Mission

I am on a mission. In an effort to be both a happier person and to become more at peace with myself, I am consciously being more honest and open about my life and trying to limit the amount that I compare myself to others. Of course, this is all related to believing that I am enough. My hope is that a side-effect of this mission will be that others will do the same for themselves.

I was truly amazed at how many people opened up to me after my "I am enough" post from last month. My honesty seemed to trigger something inside others and made them feel safe being honest with me. In return the outpouring of honesty made me feel really good. It helped me understand that we all have something in common: we are all human and no one has it all together.

Over the course of my life I have made a pretty strong habit of comparing myself to others. I almost constantly look at other people's lives and wish that I had what they have.  I have had unrealistic views of others' lives and therefore completely unrealistic and unattainable expectations for myself. After 32 1/2 years of life, I'm finally understanding that it's simply impossible to be 100% organized in every aspect of my life, to have a spotless home, to be perfectly thin and fit, to be well-dressed, and to be a perfect mother and wife 24 hours a day all at the same time. Not if I want to be happy too! I can probably have all of those things but not all at the same time, not all the time. And the fact is no one does!

Here's my theory: If we were all more honest with each other, we would all feel better about ourselves and be more satisfied and grateful for what we have and who we are. I believe that the show we put on for each other is making us all less happy and more dissatisfied with our lives and our selves.

One of my friends recently told me that she feels like facebook has become a land for braggers. Another one of my friends just wrote on her blog this morning that logging on to Pinterest can make her feel inadequate. I don't disagree with either of these observations. The truth is nobody's life is as perfect as they make it seem on facebook and nobody actually completes all the crafts they pin to Pinterest. I'm 100% sure of that. If we could all just be honest with each other, we wouldn't feel so much pressure to live up to the fake lives we think our friends are living!

By the way, if I'm wrong, please let me know. If you are the perfect person who has it all together, whose house is never a mess, whose children are always happy, whose dog has always been walked, who has the perfect marriage, and the perfect wardrobe, and you are also incredibly happy and at peace with yourself, please comment on this post and let me know. I will be in awe of you forever.

I am making a commitment to be more honest. I will let you see that my life is not perfect all the time, not at all. That is going to make me happier and, ironically, probably make my life a little more perfect.