Pinterest is fun. “Pinspirational” is a word for a reason. But for many of us, it can make the “real” world seem just a little disappointing: why is everything not as pretty as it should be? Why am I not able to create a stunning centerpiece from the twigs and rocks in my front entryway? And why does my child’s birthday cake look like, well, a child’s birthday cake? Shouldn’t it be an animated forest creature, or the cast of Frozen?
Pinterest Stress is real: one survey showed nearly half of moms reporting feelings of inadequacy due to their inability to craft with grace and elegance.
One way to put things into perspective is to share our frustrations so we can laugh at them. The website Pinterest Fail (tagline: Where Good Intentions Come to Die) does just that: viewers upload their own examples of failed projects for others to share. Even Real Simple Magazine, the Purveyor of All Things Perfection, has a Women In Real Life — @WomenIRL — campaign on Instagram that features less-than-ideal images and efforts.
The thousands of images we process each day shape the way we think. Avoid the endless trap of wanting more, and wanting better. Instead, revel in the messiness of your real life. It’s the one we have, and, when we think about it, it’s also the one we want.