The “perfect” life, marriage, mom, wife, worker…That doesn’t exist. Behind the pretty photos and the highlight reels is real life. Real. Messy. Life. The marriage that has off seasons, the mom who feels like if she hears her name called one more time, she just might break. The wife that wants nothing more than to please her husband but is so exhausted. The worker who pushes themselves every day to be better, but feels so unappreciated and undervalued. The messy house. It’s all there, just hidden.

Social Media is incredible in so many ways, but it is also such a trap. A trap that brainwashes us into thinking we need to have all of our ish together. That makes it seem like everyone poops rainbows and that “they woke up like this”. It creates a false sense of reality. If I could tell anyone just a few things about myself and what’s behind the photos, it’s a mother and wife that hardly ever puts makeup on anymore and sometimes forgets to brush her teeth. Who wakes up in pain most days, but pushes through to try to be a good mom and wife. A mom who questions her decisions as a mother. A wife who so badly just wants quality one on one time with her husband.

I don’t poop rainbows, I am far from perfect. I get frustrated with my husband and my son. I haven’t cooked my family a meal in a while and laundry, well let’s just say I have the most selfless, energizer bunny husband who picks up the slack when I can’t. All of this to tell you, know that there is real life behind the “picture perfect” image. There are real fights, real tears, real frustration, bills…It is all there, we just don’t show it to you.

My question, when did we as a society decide that that was okay? To hide the mess? To try to obtain perfection and make others think they need to. IT’S.NOT.OKAY. I don’t know about you, but I always compared myself to the perfect woman, the perfect mom, the perfect wife, who had it all together and had a successful job. It hurt me and it hurt my marriage and hurt other relationships around me. It set an unobtainable bar that I so desperately reached for for years. I put pressure on myself to be ‘perfect’ in all the areas of life and ended up feeling subpar. That is not okay.

Reality check, The bar you should be reaching for is God. We are human, we are not perfect. But through Him, we are made whole. He loves us for who we are, not for what we have accomplished. My goal this year has been to give myself grace and to see myself through God’s eyes. To know that perfection is not real life. It simply does not exist.

So, when you are scrolling on social media and start to compare your life to those pictures, remember, it isn’t real. I promise you, that I will always be real with you. Open and honest. Because, I am FAR from perfect and so is my life.

Photography: Camralynz Photography

Clothing: The Western Buffalo