Nobody’s Life Is Perfect.

It’s a trap that ensnares us daily.

Thanks to social media, we know so much about everyone’s lives.

Too much really.

I go on almost anyone’s Facebook page and I see the perfect marriage, the perfect job, the most exciting adventures, perfect kids, perfect skin, the perfect outfits.

What I don’t see is the marriage struggling with distance and infidelity, the job slowly tearing a family apart, the adventures that aren’t quite as glamorous as they look, the parents struggling with a behaviorally challenged child, the flawless skin and perfect outfit hiding the brokenness behind.

How much do we really know about the people we think we know everything about?

Social media gives the illusion that we know everything. 

And so we assume that we are the odd ones out. 

We are somehow so different from everyone else out there who somehow got it right.

We are sitting on the other side, completely alone.

So not even close to true!

I just spoke to a girl from college on the phone for over an hour.

She’s a lover of rawness and vulnerability as I am, and talking to her was so incredibly refreshing.

She’s unbelievably cool.

But what struck me the most is that she thought the same thing about me. She thought I had the perfect life and had no idea that I didn’t until I told her.

So I thought she was perfect, she thought I was perfect, and neither of us are.

Why do we keep falling into this trap of assuming we’re the only people around who are a hot mess pretty much all the time?

Not only that, but why do we feel the need to project perfection all the time?

It’s like we all need to prove something.

Regardless of whether or not we are ready to admit it. We want other people to think that our lives are perfectly wrapped with a bow on top. No messy stuff. We have it together.

Social media is so much fun. It can be a beautiful thing. A beautiful way to connect, keep in touch, learn.

But, I have to ask myself: why does everyone need to know that Eric and I had delicious Mexican food for dinner tonight? 

Maybe what people really need to know is that Eric and I had mediocre Mexican food tonight, in our house that needs to be vacuumed, lounging in old sweatpants, complete with my greasy hair in a bun on top of my head.

To admit our humanity is not easy; but this world needs more of the beauty within the messiness, not the beauty hiding in front of the messiness.

picture courtesy of Holley Gerth http://holleygerth.com/free-words/ check her out!