Keeping it real versus the highlight reel? What do you reckon?

I was at lunch with my husband recently. We ordered some beers and they were served in the little ice bucket. Before we took one out hubby looked at me and said “I assume you want to take a photo?” I responded with, “that would be excellent thank you.” A spot of styling, photo was taken and hashtagged appropriately and posted on Instagram and Facebook.

Kepping it real Versus the highlight

Husband took my phone off me and scrolled through my Instagram photos. He then made a comment, “you realise your life looks pretty fucking awesome right?” I was a bit stunned. I laughed it off and said, “it’s the highlight reel Hun.”

I started to think about it more that afternoon and I want to know what you think. My Instagram photos and Facebook photos really are the highlight reel. But do you know what I love when I scroll through my feeds? I love the real photos shared by friends and other bloggers. These are the ones I feel I connect with more and LOL spontaneously when I see them. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for lovely, positive and pretty. But I talk about being “real” so much and it is a goal of mine in general, taking the mask off etc, it seems fake to not being sharing the more real moments with you.

The real things in my life include things like bad sleep, toddler tantrums, trying to work out how to stop my daughter hitting me, dealing with a hyperactive dog and picking her poo up, so much washing and folding, watching the Kardashians and the Bold & the Beautiful when I should be doing other productive things and then complaining I don’t have enough time, going to bed at 7.30 to “read” and promptly falling asleep, lower back pain, a mild anxiety disorder, encouraging my daughter to watch TV so I can work because I watched Kardashians when she was asleep instead of worked, and loads of insecurities.

So this is what I would like you to tell me:

1) Would you like to see and hear more about the “real” stuff?

2) What are the real things happening in your life that you would like me to talk about as well? (You can email me at [email protected] if you prefer rather than comment below).

I think for now I am going to try and make my feed a bit more balanced and real. But I would really love to hear what you think. So please let me know.

Sarah xx

6 thoughts on “Keeping it real versus the highlight reel? What do you reckon?

  1. Reannon @shewhorambles says:

    I think most people only show &/or writte their highlight reel. It’s natural, I think, for people to want to show the nice/pretty/great things in their lives. The only time it shits me is if they act like the perfection is the norm. That just makes me nuts.
    I’m all for the real. Real is my favourite. It’s what I like to show to everyone, online & IRL, & real includes the good, the bad, the pretty & the downright ugly 😉

    • Sarah says:

      I think I need to reprogram my blogger-brain to capture the real moments as well as the awesome ones. That said it can take a looonnggg time to capture the awesome ones some days. Plus I just bang on so much about how I am all about the real – I think I need to show it a bit more to stay authentic. Good luck with your shopping today woman! I’m about to try and put the tot’s art station together. Wish me luck! S xx

  2. Carrie says:

    Ha ha, LOVED the sharing, it made me laugh even if that wasn’t the intention, maybe out of relief that it’s okay!
    This is my real/reel prediction for our holidays.
    Reel: lots of family happy snaps of the baby’s first seaside summer vacation, token ocean shots and food /drink photos.
    Real: nervous first time mum terrified of accidentally getting new baby sunburnt. Having constant internal battle over whether or not to have that one celebratory champagne or wine (while breastfeeding), feeling bad for not getting expressing and bottle feeding sorted out. Hoping enough relatives will want to play with baby so I can watch some trashy foxtel. Wishing I was thinner and wondering if I my decision to use cloth nappies and the labour involved is the reason I’m overweight because, is it because of them I don’t have time to make healthy food choices? Middle back pain and bad posture. Getting used to spending 24/7 with husband and staying with family which always leaves me with a fresh dose of middle child syndrome.

    • Sarah says:

      I think I forgot to mention that some days Carrie, I find playing with my daughter the most tedious thing in the world. Today was one of those days! But she is so God damn cute – takes the edge off.

      The first vacation is a big test. At least you have the support of Paulo and doting grandparents who will hopefully encourage you to have some time on your own. Try not to fret about having expressing sorted. My boobs were never fond of it so i lived by “if I can drive a car, I can breast feed a baby.” I got that from one of Pinky McKay’s articles – check her out if you haven’t already maybe. And don’t be too hard on yourself re the weight stuff. It took nine months to make the baby, at a minimum give yourself nine months to start feeling normal again I say. Or longer, I think M was about 14 months when I was feeling myself and not so ‘psycho’.

      Have an AWESOME holiday!!! You will do great. S xx

  3. Jo says:

    Real is the best stuff ever and mums need to let it out more. We look at other mums and think that things look easy in their world but the reality is that it’s not and i think we are afraid to let it out and we shouldn’t because we could all help each other with the “real”

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