What do we choose to share? Do we share the failures or only the successes? Do we share the messiness of the process or the beauty that only appears at the end of a long journey?
Earlier this week, I shared this picture of my writing space on social media. Proud that I was working towards my goal of daily morning pages, I wanted to share this with my writing tribe, so I posted it. A friend made a comment to me about how perfect that looked. I told her, "You should see what I cropped out...I cut out the messiness and only left the beauty.
Authenticity is something I value. I work to share both my failures and my successes, but I strive to focus on the potential. Where can this bring me next? How can I grow from this? But, I find when I post pictures, I often crop out the messy and unorganized parts of my space.
What does that say to those who view my pictures? Do they believe that my entire home is this lovely? Does it make them feel less because they don't have a spot like this? That's never my intention. I want to share my best and make a good impression, but at what cost?
So here I am, telling you that what I share with the world is only part of the story. We all have a story to share and we decide what we share with the world, but since I do share parts of me, I'm going to work on being more authentic.
Here's the full picture of the room with that lovely writing space...
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| This is my view from my writing chair.
Here's the rest of the room. It's a room in progress, filled with boxes and stuff that needs to be organized...
My word this year is MOXIE. I need this MOXIE to share these pictures. It's showing the mess. It's hard, but it's necessary. This reminds me of a quote, "Don't compare your beginning to someone else's middle, or your middle to someone else's end." Tom Hiller.
Remember that we all have a story worth sharing. As the author of our own story, we decide what we share. Have some MOXIE...share the mess and the beauty.
Bella is enjoying her mess. We have so much to learn from our dogs.
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Thank you to the Two Writing Teachers for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers.
Thanks for sharing such an honest post today. Now I sit here and wonder about what I share with others. The line: "what I share with the world is only part of the story." So true. And something I need to think about when I am with others...I am only seeing a part of their story. "See me" keeps going through my head...and your post pushes me to think about what I am allowing to be seen. Can "they" see "me"? Am I allowing myself to be seen, truly seen. Thanks for sharing such a thought provoking post today.
ReplyDeleteLove Love Love the messy and the honesty here. I laughed and smiled and thought you go girl! I love these words in your piece; authentic, progress, strive, and potential. Thanks for the nudging.
ReplyDeleteI love this because I think we all do it. I was reading some old blog posts the other day and in one I shared a couple little snippets from the classroom that shared the JOY I found that day. The first line got me because I started off with "After my day yesterday..." Why didn't I write about that? Isn't there life and learning in bad days? So, anyway...Thanks for having the moxie to share the mess and the beauty!
ReplyDeleteI love your authenticity! Your blog and your IG serve as an inspiration to me because you always keep it real. Here's to your MOXIE in 2018! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteGlad to know I am not alone i clutter. Loved your pot - and it is so true. Here's to showing all our Moxie!
ReplyDeleteAs I said on Ner Year's Day morning when your OLW spurred me to decide, I love your OLW I also applaud your imperfectly wonderful life. ALL real life is a work in progress. Perfect homes never really existed other than on TV!
ReplyDeleteWhat a rich reflective post. I was just listening to Anne Lamott saying, "Don't compare your insides to someone else's outsides." We do try hard (too hard?) to present a serene, unruffled (and uncluttered) "I've-got -this" outside to the world, don't we? Thanks for reminding me that we make choices about how we tell our stories and that other people do as well.
ReplyDeleteWe all crop out the parts of our worlds we don't want others to see. Some of it is healthy and some is not. (We can Vox about this at-length the next time there's snow.) Thanks for letting us into your whole world!
ReplyDelete"I work to share both my failures and my successes, but I strive to focus on the potential"
ReplyDeleteThis line is sitting with me. For life. For our students. Wow. Thanks for this perspective.