Our Real Selves

We tend to post the best version of ourselves online.  We Instagram awesome pictures of the food we make and mostly always smiling pictures of our kids.  Heaven forbid we have a picture of ourselves without makeup on anywhere online.  We don't always mean to do it but we all do.  We want to put our best foot forward.  Nobody wants to see us fighting with our spouse or our kids acting like jerks but those things happen.

I love an online community but I think it can cause us to compare ourselves to others in a negative way.  "How does she always make such beautiful meals for her family that's bigger than mine?"  "Her hair always looks so great and look at how cute she and her husband are together."  "Why can't my kid be as well behaved as hers?"  "He ran for how long?!"  I could literally go on for hours.  I'm not saying that it's bad to post flattering aspects of our lives but I do think we should be transparent also.

I'm not gonna lie, this blog is super embarrassing to write sometimes.  Nearly every time I hit publish, I have the urge to go back and delete my post.  What good would that do, though?  God has called me to be a real person and to share my story for the benefit of not just myself but others.  I'm not the only one that struggles, I'm just brave enough to talk about my journey.

So, I want to encourage you to be real today.  Post somewhere online something that's not super flattering.  For instance, I made a terrible supper last night.  It was this weird lentil soup that looked like the beans Nacho Libre served to all the orphans.  My husband and son both hated it.  Does that make me a terrible cook?  Heck no!  I just won't ever use that recipe again.

Here's a picture of me with not a stitch of makeup on.  This is my real self.

If you want to join me in being real today, use the hashtag #ourrealselves.  Come on, it'll be fun...mostly.

Monica