The Bitter Side of Blogs/Facebook

Sometimes it's hard not to compare yourselves to other families. At least it's hard for me. Though I have talked to too many people to pretend I'm alone here. Some families have more money, nice houses, grown-up jobs, cuter, amazingly talented kids, are craftier, more fun and overall better, right?

 I recently deleted Facebook. There are several reasons why I did, but the one I will share is that it simply does not feel good to be caught up in what other people are doing sometimes. I reactivated it recently and part of me wishes I hadn't. Too many sad stories or overly fluffy stories. Too many preachy stories and excessively braggy stories. The minute you have something worth sharing, someone else has something that trumps it and there goes the excitement.

Sometimes I feel like right when I start improving or doing something that I am proud of, I notice the world of other people I know or used to know who have been there and done that. I hate that these feelings are as real as they are sometimes. But I know we all have moments of coveting, so I am wondering how we can overcome it and just be happy with where we are in these jealous moments? I feel like shutting out the world and just living in a bubble with my family because it's safe here and we're exceptional here. Out there? Yikes.

We force our kids to walk, or get potty trained or read early because there is obviously a race out there and gosh darn it my kid will make the world proud. Once I found myself telling a story about something Ezra had said and the audience didn't seem to appreciate how adorable it was like I did, sooo, I added to it. And then he said, "badeep badeep that's all folks". Then the laughs. It kind of ruined it for me, however. I vowed to make Ezra's stories true to Ezra because I love Ezra's stories raw. You can rest assured my recorded Ezra stories are unedited. They are special and beautiful to me and that's enough. That's also a reason I hid my "mommy blog". My moments don't mean something to everyone or even anyone, but to me, they bring tears, they are real and miraculous and moments of light, wonder and amazement. That's where I find the strength to overcome coveting; I hear a simple prayer thanking Heavenly Father for the Holy Ghost who helps us to be happy or I see a hug and hear a small voice whisper "saw-ee" or I catch my husband glance over and smile my way during church and I am able to breath and think, "Okay. We're not skinny, rich, always happy or incredibly good at anything, but we're doing our best and we still have reasons to smile."

I think as women and probably especially those of us who stay at home often wish there was something we could contribute to the world. Like a talent or a special story or an above average, front of the line family.

Sometimes we just are the way we are and that's all there is to it. And in my bubble, that's okay. It's just tough to feel the pressure of what everyone else seems to think your family should or shouldn't be doing and where when and how. I feel proud of my little family in the slowly progressing life we live. And even through our boring day to day and our trying minutes, we are The Tressler Family and there is Someone very important up there who thinks we're doing just fine. I'll take it.