I personally tend more towards the first pitfall. I think that my house should look like Sherry’s, that I should be able to write amazing posts like Kate, that I should take gorgeous photos of my children like Drea, and that I should make super-healthy real food like Wardeh or Lisa that tastes as delicious as Ree’s cooking. Meanwhile, my living room should look magazine-worthy like Nester’s, and I should be creating clever projects like Jen, Ashley, and Laura. When I start homeschooling, it should look as idyllic as Ann’s days and be as fun and hands-on as Kelly’s.
Two other friends of mine posted recently about some of the areas where they aren’t perfect. In keeping with that theme of honesty, here are some ways I’m not “supermom” either:
– I have a love/hate relationship with sewing; I love the results, but hate the process. I usually cry at least once when working on a sewing project.
– I can’t keep plants alive. I really can’t understand why someone would enjoy gardening.
– I don’t vacuum. (Tad does. But usually we only think about it when company is coming over.)
– I am terrible at keeping in touch with anyone who is not sitting next to me at this very moment. I wish I were better at maintaining friendships.
– In the two years (!) we have lived at this house, I have not once cleaned my oven.
– I honestly cannot remember the last time I cleaned our shower.
– Speaking of showers, I don’t get to take one every day!
– I get ants in my kitchen sometimes. Having a toddler makes our floor an ant smorgasbord, so I can’t say I’m surprised.
– For some reason, I feel a strong need to save every empty toilet paper tube. I have some hoarding tendencies, I think.
– I’m really bad at getting stains out of clothing.
– I rarely coupon.
– I have never been able to successfully do a Citra-solv fabric transfer, even though it seems like every other blogger in the world has.
– I will do everything humanly possible to avoid ironing. (I have ironed hems with my hair straightener to avoid dragging out my iron and board.)
– We sometimes get fast food or takeout when life is really busy (or I really don’t want to cook).
Some of these areas are ones that I need to work on. (Friendships are important. Keeping a home that won’t end up on Hoarders is important.) Other areas are ones that I probably need to let go of and realize that I can’t excel at everything. (Maybe sewing just isn’t my thing.)
I also need to let go of unreal expectations that are mostly self-inflicted. I can’t possibly do all of the things accomplished by every woman on the blogs I read. That’s because no one does. All of those amazing, talented women I mentioned have their own strengths and abilities, and you and I have ours as well.
The sooner we all realize that, the sooner the “mommy wars” can end.
Thank you for this! I really needed this today..it’s been a rough week for me. Hope to see you soon 🙂
Now this was definitely a post worth reading 🙂 You know what? I had this vision of you in my mind of how you have everything all together, just like the women you linked to. We only show what we want others to see in the blog world. That is one of my struggles too, and one of the reasons why I’m simply just not blogging right now (other than She {hearts} It). The best thing is, I don’t even feel that “need” anymore to put my life out there.
Thanks for posting this! My Little one hasn’t even arrived yet, but I’ve been deep cleaning all week so I have a perfect apt when visitors come over. I feel guilty when my apt isn’t perfectly clean, and it being such a small space, it easily looks disorganized some days. We’ve been here for 3 years,and I just now got around to putting more than 3 pictures up:P I’m horrible about not putting away clean laundry, (instead it spends its time in a basket most days) & I use diaper wipes to clean my bathrooms when I’m in a hurry. So that’s my confession of not being a magazine type wife. 😛
Wow! I love your honesty. I agree with Stacy… I totally saw you as a blogger to “keep up” with as far as homemaking. It is so nice to know bloggers are real, too. Great post!
I love your confessions!! I’m soo there on a lot of them and I’m not even trying to attempt sewing.. not right now! My mom is excellent at sewing and maybe one day she’ll have an extended visit to teach my girls how to sew 🙂
I think that one of the beauties of blogging is sharing the ideas and ways you can encourage others! But the pitfall is that it’s hard to show everything… nor should we! We need to realize that we all have unique talents and abilities and many of us also have dirty floors;)
Great post!
we like knowing you arent a super mom 🙂 – cause you seem like it.
I btw HAVE NOT CLEANED MY SHOWER IN PROBABLY A MONTH! uhhh or more. SO GROSS!!! it seems relatively clean thankfully!! I do however clean the boys tub often – it gets just nasty looking. So that makes me feel better 😉 – hot water kills the germs in our shower, so I tell myself 😉
we have ants too btw 😉 which is crazy because our kitchen is on the 2nd story of this house – they still manage to find food to nibble on in it.
🙂 and your pics are great btw. Really.
ooo and we had wendys yesterday 😉
Thanks for this post, Aliesha! I’v always marveled at your creativity, home decor, parenting techniques, cooking, clothes, natural laboring….the list goes on! I guess this post was an eye opener. I realise now that you are a lot like me in many ways!
I, too, appreciate this post. Honesty is a beautiful thing, and it helps not only the one who is speaking honestly, but the hearers, too.
I struggle with the balance in my blog of being real and admitting to the HARD stuff of life v. choosing to focus on what is good and what is going well. I’m certain I don’t get the balance right. And so I stumble along…
Thanks for the encouragement you bring to the world of blogging!
This post was such an encouragement! To me you are one of the mom’s, who, when I read your blog, I think, well, I’ll never be that good. I’m so impressed with all that you do, and I think you’re doing a great job of being a mommy and lots of other things (like home decorator, cook, cloth diapers, etc.) that never enter my radar. It encourages me that just as I have areas I pretty much never touch, others do too. Thanks for the honest post.
Great post…I had to chuckle as I thought of all the things I can’t or don’t get done as well…but I’m always comparing myself and inflicting guilt that is not needful in my life. I’m working on that…