My thoughts on this Thoughtful Thursday are about how I always try to remind myself not the compare my beginning to someone else’s middle.
This is sound advice for many situations in life and when I remember this, I can usually keep focussed on myself and my goals. When we are at any stage in life, work or fun, we are at a different stage than anyone else around us. Our experiences are solely our own, and we learn as we go.
For example, my experience with raising a child with ADHD and Non Verbal Learning dissorder is not going to be your exerience with a similar diagnosis. For one thing, we are different, our kids are different, and at any given moment, we are at a different stage of life. Sharing my experiences or listening to others may make me feel better or it may make me feel like a failure, and THAT is why you always need to remember to not compare yourself to others so directly and literally. Yes, we may encounter similar situations, and can support and encourage each other, but the flip side is that we often feel inferior and compare ourselves to what others are sharing. Remember, that is not their reality 100% of the time. Perhaps they snap a photo of their child doing an activity with them, enjoying that parent / child bond…but ten minutes prior to the photo, that child was having a melt down on the floor and kicked a hole in the wall. Right?
This quote is so very true in our social media packed lives. Our feeds are staged to share our highlight reels…not behind the scenes, or shall we say, REAL life.
Try to remember we all love to share the good stuff but rarely share the messes and ugly cry moments. We all do it…filter our lives to show how great things are. So don’t take it to heart when you see someone’s perfect home, family, “life” or put pressure on yourself to do things differently.
Would you share a photo of your kitchen counters at 6pm each evening , or how about your living area just after you get the kids to bed (before you tidy up?
I bet there are more messy people out there than our social media feeds are showing us! Let’s strive to be more real, and be truly supportive of each other, not trying to out do. Impress them with your reality, chances are it looks an aweful lot like theirs and real friendships and connections will come from the reality of our lives.