And then…reality smacks ya….

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

A friend of mine had this on their Facebook status yesterday.

And….It spoke…volumes to me…

Mostly…because I’ve been struggling with this notion of comparing.

We compare our houses to others….we compare our children….we compare our parenting….we compare our faith walks……everything.

And…if we look hard enough…

we lose track of who we are and the blessings that are around us.

In the blogging and Pinterest world, everything looks “perfect”.

Well…it is. Alot of it is “staged”.

You want to have someone “click” on your chocolate chip cookie recipe so you set up 3 beautiful cookies on a shiny white plate and gently “scatter” chocolate chips around. You make sure that the camera doesn’t capture the three kiddos who are eating ice cream for dinner as you perfect this image or the pile of dishes this simple picture has created for you.

But…”yummy….they look divine”….so we “pin” that to our dessert board.

We grow frustrated if our cookies don’t look quite like those…..we throw ourselves into the “pinterest fail” category.

Ok…so I’m being a bit dramatic…but you get the point.

Stop Comparing yourself!!!!

Take some time to really look inward and be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses. If you are not the “baking” type, you aren’t going to produce those “picturesque” cookies on the first try.

And…let’s not set ourselves up for failure…..baby steps, people!

So…..I came late to the “blogging party”. I have only been blogging for a year.

Do you know why???

Because I was concerned with how people would perceive my family and I. I want people to read my blog and laugh at the fun our family has. I want my readers to grab a few tips; enjoy some yummy recipes; and get some of my insight into being a mom for 9 years of little kids.

Do you know what I don’t want????

People to look at my blog posts and have unrealistic expectations of how I am as a person and how I run my family.

I remember reading the blogs of some “crafty, DIY” moms and thinking…how do they find time to do all this?? What’s my problem? Why am I not doing this?

It’s often an unhealthy “she’s unreal and can do ANYTHING” view ” that we have of our bloggers.

Blogging is such a wonderful tool to share our thoughts and gifts with each other….

but…it’s also a pathway of destruction for our self-esteem if we let it.

If you find yourself being motivated by pinterest projects and organizational blogs that you read….then read on!!!

However….if reading the blogs of other moms makes you feel terrible about yourself….take some time away from reading blogs.

Reevaluate yourself honestly.

Ask others who know and love you what your strengths and weaknesses are. If they love you, they will be honest with you. Embrace who you really are….and if you desire change…..

then change for YOU!

I want to apologize if any of my blog posts gave the impression that I “have it all together” or that I have “written the book on life with five children”…..trust me, my friends….

I’m just running the race like the rest of you.

We might put on different outfits, lace up different shoes…

but we all run the same race called

……life.

Thank you for taking this journey with me!

God bless,

Tammi