So recently I’ve become very intentional with posting real life moments on my Instagram account and, honestly, it’s so liberating.

You see, for most of my adult life I’ve found myself striving to be the “perfect family”. I only shared the funny or photogenic moments of life. Don’t get me wrong, some moments were genuine and photogenic but mostly the “perfect” photos were staged in one way or another.

When my husband and I were getting ready to get married we met with our minister for a mini counseling session (which means one dinner talking about what marriage was and what each of us had to bring to the table), in this meeting our minister said something that’s stuck with me. He said “don’t forget people only post the highlight reel on social media”. It took me about 4 years of marriage before I realized that’s exactly what I was doing. So I made a deal with myself recently to start showing real life more often.

The response my posts have gotten has been out of this world! I keep getting messages thanking me! Can you believe that? People are thanking me for showing the struggles because it helps them realize they don’t have to be the perfect social media family we all see. Beyond that, showing the real life moments have helped me realize that I don’t have to be perfect and neither does my family. It’s given me a strange peace about the chaos that goes on in our family. It’s also given people the opportunity to share with me the situations they’ve gone through and how they came out of them. I’ve received great advice from those that have gone through stuff before me.

I hope each of you is brave enough to show your #reallife on social media (which sometimes is as scary as high school but a million times bigger). It can be words, a picture, a video, or a combination but somehow show the real you. Stop showing your highlight reel and be you!

Let me know how you’ve shown your real life recently!