{comparison is the thief of joy}

I know over here I'm usually posting about fabulous design, pretty clothes, and fantastic DIYs, but I've got a little bit of a different post for you today. A reflection & confession of sorts.

Every time I post a photo on Instagram, I secretly think to myself "if only people could see the 10 horrible photos it took to get this one good shot," or "if they only saw just outside of this tiny square to the mess lurking behind the scenes." I posted this pic above the other day, I was feeling sick and staying home for the day - and it's true that I did sit reading on my iPad eating fabulous berries BUT what you couldn't see in the picture was that my desk was COVERED in crinkled Kleenex balls. So I guess what I'm saying is, take everything that you see people post with a grain of salt. There were ten bad photos for the one great shot you see. We are living in an age where we are bombarded with imagery, and as a blogger I definitely feel pressure to post the perfect shot. Bloggers are now being expected to be professional photographers, writers, stylists, and editors all in one. What a team of people do for a whole magazine, a blogger is being expected to do on their own, and produce as good of results as the magazines do! That's a lot of pressure. So with that pressure you now have a crop of young women displaying lives that look perfect, and that can be a wee bit dangerous. We compare ourselves with the perfect images we see others post - but remember we are only seeing a small 'Instagram-sized' square, and likely, their is a mess lurking closely behind the scenes in all of these photos.

Be weary of comparison, it's the thief of joy. There will always be someone with the perfect body, a big fabulously decorated house, an amazing job, someone who has more followers on Pinterest, someone who throws better parties, and Instagrams prettier photos. I often tell my students to think of the leather blinders that race horses wear in order to prevent them from seeing to the side. The tactic is for the horse to focus on what is in front of him, encouraging him to pay attention to the race rather than other distractions. Maybe we could all use a pair of these blinders from time to time? Comparison can make us all a little crazy, don't let it steal your joy!