I Am Not Perfect

I read this blog post the other day and have been thinking about it a lot since. {If you have the time, I really think it is worth reading.} It made me think a lot about my blog and the message that I am sending. I don't think I paint a picture that our life is "perfect." Or at least, I try not to. I am a pretty honest person, and I hope that translates here on the blog. But my blog is basically a scrapbook for me; I mostly document our days and don't get into too many serious issues on here. With that being said, I can see how when I only talk about the fun things we do, it may seem to others that life over here is just rosy. I may write about our trip to the zoo, or the fun we had making cookies, but I'm not likely to mention the fight that John and I got into, or the meltdown that C had that drove me to lose my temper with her.

Our life is not perfect. No where near it.

I am not the perfect wife. I am not the perfect mother. I am not a perfect daughter, sister, or friend.

There are things I wish I could change about my family.

There are things I wish I could change about my marriage.

There are things I wish I could change about my job.

There are {a whole lotta} things I wish I could change about my body.

I'm willing to bet that no one out there can say that they would change nothing about their lives. However, the blogging world can be a dangerous place.

A place where we only see a small glimpse into someone's life and think we see the whole picture.

A place that makes you covet what others {appear to} have: a wonderful husband, a child, a good job, a nice house, health, wealth- you name it. There will always be something we wish we had.

How do we {I} get to a place where we are happy with what we've got and are not constantly seeing the "perfection" all around us? The author of that post offered a simple answer: Be Real.

Is it really that simple? Do I perhaps judge others, talk bad about other people, because I have insecurities about myself? My life? Am I not being real with myself or to others?

I really never thought of it that way. I consider myself to be an honest person. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and pretty much tell it like it is, at least to my friends. But if I'm really honest with myself, of course I want to seem like I have it all together. Of course I want to showcase the fun we have but hide some of the ugly truths that we deal with. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying to, at times, make myself look like a "perfect" mother, whatever that is. It's hard to admit that. But I do things wrong a lot of the time. I'm sure people have judged some of my parenting decisions on here, no matter how big or small. I know, in the past, I have been guilty of judging other mothers' parenting decisions. The truth is I will never be perfect. Not even close to it. And now I know that it's ok.


I'm not saying that I'm going to, or even should, use this blog to air my dirty laundry, or to vent when I'm having personal issues. One, because no one wants to read it, and two, some things should remain private. 


But I just basically wanted to apologize if anyone has ever read this blog and was left thinking that I have it all together. Because I don't. 


I want to learn to embrace the real me- flaws and all. I want to embrace the path in life that I am currently on. Be grateful for the present and not worry so much about the future. I have so much to be thankful for. God has blessed my family tremendously, and we don't deserve any of it.