Let’s be real: we know the pictures we see online of other people’s lives do not tell the whole story. Everyone only posts to their social media when they are happy or doing something cool, with the intention of showing the world the fabulous life they live. No one ever really shares the struggles/heartaches or difficulties of navigating through the everyday minutae.
I’ve had quite a few friends and acquaintances tell me in the past that:
“Wow your life is amazing, you always travel! “
“Your life is so exciting!”
“You’re living it up! I’m so jealous”
I appreciate these comments. I hope that my travels and my posts inspire people to get out and try new things. However, I do not lead an amazing, fabulous life. It is not exciting. I’m just like you and everyone else. In fact, life is actually kind of crazy and stressful, and in the last couple of years, I’ve had more downs than ups.
Life is Not Fabulous
A couple of years ago, my mom got sick, the two guys I dated right after (not at the same time, but one after the other) each turned into really bad experiences. Then just a couple of months after my mom got better, my dad got sick and needed major surgery.
It was one thing after another, and dealing with all the stress led my body to essentially shut down–my face broke out all over the place, I wasn’t sleeping properly most nights and from my darkened eye circles you could definitely tell. Oh yea, and I was working all the time to make up for the time I took off to go home and be with family.
So, in a nutshell, life was awful.
I thought that once I got through that things would level out. But as any adult will tell you, life just happens. You can’t control it, you can’t plan for it. Even when you take steps towards good things, there are difficulties right around the corner.
I’m sure my story is nothing compared to what some people go through. But that’s the thing, EVERYONE goes through stuff. Life has its ups and downs and sometimes the downs are so bad, and last so long, you wonder if you’ll get through it.
I Just Create Fabulous Moments
I cope by creating pockets of happy. I book a vacation (see below for my latest :)) or I schedule some time off in order to give myself something to look forward to. If I have a weekend off, I purposely make zero plans so that I don’t have any obligations to fulfill. Then I use that time to do something fabulous. For me this includes forcing myself to focus on other things, to relax, to unwind, to destress (as much as possible), and to regain balance.
That then is what everyone sees.
I’m single, so taking time is obviously a lot easier than for those who are married or have families. But, pockets of happiness don’t have to be grand vacations or super expensive spa days. I can’t always do that either. So then, I focus on the little things and try to practice self-care at home. Sitting on my balcony with a cup of tea; putting on a facemask before bed; doing yoga even if it’s for 10 minutes; or, taking a few minutes longer in the shower (because seriously, what’s better than a long hot shower?).
While these things are small, for me, they are still fabulous because they make me happy.
So, be reassured that everyone has nonsense they are dealing with. In this messy life, just find the moments where you can insert your recipe for fabulous and create those pockets of happy for yourself.
What do you find fabulous?
Share your recipe below! 🙂