Earlier on Instagram, you’ll have seen I was baking a lemon drizzle cake.
I showed the perfect shot of a beautiful baking set up – cake mixer, scales, cookbook & strategically placed lemons.
I imagined taking a picture of it gracefully sat on the cake stand on the dining room table after dinner. A Pinterest worthy cake, with lemons scattered around the base & a flower carefully placed on top.
Picture perfect for my ‘perfect’ life & home.
This is how my lemon drizzle cake turned out.
What I got was probably the biggest cake disaster in the whole history of baking. It fell apart instantly when I tried to take it out of the cake tin & despite my best attempts to save it…it was beyond help. Even the drizzle didn’t help.
This is life on social media. We all sit behind our gorgeous accounts with styled images & never a hair out of place selfies. We hide behind the fakeness despite it making others feel awful about their own life when ours seem so completely flawless.
My house isn’t always spotless, I have two children so it’s often scattered with toys & dirty nappies like any other mother. I have stains on my sofas that don’t show up when I take a photo, thank god.
I can guarantee the fashion blogger you follow doesn’t always look so beautiful. She has days where she breaks out with spots & doesn’t get dressed or bother putting on makeup. She hates certain parts of herself, just like the rest of us.
I can guarantee that healthy food blogger you follow sometimes craves (& eats!) a greasy takeaway & has ‘fat days’ where they simply don’t care about what goes into their temple of a body.
I can guarantee the parent blogger that has the happiest children & constantly does all those wonderful things with them, that a ‘good mum’ should do, only shows those snippets. She doesn’t show you when little Bertie is having a mental breakdown in the middle of Asda, or when she puts them in front of Peppa Pig all afternoon for a bit of peace & quiet.
What I’m trying to say is, don’t compare yourself to social media.
Life is like my ugly lemon drizzle cake….a complete mess, but it still tastes just as gorgeous.
Love, Charlotte x
Well said or should I say written ☺!!! These days I often feel "inadequate"… with a 3 month old gorgeous baby girl and my two wild boys running around, our home is far from picture perfect… but to be honest I wouldn't change it for anything!! Your blog post did make me feel much better though �� xxx Popie, Athens
Greece
Well said or should I say written ☺!!! These days I often feel "inadequate"… with a 3 month old gorgeous baby girl and my two wild boys running around, our home is far from picture perfect… but to be honest I wouldn't change it for anything!! Your blog post did make me feel much better though �� xxx Popie, Athens
Greece
I couldn't agree more with what you have said! I constantly worry what my house looks like to the point I've become obsessed! Making lists of the next thing I need to buy to completely my home and seeing pictures of the perfect homes only makes it harder! All I ever seem to want is The nicest clothes and the best of make up and beautiful things for my home and little girl and baby on the way! Maybe this is how social Media will make us want to see life as…. The perfect picture..but I'm sure the imperfect looking cake still tasted great!
Well said…no ones life is perfect all the time x
Well said…no ones life is perfect all the time x
So true, thanks for putting it out there though, we all need reminding from time to time.
Hi Popie
Wow, reading all the way from Greece, that's amazing!
Just think, so many people would do anything to be in the position that you're in with 3 beautiful children so sod the pristine home x
I am so the same! I think social media is definitely to blame for the constant desire for more more more. I feel like I'll never be happy with what I've got even though I know how incredibly lucky & fortunate I am x
Amen to that! x
No problem at all – it's nice to know that even the popular IG accounts aren't all that perfect 🙂 x
My blog thrives on the honesty I share with my readers. The engagement my social media reaches is because they can relate because I share real home truths all of the time. No online person is perfect. Social Media can be the devil sometimes…
This is exactly why I don't bake! And I'm always sceptical of those social media accounts that never show a whining child or messy house.
Sarah | http://www.digitalmotherhood.com
Very well said. Especially the fashion blogger one lol. I find myself comparing myself to so many Instagram accounts etc and as you so well said my life is a mess but it's still good lol x
I was thinking I bet it tasted just fine though! Well done, true wise words!
Oh, this makes me feel so much better! I have had similar baking disasters too. I love that you blogged about it! I wrote something along the same lines this week actually saying the same as you, that life isn't always as perfect as we see on Insta, after a painting session with my kids got very chaotic and messy. It's so good to be reminded that it happens to other people too! x
Eh, when life gives you lemons… Make a mess 🙂 I bet it tasted amazing though