Friday, April 3, 2009

blogging...hummm

This picture has nothing to do with the post. I just had to add it becuase I like pictures along with posts. :)


When I was first introduced to the wondrous world of blogging (before I ever had a blog) I found myself with a slight self-esteem issue.

I remember sitting at my computer that Sunday night clicking from blog to blog to blog to blog...I couldn't stop myself. It was like I was in a trance. I was blog hopping for literally 2 hours and with each click my self esteem got lower and lower.

Why?...

I wasn't quite sure so I decided on the easy fix... ban myself from ever looking at anymore blogs. ever.

Even though I stopped looking at blogs, I kept trying to figure out why I got so down on myself that bleak Sunday night. After a few days I finally figured out the mystery...

I found that when I was checking out all these blogs I kept comparing my life to the lives of these bloggers. The thoughts that kept racing through my mind were,

wow, she does the most creative things with her kids...
Look how cute HER clothes are...
she is a WAY better photographer than I am...
they do family home evening EVERY week...
THEIR house is so organized and clean...
Even their DOG is obedient...

After I finally figured out what was bothering me I had to take a step back and re-evaluate. As I looked at the big picture I could obviously see that I too had good qualities and just because someone posts something great about THEIR life didn't mean that my life was any less great.

I'm 31 years old and I had to re-learn a basic life lesson.

But I'm glad because this is what I learned...

We ALL have strengths, we ALL have weaknesses. Which ones are most likely to be posted on your blog? Your STRENGTHS of course. I'm the first one to admit that before I ever post a picture of myself on MY blog I scrutinize it to make sure that it makes me look as thin as possible and that it doesn't show my less than perfect complextion. It's true, I admit it. I've also learned that most of us don't blog about the times when we all stay in our PJ's until noon (most days for me), our kids WILL NOT listen to a word you say, there's a pungent odor that could be coming from the fridge, garbage or the bathroom and you can't locate it, the laundry is piled so high and the only reason you're REALLY doing it is because you need clean underwear for tomorrow or that you haven't actually scrubbed your shower in over a month. These are the things that don't seem to quite make it on the blog. (uh, I guess until now.)

But that's okay.

For me, and I think most of us, our blogs are about documenting the positive moments in our lives that we never want to forget. It's about showing our friends and family why you are so darn proud of your kids and husbands. It's about being a part of a community where you can interact with other people and share thoughts and ideas.

My slogan for my photography is "capture the moment before everything changes forever". That's what I'm doing when I write each post. It's a journal/scrapbook that I will always have to remember this particular time in my life. It's a way for me to record all the "firsts" but to also record all the special "everyday moments" that make up our lives.

So to those of you who have ever felt intimidated by anybody's life after viewing their blog...
just know that you too are amazing and that someone is probably viewing your blog right now thinking...WOW, she's incredible.

9 comments:

Erin Cannon said...

You are incredible! I love that I am getting to know old friends in their new lives. I am so blessed to have known you and hope to re-energize our old friendship. YOU ROCK girl and your blog is AWESOME!

Camille said...

Katie -
I love this! and I love your blog! I love the things that you remind me about! The funny thing about blogging is exactly as you said, very rarely do we post our blogs about the time we got so mad are our kids that we yelled at them.....or the time that we just didn't feel like fixing dinner so we had a frozen pizza - here are pics....or sheesh I don't want to clean my house - here's the pics of just how messy my house is. We like to disclose the BEST things about us, and thus when we are looking at blogs, we don't really get a glimpse into the "real life!........however, it is fun to see and so fun to catch up.
Love you!

Anna said...

Katie,
That is so true! I felt the same way when I started my blog (and still do at times). Thanks for your post - I love reading your blog!

Karen said...

I think you are great! I love your pics and sometimes feel very envious that you can take such great pictures. BUT...I too understand what you said in your post and have come to grips with the fact that you have a great talent and I have a great talent for other things. Thanks for sharing your talents with me.

KatieB said...

i always post about how messy my house is. perfect people's blogs are boring and i don't read them. i always get jealous when i read your blog because your pictures always show what a great mom you are and how much time you and jonathon spend with your kids doing great stuff. sadly, i use my exhaustion as an excuse not to do fun stuff with my kids sometimes.

Nancy Crawford said...

Katie, I want to share a secret with you (which now will no longer be a secret). I am looked at other blogs before and after I built mine, and took ideas from their's that I liked to incorporate in mine. At first I thought the more "stuff" like fancy backgrounds the better. But the more I thought and read your blog, the more I liked it. Clean. Simple. The focus: Your words and photography. So I have taken that idea and choose to do the same. Now please tell me - how do you get your pictures to display so large? I have't figured that out yet. Keep writing....Nancy

caroline said...

I always think "wow, she's incredible!" when I read your blog! you have a great talent for documenting the good yet the real stuff both in pictures and in words. I really appreciate that about you and about blogging. I enjoy seeing the highlights and the good things that people are doing. It inspires me to be a better person. I also appreciate the bloggers out there that tell it like it is because we can all relate! I love your blog- it's a good balance of both :)

Anonymous said...

This is soooo true! You are awesome! Why did you have to leave Vegas?! :) I miss you!

The Jen said...

You said it. I had the same issue, and resolved it the same way. Except I still look at my friends blogs, because I gotta keep up, and plus I get good ideas from you guys all the time. For instance, the chocolate chip, marshmallow, graham cracker tea party? Gwen begs for it ALL the time :)