H.I.A.P. Day- The Pinterest Blues

Today's H.U.M.P. day will be a little different, today's H.U.M.P. day is actually a H.I.A.P. day.

 

Honey I Am a Pinstrosity.

 

That's right, me. I'm the Pinstrosity today.

I have had strep throat 5 times since December 24th.

Yep I had strep on Christmas that continued on until New Year's. I had strep the week before my first half-marathon race. I had strep the week of Valentines' Day. I had strep the week of my wedding anniversary. And I have it again now.

 

The funny thing about your health is that you don't think about it until there is a problem.

I find multiple truths in the saying "If you don't have your health you don't have anything." Right now that is exactly how I feel!

 

Ever since I have been sick it makes EVERYTHING else in my life seem harder. School has been a pain in my patootie. Cooking dinner is a fiasco (we ate at 11:30 last night, a real awesome cooked dinner, but it was at 11:30).

Unfortunately at this "trying" time in my life (this has been rough for me) I have let The Pinterest Blues get to me.

What are the Pinterest Blues you ask??

 

I have compared myself to other people through blogs, Instagrams, Facebooks, and Pinterest.

I, Emilee, one of the founding members of Pinstrosity, a blog who helps people see the value of being themselves and NOT having to be Pinterest Perfect and how awesome life is when you are YOURSELF and no one else, has also been a victim of the Pinterest Blues.

 

Maybe it's the fact that I am ill and weaker than usual (I had to have help to open the milk yesterday, blerg), but I have done exactly what I have been helping people avoid.

 

This is all to say that The Pinterest Blues can hit anyone and they can hit at anytime.

They can even hit a Pinstrositeer.

Have you been hit with the Pinterest Blues???

The following symptoms may suggest you have been exposed to the Pinterest Blues:

 

-Do you find yourself comparing your last meal to something you saw on social media (This can include the presentation, nutritional value, the lighting in the background of the "quick pic" you take of your meal, what time of day you are eating, if your kid likes the meal etc.)

 

-If you feel that your outfit isn't "social media worthy" at a moments notice. Today I am wearing a hoodie I've been wearing for four days a band t-shirt, jeans and flip flops that I owned in high school. I haven't washed my hair in heaven knows how long. Fellow hairdressers please forgive me.

 

-If your thinking that your car doesn't look like a paid advertisement for the car dealership you bought it from and or for the container store car organization section (which I have yet to go to, is it any good?), you might have the Pinterest Blues.

 

-If you feel your last blog post wasn't as great as your favorite bloggers last post. But your comparative brain doesn't remember that that blogger in particular is paid for that post, has an office to work out of, sponsors to report to, isn't in school among a million other distractions I'm sure she/he doesn't have. But at the same time, you think to yourself how that blogger always looks so put together, and he/she has kids, and a family, and probably a million other distractions too...what's wrong with you self??? Pro-blogger person's got it together! Why can't you!?

 

-If you find yourself daydreaming about perfect DIY projects where you can turn your plain white kitchen cabinets into something that rivals a Da Vinci masterpiece. Of course you would have to complete this task between all of your children's afterschool activities and you would then have to have an organic meal made and perfectly presented  in that new kitchen by the end of the day to 1)show off your new DIY kitchen masterpiece and 2) be up to Pinterest standards.

 

Do you see where I am going with all of this???

This mythical woman that does all of these things that Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and many other social media sites presents is a what I like to call a

 

Magical Floating Pinterest Unicorn.

 

As much as I would love for Unicorn's to actually exist, they don't.

This woman does not exist.

Say it with me...This Woman Does NOT Exist.

As soon as we are able to fully internalize this realization we will no longer have the Pinterest Blues.

 

I heard once that no one on the face of the Earth has it all together. No one, I mean no one, knows what they are doing. The people we envy because we think they "have it all", who "really have their stuff together", they don't.

Many of them have adopted the "fake it till ya' make it" mantra.

I'm not saying that you all should fake it, but I'm saying that you should believe yourself enough to give yourself a fighting chance to just be you.

You are good enough.

Just the way you are right now.

With unwashed hair, with messy houses, with clean houses, with unfinished projects strewn about your craft room, with half polished nails. You are enough even when you are wearing your old high school flip flops and favorite t-shirt that is all very not Pin-worthy.

You are enough.

 

"Where did all of this come from Emilee?"

I found myself comparing my life, my writing style, my ability to complete tasks, the way I present myself, among everything else to someone else this week.

Why would I do that??

Comparing two different people is foolish. Just because we are both human doesn't mean ANY of our circumstances and how we got to where we are are the same.

It's like comparing apples and rocket ships.

There is simply no comparison. They are two completely different entities.

Both awesome and delicious (wait what??), but different.

Just like each of us.

 

Break away from the Pinterest Blues.

Because guess what, you are enough.