Comparison is the Thief of Joy

After this morning's post I've been thinking a bit on the effect that Pinterest has on many of us. I addressed it briefly at the end of the post and we've had some great comments so far, but I thought that I'd continue that for this evening's post. 

I love Pinterest...but that's not how it always was. I've been through a few personal Pinterest "movements" since I started and each time I have liked Pinterest a little more. 

Stone Age Pinterest: When I started Pinterest I viewed it as another social media site. I followed all of my friends and all of their boards and not anyone else. I commented on pins, but I didn't really pin much. I didn't really get the point of it. 

Dark Ages Pinterest: Once I realized that Pinterest wasn't just another Facebook or Myspace or whatnot I started following other people. I followed just about anyone. My view of Pinterest at this point morphed into a "To Do" list. I only pinned things I planned on doing. I got quite frustrated with myself often because my projects didn't turn out like what I saw on Pinterest, or I knew I just couldn't make it (due to various conditions, restrictions, or self-judgments). I would compare my house and projects with the pins I saw all over. 

Industrial Age Pinterest: After a Pinterest lesson from my Mother-in-Law I realized that I was following way too many people and boards that I had absolutely no interest in. I started completely fresh and "unfollowed" everyone and went back through to build up boards that I was interested in. I also started to realize that Pinterest was more than just a to-do list, but I didn't want to go crazy with it...so I started a few "inspiration" and "idea" boards. I still was pretty hard on myself though when comparing my reality with what I saw on Pinterest. 

Modern Age Pinterest: I now see Pinterest as an Inspiration Board. I have pins that I want to do, but mostly now I pin things that give me ideas, that are a similar style to things I want to do, or pins that give instructions on how to do something I've never done. I now realize that Pinterest isn't reality. Everyone's homes do not look like that, everyone is not a master chef, everyone is not a DIY genius, and everyone is not a handyman/super maid/ beautician. I can see pins and pick ideas from them and adapt the idea to my reality here in my home. Does my house look like a magazine? No way (unless we're talking about the "Not-So-Clean Homes and Weeds" magazine). Do all my meals turn out? Nope. Do my projects all end in Blue Ribbon Pieces of art? Bahahaha, no. I think there are many though that haven't reached this point yet...and this is partly the point of Pinstrosity. Pinterest is not real life. 

Because a post with just words is boring and to show you a little of what I mean, let me show you a little bit of what I'm talking about. Back in May I did a post called "My House is a Pinstrosity"; I was in transition from the Industrial Age to the Modern Age of Pinterest and was still a little frustrated with my lack of Pinterest Productivity. I actually didn't finish any of those projects I talked about until after I'd fully entered the Modern Age. I'll show you. 

I had a pin from http://sproutrobot.com/ that was going to help me have the most amazing garden ever:

n May my garden looked like this:

And you know what...it still does look like that. Well, now there are a ton of weeds. I think that watering can is still there (awful, I know). I had grand ideas for my beautiful garden and what I was going to do. But then we ended up in a better situation...our next door neighbor (who is also our awesome landlady) had a garden the previous year and she was always bringing us produce out of it. We talked to her and offered to come help pull weeds, plant, water, and take care of the garden in return for some of the produce. She was quite happy with the idea...gardens are a lot of work and it just made sense to combine efforts and to have one garden between the 3 of us rather than 2 separate gardens. 

It may not be the most spectacular garden the world has ever seen, but it has been more the sufficient for all of us and it's been a blessing. 

I'd never seen such a perfect web. It was fun to look at. 

I also had this pin that had been on my board for a long time that I never did anything with:

http://www.marthastewart.com/308036/how-to-keep-matching-sheets-together-in

Yesterday I finally did this. 

My closet doesn't look anywhere near as neat and pretty as the original pin (the sheets are in the top left)...but no one ever sees my linen closet but Cameron and I. It doesn't have to be beautiful. The idea of the pin was to make it easy to find the bedding you need. Pretty wasn't the point here...efficiency was. 

Many of us saw this pin when it stormed through Pinterest:

http://www.tomrobinsonphotography.com/feet-first/

I LOVED the idea. The self portraits where you are trying to fit you and another person in never really turn out great...your faces are at odd angles and you rarely can see what's in the background. This was such a fun way to put you in the picture and still show your adventure. 

Our next adventure we did the pin...and it just wasn't us. It wasn't our idea and it felt kinda weird. We needed something that was us. So we thought on it a while and came up with our own idea that just fit us better: 

Salt River Canyon, AZ

Wood drawing models from WalMart, and then homemade clothes from fabric scraps (it took me two tries with each article of clothing...Cameron's first pair of jeans ended up being skinny jeans and that's just not Cameron, lol). We keep them in the car or my purse and pull them out when we go someone new or fun or when we just want to take a shot that says "We were here!". 

I think the Mini-Mowers (as we call our little wooden people) are just about the perfect example of what I'm trying to say. Pinterest isn't about copying what you see and recreating it perfectly so that you have the perfect home, party, garden, food, etc. (not that recreating something is bad at all...but that's not the sole purpose of Pinterest). It's there as a resource, as an idea generator, as motivation. Find things you like on Pinterest and make them yours! Perhaps the pin is already your perfect style and you can make it straight from the pin...but if it needs some tweaking, don't be afraid to jump in and put your personality into the project. Our houses don't look like magazines, our food often is less than ideal (but hey...how many times have you gotten not-so-great food at a restaurant and they are supposed to be masters at it!), our parties look homemade (because they are!), and our projects don't always look like Martha did them...and that's perfectly okay! 

Give yourself a break and don't be so hard on yourself (I know, easier said than done...trust me I know).  Don't be so worried about recreating a pin perfectly that you miss the fun in the project. Don't grieve over a "failed" pin and turn it into a bad experience; laugh it off and chalk it up to experience and good memories. You're doing just fine. 

Remember...

http://notesondesign.tumblr.com/post/18559714603