The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Instagram

We planned a family trip! We packed the bags and lots of toys for our little guy and headed off before traffic hit. Camera charged and ready to document every single fun thing that we were going to do. I was a little weary how Charlie, who was 18 months at the time, was going to behave since his teeth have been driving him nuts lately...with nap protests and so forth. But I thought a little change in atmosphere might to us all good. Then, we arrived at our destination. We unpacked, got all cozy and started to put Charlie down for his nap and failed. Screaming, crying, yelling... he would not sleep. We gave up after a good hour of trying to calm him back to sleep. That kick started a spiral of tantrums all weekend. No sleep. No naps. No eating. We decided we had to go back home, but while taking a bit of a break from packing all our things again, I open my phone to my Instagram feed. People were posting photos about how amazing their weekend was going...beaches, campfires, and lazy day on the boat. I wanted SO badly to have that for myself. I wanted that relaxation. I want to sit down to a quiet dinner. I wanted... I noticed I was just becoming more upset at how my weekend "sucked" compared to theirs. I was instantly saddened. It is so silly. I had just one hard weekend, and it was making me a mess because I felt like I was missing out. I know I am not the only one who has felt like that. With Instagram and Facebook we are constantly and consistently seeing peeks into peoples' lives. While it is entertaining, it can also be dangerous to your well-being. Those little snippets into other lives are only the "good" parts... the highlight reels! The real, raw, life stuff is all hidden, and obviously it is because why would you want to post 'selfie' about your bad hair day. What we have to remember is that even in all those good photos, there have been tears, struggles, and lots of hard to work! No one's life is perfect. And to compare yourself to others is only going to make things worse. Because in no way that weekend was I going to be relaxing on a boat... Instead when I snapped out of it, we made a "pool day" in the backyard. The most fun we had all weekend...laughing, talking and just enjoying each other.

The only way I know I am going to grow as a person, a wife and a mommy, is if I focus on my life and not try to copy others.

It goes the same with business Instagrams. Of course people make it look like business is poppin' and doing amazing. But really we have no idea. And that is okay. That is how we help our businesses grow even bigger, but as long as YOU know life for everyone is not just full of pretty clean desk mockups and perfectly placed cups of coffee ;)

Although that weekend was not the most relaxing that I have had, we had some good times...great times, that if I just posted these photos, you wouldn't think twice that it was one of the hardest weekends of mommyhood. These hard times test us, strengthen us, and allow us to appreciate exactly what we have an how good it really is. Don't let other people and what looks like "their perfect life" take that away...we ALL experience these tough times!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Becca Berg, Founder of Dubsado