A comment on my Facebook page the other day got me thinking about the flip side of my last blog post, "Don't Wish You Were Someone Else". Don't be someone you're not could be the opposite problem of what I wrote the other day. Sometimes when we try to portray ourselves in a way we aren't it isn't good for us or our family.
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In the age before social media, our world was much smaller and we usually only ran into this problem in our own social circles. Now that we have Instagram and Facebook, this problem has become much worse.
What am I talking about? I'm talking about presenting yourself to the world as the perfect family/person. The person on my Facebook page called me out on a pride issue and she was right. Why had I really dressed us all in matching shirts that day? To present to our friends a put-together family.
Don't get me wrong. Working towards that goal is a good thing! Never stop trying to be perfect as God is perfect.
Even though that was my goal, when my friend commented that she wished her family was "perfect" like ours, I quickly shattered her illusion. It would have been wrong to keep up the appearance that we were perfect. No, she needed to hear the truth about what she saw (or actually, what she didn't see).
Don't be Someone You're Not
It was easy to explain this to her because we were face to face. What isn't easy is when social media is involved. It's so important to make sure that we put forth our real selves, especially where social media is concerned.
Don't get me wrong here. I'm not advocating airing all your dirty laundry on Instagram and Facebook under the guise of being authentic. That's wrong, too.
I'm just saying that you need to be careful to post about who you really are. Be your authentic self in person and on the Gram. When you aren't authentic, it can be exhausting and stressful to keep up appearances. You're kids, too, will catch on to this facade and will become stressed out, wondering why they have to act one way at home and another way around other people.
WYSIWYG
My husband and I have always tried to live the WYSIWYG principle - What You See is What You Get. It isn't always pretty, but it's usually authentic. If we seem put-together and we actually are at that moment, then that's a good thing. However, if you comment that we appear to have it together and we don't, we aren't gonna lie about it!
Being authentic with people means that there might be people that don't like you. Yes, that hurts, but it's also okay. The ones that do like you will trust you more because they know you really are what you say you are.
Learn to like yourself, first, and then present that person to the world. Have confidence and trust in God. He loves you and created you in His image and likeness, so there's no reason to pretend to be something else.
Part of Self-Care
Working on presenting your authentic self can take time. If you have a problem with this, consider working on it as part of your self-care routine. Again, you don't have to tell everyone everything. If you have some rough edges, it's okay to work on those and to grow in virtue. We should always be working towards being the best version of ourselves. The key is to not present a false image of who we are to the world and proclaim it as reality.
As you can see from the photo, we still like to go out occasionally dressed the same. Not for prideful reasons, but because it's fun and it's a great way to meet new people. A group of 10 people wearing Batman shirts is a great conversation starter!