Where's the Beauty in Perfection?

I'm not sure if before social media we all thought we had to strive for this perfect idea of motherhood or not; I just know in this modern day motherhood world that we live in there's a lot of focus on how social media shapes our perceptions and expectations of motherhood. Before I even entered motherhood, I was one of those types that at some things in my life had a perfectionist type nature. In the beginning of motherhood, I guess in some naïve way I thought I should strive towards perfection with that too, but somewhere along the way I learned the real beauty in motherhood and anything really in life is in the imperfection of the realities rather than the envisioned perfections we may have.

Finally accomplishing the milestone of potty training wouldn't be the joyous occasion to celebrate that it is if it wasn't for the days, sometimes months, and even a year or so of wet pants, poop stained messes, and mopping up wet spots.

Raving on our children's sibling love for one another wouldn't be the moment to showcase if we hadn't experienced the moments of restraining ourselves from knocking their two heads together in frustration.

Acknowledging to the media world that our child just said the sweetest thing ever to us and made our hearts swell in a love we never imagined possible if we didn't remember the hurt of them telling us we're a bad or mean mommy.

Praising their wonderful behavior wouldn't be the moment of pride it is if we didn't recall those moments they had an absolute meltdown of screaming fits and we were standing there wondering, "is my child normal?"

Shouting out to the world that our kids are asleep wouldn't be a reason to celebrate with anyone willing to listen in the virtual world  if we hadn't just spent the last week or so of telling them to go back to bed ten times a night.

Sharing our beautiful prepared dinner wouldn't be the showcase event it is if we hadn't burnt dinner or served take out for the last few nights while trying to manage the evening chaos.

Sharing the well organized and cleaned closest wouldn't be the must share event it is if we didn't know it would be another few years before we took the time to make it look that good again after the kids and probably ourselves restored it back to its disorderly state.

Acknowledging our love for our lives and our children wouldn't feel so necessary if we didn't have the moments of guilt and uncertainty that can unwillingly leak into our minds every now and then.

Sharing the moments of family fun and outings wouldn't stand out as something to appreciate and treasure if our lives weren't swapped at times with work and household responsibilities.

Capturing as many joyous moments on camera wouldn't feel like such a must if we didn't know and understand that anything can change in a blink and it's the memories saved that will get us through the hard places in life.

It isn't perfection that makes life's moments beautiful but the contrast of the good with the bad. We wouldn't know what to appreciate and treasure if we didn't experience those not quite so enjoyable moments of parenthood. So when it comes to social media and our expectations and perceptions just remember for every showcase moment there's a few crazy ones to go with it that maybe involved a little kicking and screaming, maybe even from us ourselves.


                              There's a lot of crazy that goes on behind the cuteness of these innocent poses.



Recent posts you might have missed

A Third Kid, Really?

Roots and Wings