Here's the deal, I have been an open book since as long as I can remember. Being so vulnerable isn't always kicks and giggles, and it certainly sets me up for all sorts of criticism. As I've opened up about this whole divorce and life change I'm going through, it has brought on a whole new meaning to feeling judged.. And it's been hard to feel like certain people (not all, thank goodness) that I thought genuinely cared about me, are now so quick to condemn. It's also hard to feel looked down on because I don't keep certain "issues", private. If that makes sense?
I feel like ever since the beginning, we've been taught to be different and that true beauty comes from being ourselves. But then at the same time, we have a million different trends and lifestyles thrown in our face telling us how we should look, think, and act.
It's confusing and discouraging. And so when it comes to being open vs. not, I feel like the world needs both. We need people, particularly bloggers and social media posts, that don't really open up about their issues. Sometimes, when our life sucks, it's nice to go read a blog that doesn't talk about anything deeper than recipes, daily events, and cute styles. It can be such a relief to forget about how hard life is for a minute and just read about a cute, perfect, family and their perfect vacation, or see pictures of their perfect house and the perfect crafts they make with their perfect, well behaved, children.
It's enlightening to see and read about things that just skim the surface of life and events that take place, without ever really going any deeper. Sometimes we need that, we need an escape from our own reality and we need to read about things that are light and fluffy.
And then sometimes, we don't.
Sometimes we need someone to say, "screw this, is it just me, or is life a living hell sometimes?"
We need to know that we aren't alone, that not everyone can get of bed, have time to look flawless, and then go about their day being sure to post pictures that only confirm how spectacular their life is, and how bad each of ours sucks compared to theirs.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the instagram pics where you actually had to take a million before you captured the perfect pose, then edited it with 5 different apps, and then posted as if it didn't take an hour out of the day to look like the moment was captured "spontaneously."
Not only do I have no problem with that, I encourage that (to an extent). It incites creativity, and it's inspiring to see life through other peoples own viewpoints and ideas.
But like anything, it can get out of hand if we don't remind ourselves every once in awhile that it's okay to not filter every aspect of our life. There's times when it's okay to be raw. In fact, it's healthy to be raw.
There just needs to be a happy medium (when we are blogging, pinning, gramming, tweeting, etc.) between things we share and things we don't and how we portray our reality. And I don't think there is a right way to do it. I just don't think, to a certain extent, that there's a wrong way either:)
So I guess that's my point. Yes, I'm an open book. Yes I naturally talk about my issues. Maybe because I love that moment when someone tells me they can totally relate and for a second the world doesn't feel so freaking lonely. Maybe it's liberating to feel strongly about something and be able to share it with the world. And maybe I miss my baby so much that I just need to vent about it sometimes.
And maybe social media isn't always the platform to do that. But then again, just because it makes you uncomfortable, doesn't mean it's bad, right?
Obviously there are lines that shouldn't be crossed. I think we all know what those are. But there's a grey area where you should be allowed to not share the things in your heart, but then you should be allowed to share them, too.
So find it. What do you like to share? If it's fulfilling to you to have your life 100% filtered and private, do it. If it feels liberating to open up about what normally would be considered "personal", do it.
But whichever it is you choose, don't apologize for it.
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