And Now, a Post About Societal Pressure

I caught a prompt on WordPress that finally sparked something in my brain. Something about “having it all”. This is something that should be talked about.

Societal pressures through social media and the standards we have begun setting for ourselves and those around us have become a tad bit ridiculous. Pinterest perfect weddings, Instagram worthy nights out on the town, an album full of photos of things to impress our Facebook fans with. It’s gotten to be too much.

I used to chase the dream of what I thought “having it all” meant – house, the newest phone, new car, money. Now, that all looks very different from me. I want adventures, a good glass of wine, low blood pressure, … and okay, I still want a paper bag full of hundred dollar bills but that’s because feeding three teenage boys is expensive and cuts into my adventure money.

When I was talking to my therapist about how I was stressed out about having one of my stepsons turning 18, my husband graduating from college, and the 18 year old graduating from high school she had me check myself. I was making the celebrations about what I thought other people would want, not what they would actually want. And why is that? To flaunt it on Instagram? To show Facebook how good I can throw a party? I consulted with the two men in my life that needed to be celebrated and turns out they wanted very minimal things, things that very much suit their personalities as their rendition of a celebration. My stress went out the window.

I have too much going on in my life as-is to try to keep up with the Joneses. Sometimes you just gotta keep it simple.