Pretty Pictures

With most people, it is natural to want to be liked and to be looked at as shiny & new…free of faults.  You meet new friends and it is refreshing to have a clean slate of sorts.  They are unfamiliar with your idiosyncrasies, bad habits & short comings.  They know nothing of your hypocritical tendency to curse like a sailor and then glare at the guy on the train dropping F-bombs into his cell.  Your OCD hides behind the guise of being a self-proclaimed neat freak and your children/husband/wife/boyfriend, (please fill in appropriate title) are always "the BEST!"  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with painting a pretty picture…it is human nature to do so.  One of the beautiful things about intimate relationships though, friends, spouses or otherwise, is that they've come to know all of the crazy, annoying things about you and (shocker!) still love you.

I personally believe, to my core, the power of thinking positively & seeing the good in people/things.  That doesn't mean I've never questioned it, or even that I practice it 100% of the time; just that consistently, it's helped more than hurt me throughout life.  How much easier would everything be if we could navigate through our days without any fear of being judged, reprimanded or "fixed"?  If we could expose our deepest fears and anxieties in a social setting without feeling as though someone else was filtering our every word to hear only what they wanted out of it.  Nowadays, life at work, school & even church can become a soap opera turned into a National Enquirer front page and a simple statement about being tired can morph into you having mono by the time the story reaches person 3.  Seriously, who wants to share??  All the yentas aside…it is refreshing to be yourself and not care what the hell someone else thinks.  Letting it all hang out actually makes you more comfortable around others…and them more comfortable around you.

How exhausting to feel the need to maintain a stiff smile when you're just sad, (or pissed!)  I know, I've done it plenty myself.  There have been numerous times when one of the kids is being horrible in a formal setting and all I want to do is take him outside by the ear, but instead I smile through gritted teeth and calmly say, "please stop" in a controlled, nice-mommy voice.  I find it hilarious when someone comments how well behaved they are or how much patience I have…so much that I've actually had to hold back saying "HA! Yeah right!!" to a perfect stranger who was just giving us kind compliments.

Propriety will always have its place, and manners will always reign supreme as lady or gentleman-like behavior, so never neglect common courtesy.  You don't, however, have to cover up your bad taste in music, (I'm looking at you with the latest auto-tuned radio pop on replay) your American Girl doll furniture collection that you began in your 30s or your insatiable sweet tooth.  (only one out of those three things is mine...pretty easy guess ;)  Choose to live your truth, be yourself and, most importantly, accept others, flaws and all.  *forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

      "Those who matter, don't mind.  Those who mind, DON'T MATTER!!"
                                                                                                  - Dr. Seuss