Just Keep It Real, Please
Real. Real homes. Real people. Real kids. Real moments. Real everything. You with me?
So I love Instagram. Maybe it’s kinda weird, but I find that there are some pretty “real” people on the Insta. Can I just thank you, from the bottom of my heart? Our souls long for people like you. I’m not a “Snapchatter” and I suppose how much more “real” can you get than taking a pic of my face 50 times a day, 24 hours a day, but hey, to each their own. Yes, I tried, but I failed. Miserably. Anyone who was my friend, I apologize – it wasn’t pretty. But even in the most well-intentioned picture, we are still able to create an online identity that we can mold into perfection – from the outside that is.
But it is often an identity that is FAR from perfect.
And I’ll cast the first stone – at myself. I have a camera roll of pictures and I become choosy about which pics I post. All in hopes of posting the “best” picture. I may take 3 of an event, but I always, ALWAYS choose the best one of the group. That’s my first “fake” move. But then I add a filter, to make me look more tan, my skin smoother, my eyes brighter, and the background faded, to focus on what I want it to focus on – all to illuminate what I want it to portray. There’s my second stone – that I throw at myself.
Why do we fear the real? We are all starving for the truth in people. For the real in people. For the everyday, mundane, humanity in everyone. We live our lives for the end product. Not the journey there. We look for the best result, but don’t talk about the process. We share photos of our BEST, but fail to show the worst. And that’s where we stink at being real. There is no shame in wanting to do our best. Be our best. But to constantly post our best? I’m going to throw a question mark at that one. I don’t have a clear cut answer, but what I do know, is that the Insta-posts and Insta-stories that have cookie crumbs in the crevasses of the home, toys strewn all over the place, and milk mustaches on the kiddos, I feel a part of their journey.
And that’s the “story” I want to write for my life – to be relatable. My soul craves others to relate to. And maybe yours does too. So I am writing this to challenge myself to post not the BEST picture, but the REAL picture. You up for it?
My hope is that as I post on Instagram or any other social media outlet for that matter, that I will add this hashtag #embracingreallife
All in hopes of keeping it real and EMBRACING REAL LIFE.
Kristin,
I love this! It’s so true. And we all do it. I think it’s the ego speaking…who wants people to be judging us and talking about us? Not THE EGO! So normal. It’s about the ego being accepted and not looking foolish. The best thing I saw on instagram was someone who has a blog about food/health/body image, her name is Stephanie Gaudrea, and she injured her front tooth due to a childhood accident. It finally had to come out and she did posts and smiled with her front tooth missing!! She tries to be real! It was amazing and I doubt I could have done it.
Thanks for your posts Kristin. Keep striving to be real and good luck at U of M. Praying for you!
Donna
Hi Donna, thank you for your comment! You nailed it that it’s all about the ego! Isn’t that the truth! I am going to have to check out Stephanie’s blog! Sounds like we have a lot of the same thoughts :). Thank you most of all for all of the love and support you continue to give, Donna. It means a lot to me!
Kristin, one thing I’ve lived about you from the beginning is your real-ness! Post surgery pics? Who else would allow that? Even though God sees us for who we really are, I think He sees us through the perfect filter of Jesus’ blood. And, Igottatellya, you could do a lot worse than that. I used to pride myself on having a perfect home, especially regarding cleanliness. Yesterday a friend brought what may be “the” guy for us to meet. I invited them out to the porch as an early evening rain started and we had a nice breeze. As we talked, my eyes caught a glimpse of two or three little spider webs. I was so pleased to realize I wasn’t freaked out! If they noticed that little imperfection, it certainly didn’t affect the quality Lott of the communication, which was pure sweetness. If we had insisted on perfection for that visit to happen, we might have missed a precious time!
Oh Mary Alice, your words of wisdom I could just soak up constantly! You speak so much truth into my life! I LOVE what you said about how God see us – “through the perfect filter of Jesus’ blood.” Amen to that! I hadn’t looked at it all from that perspective, even though I know and believe that to be true. I always see it horizontally, how we are all trying to live out perfection, but truly, it doesn’t matter – all what matters is how we live our lives for him! I enjoyed the story about the spider webs – I might’ve been apologetic about them, but you just let them go and didn’t make a big deal out of it. I might remember that the next time I see food stuck in our carpet or crumbs laying everywhere! I so appreciate you words and your constant care of my heart. You have poured so much into me, Mary Alice and I can’t thank you enough!
Ok, two typos—I’m imperfect!