Dangers of the Blogoshphere

I love writing.  I love reading.  Therefore, I love blogs.  I know people who have been doing it for quite some time now, and I know people who just started.  Note: check out One Stylish Mom and Today I Choose Me - both of whom are beautiful women, inside & out, and my favorite part of their blogs (both new) is that they are real!!
But, I will admit that the blogosphere can be a very dangerous place, as can facebook, twitter, instagram, social media of any sort.  There are times when I have to unsubscribe from everything in order to regain perspective on my life.  No, I don't go shopping daily (unless we're talking about milk & cereal - that's a different story).  I don't have an allowance for my clothes (I have one for my children's instead).  I don't own a beautiful home.  I don't have adorably dressed, little portraits of perfection that sit still while I photograph them (although they are portraits of perfection).  There are a lot of things that are blogged about that I don't have.  And if I'm not careful, I can let this drag me down.  That is when I go back to one of my favorite quotes:

"The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel." - Steve Furtick

It is also extremely helpful when adorable people, like Anna from Happy Medley post about The Reality of Instagram. It helps to know that those who "have it all together" are really just as human as you are!  Don't get me wrong, this is not a plea for people to start airing their dirty laundry on facebook - there's enough of that going around - and it stinks.  This is, instead, encouragement to remember the things that you see online are so often only the highlight reels.

So, to keep a correct perspective, in response to the "I don't" comments above, here's a very short version to the many things that "I do" have:
1. I have a relationship with a loving Heavenly Father - one that causes me to be overwhelmingly saddened when I think about those who don't have relationship with Him.  It's by far the most amazing thing that I have; without it I would be lost (both figuratively & literally).
2. I have a smokin' hot stud of a man who makes extremely hard decisions for all the right reasons and has shown us over and over just how much he loves us.  There are no adequate words for him or Him (in #1).
3. I have two absolutely amazing, beautiful, loving, smart, funny and caring children.  I'm totally cool with using clothing allowances on them instead of myself!  Kinda like these adorable shoes that I got P - she doesn't know about them yet.  These are the things that bring me joy.
4. I have a job that I absolutely love - with people who I love even more!!!!
5. I have the most amazing friends and family.  I couldn't ask for a more loving, supportive group of people in my life.  

My list could go on and on, but always remember - those are my highlight reel moments.  Everyone has behind-the-scene things.  
"Comparison is the thief of joy" (the internet gives multiple sources credit for this one).  
Don't rob yourself of joy by comparing yourself to others.  There's only one you!

So, go - read, write, be merry and if you're brave enough, explore Bloglovin' and lose yourself for hours.  But, NEVER, EVER, compare your life to others'.

Much love; Happy Friday!
Laura

Graphically funny

I don't know about you, but I love a good ecard.  Sometimes, when I'm feeling extremely overwhelmed about something, I type in the subject + ecard into a google search.  For example, "control freak ecard". However, sometimes flipping through facebook for 5 minutes can totally do the trick!  Here are just a few of the ones that recently made me LOL, literally.

I think I love these because they give me the opportunity to laugh at the reality that I'm living, that sometimes doesn't feel so funny.  It's been an extremely long & hard weekend, and the humor in these was such a relief. Do you have any go-to ecards that help you make it through the insanity?


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