There are so many fascinating bloggers and it’s easy to get caught in comparing ourselves to the incredible women we read about. We may even lose touch with reality and begin to feel like everyone around us always has a clean house, well-behaved children, and endless amounts of time to plan the perfect parties or DIY crafts. But is that reality? This blogger helps us all come back to earth and enjoy the beauty of what our own reality really is.
I always say that I want my blog to be a place where we can laugh together, cry together, and just be real with one another.
But am I being real? Does anyone really know me from reading my blog?
When you look at my blog, any blog really, it might seem like we lead these perfect whimsical lives. Our children are always well dressed and smiling, our hair is always just so, our husbands make prince charming eat his heart out and the only thing more spotless than our house is our spiritual walk.
Or so it seems.
Everyone knows, or should know, that a blog is just a small part of a person's life that they're sharing with the world. But why is it always this part? This pleasantville-picture-perfect-leave-it-to-beaver life?
Because people out here on the internet judge you based on it. I have a blogging friend who has readers literally dedicate hours to leave nasty comments and write negative posts about her on other websites. I have other blogging friends who have their parenting questioned or their love for their children. Another friend who writes about her journey with weight loss and is worried about posting her actual weight on her site because she knows her high school friends read her blog. I know for myself, people at my husband's job scrutinize every single word I write, often in the hopes of finding something to mock 5ohHubby for.
And that's why we only share this tiny sliver.
Because we are afraid.
Afraid of what people might think.
Afraid of what might be said about us.
Afraid of people judging us.
Afraid of people mocking us.
Afraid that if people knew who we really were, what our house and our lives really looked like then they wouldn't accept us.
So we pose our lives, pose our children, and sometimes even convince our hubby's to pose. Everything is clean and bright and perfect.
But that's not how God sees us.
And it's a good thing, too.
Because, no matter what it usually looks like on my blog, I'm not perfect.
I don't have it all together and neither does my family.
My daughter isn't always smiling.
My husband works long, hard, weird hours so he misses a lot of events.
Sometimes we skip church, even if we don't have a good reason.
Sometimes my house looks like this.
Ok, a lot of the time.
But the cool thing is, God knows me.
And He loves me anyways.
So, that's where I find who I am.
Not in my stats. Not in my comments.
Not in the "me" I choose to share with the internet, but in Him.
About Ashley
Ashley is the writer behind the website 5ohWifey. Ashley is a southern girl now living in California (against her will). She is the wife of a police officer she calls 5ohHubby and a stay at home mother to a beautiful little girl she calls 5ohBaby. Ashley received a BA from Florida State (Go Noles!) that started out as an English Degree, ended up a social science degree, and is now being used as a MRS degree (because she's a wifey now... get it?) Basically she paid FSU lots & lots o' cash to meet the man of her dreams and be the back up plan in case 5ohHubby decides his days of runnin' and gunnin' are over and he'd rather be a stay at home dad (and all the police wives laughed). Her candid musings touch on the issues that speak to the hearts of wives, mothers, and women everywhere.Ashley Blogs at 5ohWifey.