NEWS FLASH! No one is perfect!

Ya know what I really wish I could do? I wish I could stop comparing myself to other people. I wish I could just feel great about my marriage, my kids, my clothes, my house, and the way I look and not care about what anyone else was doing. Is that even possible? Is there anyone out there who just feels completely confident in how they're living their life? I would love to talk to you, if you exist.

I feel like ever since I became a mom, this has been a particularly big problem. There are so many different styles of parenting, and everyone is more than willing to share their opinions on how to parent, that it's really  hard to feel like you're doing a good job! And has anyone else noticed that moms have this insane need to prove to other people that they are completely awesome? Don't get me wrong, I do it too! You do some super fun activity with your kids, and you take pictures and plaster them all over the internet--why? Seriously, why? Sure, maybe you want your long-distance relatives to see what you've been up to. But then, why not send them an email? We do it because we want to prove to all the other moms out there that we are amazing!

"Look! My kid can write his name!"
"My kid scored 10 goals in his soccer game!"
"My 1-year-old can read!"
"I never let my kids watch tv"
"Look! We are having family scripture study!"
"I do fun crafts with my kids every day! And I spend every waking moment spending time with them."
"My 2-week-old is sleeping through the night."
"My kid just found the cure for cancer!"

 Really, what is all of this supposed to convey? Is the fact that your baby is a good sleeper supposed to make that sleep-deprived mom whose baby woke up 10 times last night feel any better about her situation? Like I said, I have been more than guilty of putting things like this out there--and I pretend like I'm doing it because someone really cares about the fact that Jackson knows his letter sounds--but when I really stop to think about why I post something like that, it's because I want people to think that I'm awesome! How dumb is that? Why can't I just feel confident that I am doing all I can to get my child ready to start school?

It's funny because we spend so much time comparing ourselves to other people and wishing we could be more fashionable/a better mom/a better cook, and we really have no idea how other people view us. We beat ourselves up about these things when, in reality, our neighbor down the street might be jealous of how cute our hair always looks or how our house always looks emaculate. That mom at playgroup might look at how patient you are with your kids and think, "man, I wish I was as good of a mom as she is," when, in reality, you feel guilty about yelling at your kids earlier that morning!

I think what we all need is a good healthy dose of perspective. Very rarely, do people publicize the negative things about their life. That couple in front of you at church who is alway so lovey-dovey? They may be in couples therapy. That mom who seems to always have her act together? She may be suffering from depression. That family who just bought a brand new minivan that you're so jealous of? They might be thousands of dollars in debt from school, but bought it anyway because shoving three kids into a smaller vehicle was making the wife want to blow her brains out. (I may or may not have personal experience with that last scenario). You never know what people's lives are really like by what they look like from the outside. Sometimes I wish I could see myself the way others see me. I think I would learn a lot about what my strengths and weaknesses really are instead of what I think they are. Since, that really isn't possible, I want to make a concerted effort to stop trying to show the world how awesome I am and to start trying to prove to myself and my family how awesome I am. And that means, stop worrying about my kids being perfectly well-behaved all the time, stop stressing out about the fact that some days we watch too much tv and don't eat enough vegetables, stop hating myself for not putting on make-up and wearing a cute outfit every day, and especially stop trying to portray myself as super-mom/wife/homemaker when, in reality, I am so far from any of those things. I am me. I am imperfect. But I am working on it. And that's good enough.