And then it happened, someone commented on this photo of Kendall I posted to Instagram a couple weeks ago.
The comment said, "You are such a good, and fun mom!". And it made me think about what that person did not see in that picture.
What you didn't see was the fight to get out the door that morning {and most mornings, if we're being honest}. Pregnant Shannon really really wanted doughnuts and thought that a toddler would think that was just the bees knees. Kendall had other plans that morning, none of which involved driving 15 minutes for some doughnut holes. There was a lot of, "come oooooonnnnn, it'll be SO.MUCH.FUN. You can even wear your nightgown AND crown AND moccasins!!!" going on behind the scenes. Sure, once we got there she was over the moon about it. She loved sitting in the front seat and, of course, then she thought I was that good, fun mom.
It made me think about what's going on in the background or before/after a picture is taken that we, the viewer, can't see or hear.
Like this adorable mother/daughter selfie.
Then there's the food pics, you know the ones.
That my friends is the rare "healthy" version of froyo I got one day. Someone even commented that my version looked so much "healthier" than theirs. Normally it's covered in Oreos, whipped topping, perhaps a cheesecake bite or two and a drizzle of chocolate syrup for good measure {I blame it on the fact that I normally share with a certain two-year-old too}. This was a "good day" as far as the pregnancy sweet tooth is concerned and typically you'd be appalled at what I shove in my pie hole.
And then there's my immaculate house {ha!}.
I wish. My bedroom wasn't even "clean" for this photo op. What you don't see in this picture is the pile of clothes that were behind me, the stack of pillows {remember I sleep with no less than 4 these days} in the corner, and the laundry in baskets that had been waiting to be put away for days. The same goes for the rest of my house. As I type this there is a tea party set and beach towel covering my coffee table, blankets strewn all over the couch and a pop up tent overflowing with stuffed animals to my right and I have no plans of picking any of it up, any time soon.
What I'm getting at here is you just don't know so you shouldn't judge {whether it's good or bad} what you see in a persons photo feed. You never know what struggle went into that "fun" moment they captured or what meltdown happened a mere 2 seconds after. You see a spotless section of their house and assume that they are a better than you because holy crap your house looks like a tornado just came through. But in reality that may be the only room, heck spot of their house, that is spotless. You just never know.
Remember we share what we want to share. We tend to share what's good, clean, fun in our lives because that's what people want to see, right? I mean sure it's fun to see the occasional "keepin' it real" post where we divulge all of our flaws and messiness but that's not the image we want to portray for ourselves. We don't want people to think that we live like, gasp, humans. But why?
I think it's got something to do with that Keepin' Up With the Jones' mentality and now with Pinterest making us feel like we should be the next Martha Stewart it only makes the pressure that much greater. I would love it if all of my house was Pin-worthy but we live in our house and therefore most of the time it's not suitable for viewing. I would love to tell you that the "fun" moment you are seeing was just that but the truth is I live with a toddler and, let's face it, toddlers are bi-polar which makes life, in general, more "messy".
So, the next time you look at someones pictures and think that she's obviously more fun, clean, creative, etc than you, just think about what you aren't seeing. She's just like you, she struggles, she has messy moments, she is human too.
