Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Honest Blogging.

So. I have a thought formulating in my head and I'm going to do my best to type it out. Bear with me.

Do you ever find that you have a hard time being honest in your blogging?

Case In Point: A friend stopped me at a park the other day and mentioned how awfully hard it must be having three little ones and how my blog made it seem that I was just really struggling with the whole thing. My life was, it seemed, impossible.

Second Case In Point: Another friend sent me a Facebook message asking me how I did it--juggling the three kids while working out and decorating the house, etc. I must be Super Mom! I make it look so easy on my blog!

Huh.

Go ahead and check out the pictures from my previous post. See the top picture? Some days are like that--hair is done, kids are great, projects get accomplished and meals get cooked with ease. I even have time and energy to give--to drop off coffee to a tired friend. The house is clean and all is well.

Then some days are like the second picture. I got barely three hours of sleep the previous night. I felt like an awful parent and was exhausted all day. The baby was cranky, the kids were cranky, I was cranky, and it was just an all-around tough day. A day when "three kids three and under" earns its reputation of being tricky and tiring.

Some blogs out there make parenting seem easy. Some make it seem miserable. But aren't there just days where it's both? Can we write honestly about the good days ... and the bad? It seems that happy posts seem surreal and frustrated posts seem whiny. I just wonder if there's some possibility of understanding that the role of motherhood encompasses both. The breezy days and the blustery ones.

I don't know if that makes sense.

Anyway. Laundry is calling. I just wanted to try to put my thoughts into words. If I confused you, my apologies. Bear with this happy/busy/tired/content Mama. ;)

Have a lovely day!


12 comments:

  1. Love that you're addressing this. I went to a blogging conference recently (I know!) and the keynote speaker stressed how comparison in blogging can be so lethal, that blogging tends to just show the highlight reel, and that "someone's best is not their always".
    All VERY good things to remember.

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    1. Yes, that's precisely it--the comparison. It's like pictures we post on Facebook. We're obviously going to pick the best, right? Social media isn't really a perfect example of real life most times ... just, like you said, the highlights! I hope I can incorporate both without sounding extreme on either side. Hmm.

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  2. It makes perfect sense. And I've always felt like you do a great job representing both sides. I get frustrated with blogs that gripe all the time, but honestly I get more frustrated with the blogs that are sappy and gushy and ridiculously unrealistic. But at the same time, I guess blogging is to show what we want to show of our lives. But I can say that sometimes after reading certain blogs (not yours), I come away feeling like a crummy mom and wife because sometimes I get frustrated and I don't spend every waking moment gushing over my husband. I sound like I'm arguing with myself. But I totally get your post.

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  3. i love your blog (i found it through erin's.. i went to obu with her), but this is my first time to comment. i agree with you...... being a mom has brought some of my most happy moments and some of my most sad. i think its wonderful when a mom can be transparent enough to show both sides. its real. :)

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  4. Katie, I have been reading your blog for several years. I keep coming back because you are upbeat and positive, even when you share your struggles. You articulate the day-to-day so well and give me hope that (someday) when I'm a mother I'll be able to do it! I think your blog is authentic and real and I appreciate that as a reader. And as a blogger myself, I appreciate wanting to be real in your posts because only showing the good days, etc., isn't the whole picture and I ultimately want to remember the good and the rough days.

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  5. You do an excellent job of conveying the joy and the challenges of motherhood. You're inspiring and realistic. Thanks for keeping an honest blog, I love reading it and finding inspiration and camaraderie. You show a true picture of your life as mom and I think you "do it" amazingly.

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  6. Ah, the frustration of social media. :) I totally agree with you, as we've discussed. It feels like a balancing act trying to figure out how much of the hard stuff to expose verses how much of the happy, syrupy sweet stuff to share. A fine line, I tell you. You do a great job of doing both. Just enough honest, hard...and just enough syrupy sweet. I love your blog!

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  7. I love this post! It's so true. I often wonder how people perceive my life if they just know me through my blog. It's so 1-sided?

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  8. I started a post just like this yesterday, but never finished it. I think you have a great balance on your blog, but you DO make it look easy. ;) I know it's not though and you are just focusing on the good, because really, in a year, that's all that will matter. 3 in 3 years is a constant rollercoaster, but it's also fun. Blogging, like life, is about finding balance. You do a great job!

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  9. I agree with everyone else. I feel like you do a great job of being honest on every level, and I love it. We are about to welcome our third and will be 3 and under as well {just turn 3 years, 16 months and newborn} and so I love to read all about what you are going through right now. The good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. Thanks for sharing just a peak of your life with us. {I think that's what most forget... it's only just a snipit of what you go through}

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  10. I think blogging is a one dimensional take on multi-dimensional lives. No matter how honest we are - or dishonest - people will still walk away with a one-dimensional look at our lives because they see it in blog post pieces or photos. I smiled when I read about your two friends who said opposite things about the same blog - it makes sense in some ways because they only see the small pieces of your life that's on this blog.. the reality is much wider, deeper, etc.. and I think that's the truth about all of our lives - it's more complicated than we could ever encapsulate and put on a blog no matter how honest we are or want to be. The truth is none of us could put the absolute most difficult things we face on our blogs - I certainly couldn't and wouldn't want to - and in some ways, the best parts of our lives are impossible to put into words, so I think what we end up with are the bits and pieces in the middle..

    And for what it's worth, I think you have a great balance on here, which is why I read your blog :).

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