Blogs are a lie.
Not that their content isn’t true.
It’s the BIG PICTURE they paint that is false.
For example, looking at a crafter’s blog it can appear that everything they make turns out wonderfully, the first time. Or that all they do everyday is create beautiful things. And their children play happily in their room while mom works, and don’t ever flood the bathroom or cut a siblings hair while she is busy.
A blog can only capture a moment. It fails horribly at telling the whole story.
Even my little blog here is a half truth. Individually, everything I’ve written is true. But as I read through the posts on my own blog, I wish to be the mom on here! She has it all figured out. She calmly reasons through every problem that comes her way, finds a solution, and gently guides her children into it. And somehow finds time to play with them too!
So, in the pursuit of truth, here’s some more honesty. 🙂
From the beginning of this blog in September 2014 to the end of November 2014, 16 blog posts, or about 1.2 every week, were published. Manage the Mayhem started it all.
The beginning of December was pretty good too: 3 posts in two weeks. Manage (or Just Survive) the Terrible Twos featured a very cute little girl!
January there was nothing.
February, nada.
March, nope.
April…29th, I finally wrote again. “Manage the Laundry.” (Great post, if I may say so myself.)
May averaged a post a week. (Not too shabby.) The Internet Lies Part 1 and Part 2 were really fun!
June was missing in action.
And July finally saw me clicking away at my keyboard again. (I’m pretty sure my back space button was worn out though.)
I could say that those two long writing droughts happened because I got too caught up in being AWESOME that I just didn’t have time to write.
But that’s a lie. The reality is that the end of December was something known as ‘Christmas Time Crazy.’ Which was then followed up by months of not-so-very-well-managed mayhem. I didn’t receive a whole lot of inspiration for writing.
I was talking to my husband about those four months when I wrote nothing, lamenting all the mistakes I felt I’d made with my kids and all the time I felt I had wasted.
I said, “Those months just feel like one huge Mommy-fail.”
He reminded me that failure only happens if you give up.
It’s like Thomas Edison said, “I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
So, I haven’t failed as a mom. I’ve just found a few thousand things that don’t work. And a few that do! 🙂
Don’t take blogs as absolute truth. They have some great stuff, but remember they can’t give the whole picture.
I just keep telling myself, “Keep reading and learning and trying. But quit worrying about what you think someone else’s big picture looks like, and just worry about creating your own.”
