to go somewhere felt like she couldn't have fun...but no worries! She'll smile for that picture.
Here's a girl out shopping with her mom and being silly at Hobby Lobby. What you don't see/hear is that her anxiety is off the charts, and just the sound of peoples voices was about to send her off the deep end. She was irritated and sassy, and just over it all.
This smile. SO SO fake. I can see the exhaustion on her face. This is the face of a mom that had traveled out of state to a wedding. Who was up all night long at the hotel because people were being loud, her baby kept waking up and wanting nursed. Her spouse was snoring loud enough to wake the dead. She had an infected wisdom tooth that no amount of ice and Advil would touch. Then she had to call a tow truck on the day of the wedding because of a flat tire. She had to transfer 2 car seats into another vehicle by herself while it was 90 degrees outside. She had to dress her 3 year old in a tux in a bathroom that had NO air conditioning. She sat through a wedding. She changed said 3 year old out of his tux at the reception in a bathroom...by herself. She nursed the baby alone. She finally sat down at the table only to find out that all the appetizers were gone and no one saved her anything even though she hadn't had a bite to eat since early that morning. But she smiled her way through the rest of the evening even though every part of her was trying not to burst into tears.
Lastly, a mom who just wanted nice family photos. Everyone was crabby. She was the only one excited. The wind was out of control. Her children were out of control. No amount of bribing was helping. There was frustration. And by the time they were driving home, that smiling mama from the picture was in tears and feeling like a failure at life.
There are times I post smiling pictures of the boys, or the 3 of us where we're smiling big smiles and they are very genuine. There are other times that I will ask for a picture and they won't cooperate, so I'll start yelling at them and threaten to take stuff away if they won't "smile for this dang picture already!!" So, there you have it. Now you can play the guessing game on Facebook. Is it real, or did she yell? Ha!
I've tried to play certain areas of my life off as happy, but I look back and can see the fake put on smile to make everything seem fine to the outside world. I think the most important thing to remember is that not everything you see posted is authentic. I don't think we constantly need to air all of our dirty laundry, but just remember that there is always more to every story.
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