I was honored to be invited to a birthday dinner party last night celebrating my beautiful friend Britney. It had been on my calendar for quite some time, but in this world of showing and selling our house, my schedule is constantly up in the air. I’m working to anticipate that the showing call will almost certainly come at THE most inconvenient time. (But oh, how I hate that!)
Yesterday was no exception.
Dinner was at 6:00 pm in West Plano. At 4:45, after making all the preparations, the boys, both dogs & I piled into our sweaty car, loaded down with dog beds, food and water bowls. We parked around the corner to stalk the house, waiting for someone to arrive, so we could return as quickly as possible. (Yes, yes we did.) Our 4:45 showing arrived at 5:35 and stayed until almost 6:00. Then I unloaded the dogs, and all their things, back into the house before running to freshen up and sit in traffic to get down to the party.
A shout out to all the mamas trying to sell their houses!
As I walked over the patio, I could hear my friends before I could see them, but it didn’t take long to spot their bright balloons and happy faces. So of course, I got a wild hair to whip out my phone and start taking pictures of them, pretending to be the paparazzi. But they spotted me, and spoiled my plan, by laughing, smiling and waving wildly.
I still have the pictures though.
When I woke up this morning and looked at all the ridiculous pictures we took, this one was my favorite, by far. I laughed out loud because it literally looks like they are SO excited to see me. Like I’m their favorite person ever. If I had posted it on social media with a caption of “Just arrived for the party!” it would have been easy to assume they were genuinely THAT happy to see me. It might make you feel like there’s something wrong with you or your friends if they don’t greet you with this much excitement. Right?!
Social media can be deceiving.
It’s the highlight reel. It’s only a snapshot of the perfect moments. . . that have been filtered and retouched to perfection. Which is fine to an extent, because as we chatted about earlier in the week, the mess isn’t for the masses. BUT if you take the images you see on social, and compare them to your real life, without reminding yourself of the truth, it can wreak havoc on your self-esteem and your real relationships.
Social media is not the truth.
While we did have a wonderful time last night, and I’m quite sure my friends were glad to see me, they weren’t this glad. So please, take long breaks from your screen. Take ownership and invite your real friends (or the friends you want to make) to meet up, in person. And by all means, have realistic expectations for how those moments will go.
Real people are imperfect.
They are messy. They’re not photoshopped to perfection, jumping up and down with joy to see you. They’re tired and struggling too, but they need you to show up.
You need them too.
Face to face.
That’s the truth.
to more love,Crystal
