Social media is a funny thing. It can be knock-your-socks-off awesome and it can be curl-up-in-fetal-position-crying-on-the-bathroom-floor awful. Sounds like motherhood, too, but that’s not really what I want to talk about. Actually, it kind of is, because all of it really does go hand-in-hand…except when we only see the good and not the reality of the in-between. Because the in-between of my own reality is that some days aren’t good. Some days stink around here – literally and figuratively. In and through it all, the one awesome part I’ve found about sharing the in-between on a variety of social mediums is that people relate and appreciate the real more than the “hi-lite reel” of the three seconds my kids weren’t actually trying to kill each other – or better yet, a still photo of them in a head-lock that could be quoted and mistaken as a hug.

I’m as guilty as the next person scrolling through perfectly coiffed kids and homes and yards and dogs and wanting what “they” have – except in reality, their life is in no way 100% perfectly coiffed. And for what it’s worth, “coif” is a really fun word to type and say. Hopefully I’ve spelled and used it correctly here.

At the risk of further digressing, what I’m really trying to say is that I like being real, sharing real and seeing and hearing your own real, because real is what matters. Real is where we grow from, learn from and encourage from. Sometimes I think my real is too real – like when I video myself and can’t help but cry, because my feelings tend to grow sleeves and I tend to wear them at the most awkward times. But that’s me. That might not be you. You might never cry, you might not like hugs and you might not see everything the way I do – but I bet we share something in common. And that’s what I love finding out. There’s a place in this life we all intersect in some way. There’s something that connects us and it’s awesome when we find it with someone we would assume it didn’t exist with.

I’ve broken way too many rules of grammar and repeated some words here way too often, but I feel better having said all of this. If anyone has read or listened all the way to this point, I wish I could give you a hug. Unless you don’t like hugs, then maybe a fist bump…or air high-five (or whatever that’s called.) Either way, I appreciate you hearing me out and I’m here to hear you out, too. We are all in this crazy life together and I reckon when we start sharing more of our real, we’ll be on our way to really sharing.

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Last year I started a vlog – and recorded four whopping videos. A year later I decided I’d try again. Consistent inconsistency is my go-to in life. If you are in for the consistent crazy of farm life, mom life and “just life” – shared inconsistently – you’re invited to tag along and subscribe here on my YouTube channel. (And of course I cried on the first one back – see below …but I get it out of the way and then laugh hysterically at a backfiring mower. I just can’t be the only one who loves a good backfire. Right? :D)