Secrets and Lies…

That’s the title of a new show starting Ryan Phillippe.  It’s really good.  But….

That’s not what I want to talk about today.  This is somewhat a follow up on what I posted the other day about being both a hot mess and beyond awesome at the same time.

I found out something pretty shocking about someone I know today.  In terms of SHOCKING – well it’s pretty tame.  But this is a person who puts it out there that she has the perfect life and has it all together, and now that façade is beginning to crumble and the truth is coming out.

It made me think about a few years ago when a person I knew who had the most amazing loving marriage announced that divorce proceedings had started.  I was so caught off guard – and what bothered me even more was the GLEEFUL way some others talked about it – like they were delighted to learn that this person’s life was not what it seemed to be.

Or when the person I so admired for being incredibly fit and thin and how she was so careful about what she ate and only chose healthy things – and it seemed SO FREAKING EASY for her.  And then I accidentally ran across her hiding in a closet frantically eating Oreos.  I was so shocked because I never in a million years would have guessed that she had that secret!

I have a terrible problem comparing myself to other people.  And we BOMBARDED with people on Facebook and Instagram showing off their wonderful, perfect lives.  I always take that at face value.

But we don’t know what lurks behind the scenes… I would be nothing but happy for someone whose life is as amazing as what I fantasize it to be.

Then I find out secrets about other people.  And I find out that some people think that it is a cakewalk for me – that the eating right and exercising is so easy – which anyone who reads this knows it is not.

Finding out what I did today – that just is another lesson for me.  I shouldn’t envy or assume – because what appears on the surface is not necessarily what lies beneath.  Sometimes it is someone who is full of shit putting on a show.  And sometimes it is someone who is struggling and ashamed or scared or any number of things.

Either way, I am trying to get to the point where I simply value and respect my reality.  I’ll let you know if I ever get there – you’ll probably see it on Facebook