There is our perception and then there is reality. This photo of my son Jack is the perfect example. There is another one where he is sitting perfectly in my lap, hands crossed all Glamour Shots, but this is the one I put on social media. This is the truth of two-and-a-half, isn’t it parents?
With the advent of social media, we are now able to mask up (no pun intended) and be whoever we want the world to see. In my high school years, there was so much talk about photo filters and photoshopping models and actors to create completely unrealistic and unattainable beauty goals. Now, we have these filters at home for just about anything and false webinars to help us to create unrealistic life goals. In this time of difficulty, we have a responsibility to lean into telling our own truth. People relate more to the Mom who is struggling or the coworker who is overworked and overtired telling the tale. When we filter everything we lose the opportunity to allow people to get to know the real us. We trade who we really are for who we think people desire or expect us to be. I wanna know you, the real you.