Over the years I (Lisa) have struggled with social media and comparisons to what I see posted online. I know I’m not the only one who has spent time on Facebook and then whines to my husband, “Why don’t we ever do XYZ…” Spending time on social can bring out that green eyed monster and make yourself pretty miserable. I have to say the worst was when a friend told me she’d been feeling down about her life based on what I was posting. Everything looked so happy and upbeat all the time. Ugh. Never in a million years would I want to make someone else feel like I felt sometimes. The quiet truth is – when things aren’t going well or I’m upset with something, I don’t post. Or, I try to post something happy to make myself feel better rather than share the truth. Believe it or not, life isn’t always a pitcher of Friday Night Margaritas!
So, in the interest of showing my authentic self on social I posted a picture of my messy upstairs hall closet on Facebook and Instagram over the weekend. It was bad. I couldn’t get the door closed without pushing the stacks back and quickly shoving the door closed. Cleaning up this closet has been on my to do list since Spring. But really, it’s upstairs and I’m mostly downstairs, so I just avoid it. The closet issue finally came to a head while trying to find gift bags for my nephew’s birthday presents. All the wrapping supplies and gift bags are in that closet. I almost bought new gift bags at the grocery store for $6 each rather than fight through that closet. But seriously, buying new gift bags when I have a bazillion upstairs is just crazy.
I found three gift bags in the closet – well, in truth, I asked my son to find them cause I didn’t want to deal with the closet. He succeeded, but made an even bigger mess in the process, or that’s what I’m telling myself as the reason I couldn’t get the door closed any longer. So, Sunday afternoon… I trudged up there with my earbuds and lots of podcasts to listen to while cleaning and got to work. Three and half hours, some sweat, several bags of garbage, and piles of frustration later I got it cleaned up.
In the meantime, my friends were having a field day over my sharing the picture of the closet mess. Some were horrified, some had similar spaces in their homes, but most expressed shock and surprise that I had a closet that looked like that. HA! Nice to know I can still surprise people. So, here it is. My before and after picture in all its messy glory.
Now, if I want to be really real and authentic, I would show you a picture of the state of my home office at the moment. A closet is one thing, but to acknowledge my office is that out of sorts is a little too much for me.
Well, maybe I should…. in the spirit of being real…
Looking at it makes me want to cry… That table doesn’t belong there, there are stacks of stuff on the right that are difficult to see, stacks of papers on the left just out of view, and a chair I can’t ever seem to sit in due to the books. Just forget about getting through the minefield to play piano. But I sit with my back to it all when at my desk and can avoid looking at it. One day it will be clean again and pretty. A girl can hope…
Ok. Your turn. How are you your authentic self online?
