Day 22 of 365: Writing Honestly

First, a painting update: we have found a way around putting up the window treatments without digging out the spackle, mudding the hole, and so on, and so forth. We placed the mounting brackets an inch further out than its original spots. Not only does it cover up the uneven patching job they did on the first brackets, but it makes the windows appear bigger. While I would prefer not having to reinstall all our window treatments, I do appreciate the regal look our dining room and den now have. The painters are back today, fixing their mistakes, hopefully without making any more.


I tend to write candidly. This has been my way since day one. I understand there are venues where you filter what you want to say (like FB when you have your grandparents friended), but, for the most part, I am honest about my life and what I write about. It's given me a good amount of praise, as well as a good amount of criticism. I make no bones about what happens in my life, even if it doesn't portray me as some semi-perfect entity. I've been unabashedly candid about my teacher burnout, the 8 months of severe insomnia (and the complications of taking melatonin to combat it), when I've been upset or frustrated or stressed. I hold nothing back, especially in avenues like my blogs.


There are two reasons for it. One: because I know no other way. I write about what I think about, and if I have something on my mind, then it's what I'm going to write about. I have no interest in trying to lie about my life, or play down any aspect, even if that aspect doesn't put me in the best light.


The other reason is almost reactionary. We live in a very public world, where everyone knows practically everything else. As a result, people have become their own PR agents. Everything is spun online to make them look smart, or fun, or cool, or creative, or quirky. Everyone is desperate to prove themselves, and that means pretending like nothing ever goes wrong, or that they're never flustered by what life brings them.


But that's life. You win some; you lose some. Sometimes you're on your A game; sometimes you're on the sidelines. And while I'd never advocate going on, say, Facebook, and bitching every time something doesn't go your way, I hope we as a society can calm down. We don't need to take pictures of our food and drinks to prove to people that we go out sometimes. We don't need to take selfies every time we do our makeup to prove how "pretty" we are. We don't need to post transcripts of our conversations to prove how witty we are (and -- honestly? -- the mix of inside jokes and random phrases is never as funny to the outside world as it is to you). We don't need to pretend like we always take things in stride and never -- never! -- become irrational.


Go on now. It's okay. Embrace it. You're only human.