I Feel Like a Fraud

re My videos and posts are often super upbeat.  I try to be very encouraging.  I talk all the time about how important an organized and decluttered home is and how that can help in so many areas of life.  These things are all true, but what you see from me online is just never the full picture.  Honestly, what we see online from any content creator is never the full picture, no matter how honest the content is.  Keep reading or check out the video here for a bit of a life update from me!

Last year I did a video where I talked super openly about the chronic health issues I had been having.  I'm one year out now from the emergency surgery, and I'm honestly doing quite well!  I still have some issues with IBS, but now that they aren't complicated by a hernia, things are fairly manageable!  I would say the hernia was about 80% of the problem, so I'm just overall much better and much more functional now.

Other Struggles

However, that doesn't mean my life has been super easy and perfect ever since.  In fact, it's been an extremely rough year.  Sometimes when I make videos, I feel like such a fraud. Sometimes there are all these bad, stressful things going on in my life.  Then I film a video where I'm smiling and talking about “12 Things that you Forgot to Clean.”  When I put it in perspective, it feels like nonsense, LOL!

I want everyone to know that I'm always authentic in my videos.  I don't lie.  The things I talk about are all true, and they are important.  But they're just never the full picture about my life.  When I have major things going on, it seems so silly to talk about dusting a ceiling fan.  But the videos you see or blog posts you read are only about 2-3 hours of my life that week.  And those 2-3 hours are when I'm always at my most put-together.  I have the makeup on, the nicer clothes.  I'm happy, smiling, upbeat.  I'm not trying to mislead anyone, but it's just not the whole story of my life.  How can it be when it's only a couple hours of it?!?

Here's the thing– content creation is a strange job!  It can be very personal because I put so much of myself into it, and when I watch videos, it can feel like the person is talking right to me. And it feels like I know them, LOL!  And I do think you all know me– but just the part of me that I put online.

For example, before I filmed the other day, I had to stop at Target for something.  I literally had to wait in the parking lot to try to compose myself because I was crying so hard.  Then I walked through Target with tears streaming down my face.  When I got home, I literally had to wait to put on makeup because my face was such a mess.

And then I filmed three videos, and you'd never know I had been so upset just a couple hours before.  But I wasn't trying to “lie” about what's going on in my life.  If I were in any other job, I'd still have to show up for work.  Just because I had some bad personal issues going on, I wouldn't just be able to take off for days on end.  Content creation is still a job, and I still need (and want!) to show up for you guys and give you my best self.

Why I don't always talk about the bad things.

1. It's not really that helpful to anyone.  Most people are on my site or my channel for help with organizing their homes and their lives.  Organization is something I'm GOOD at!  Sometimes I just want to focus on what I do well and what I can actually help people with.  Blabbing about my problems really does no good for anyone (other than if I have something helpful to share for someone going through a similar situation).  But for the most part, it would do no good for anyone to share.
2. It can feel trivial. Talking about how to best organize a drawer when many of us have some pretty huge things going on in our lives just hits funny.  Absolutely no one escapes “issues” in life.  We all have problems and difficulties.  But creating a clean, functional home is still important.  Your home affects your mood and mental state so very much.  And it affects the people in your household.  Creating a peaceful environment is NOT unimportant, although it can seem that way when compared to some other big things.
3. It isn't always my story to share.  My health problems actually were my story to share, so I did.  But something going on with my kids, my parents, my husband or close friends…that just isn't my story.  This applies in real life as well as online.  Sometimes it's just not okay to talk about everything.

You're not alone.

I think it's always helpful to remember that we're not alone in our problems.  Everyone has them.  I will sometimes see influencers traveling with their kids, and I just wish I could travel with mine like that.  I can't.  But I'm only seeing the happy photo.  I'm not seeing a kid have a meltdown, or one get motion sick.  It doesn't mean that other things didn't go wrong or that everything else is perfect.  Sometimes we need reminders of this because we only see the happy moments.

What I've learned to do when the bad times come.

Reach out for help.  When I've had major struggles in life, I always wish I had reached out for help sooner.  We often try to power through and handle things on our own.  But that's rarely the best way.

There's also a time and a place to dwell on your problems, but don't get stuck!  When I was having all my health issues, sometimes I was literally bedridden.  But I would still work on my laptop and do what I could.  I did have some moments of self-pity, but I tried REALLY hard not to stay there because that does no one (especially not me!) any good.

An organized and tidy home doesn't solve all your problems.  Yes, it makes your home more pleasant and peaceful.  But problems still happen.  No matter how perfect your home is, it cannot fix everything, and we will all still have struggles.  Just because I don't talk about all my problems doesn't mean I don't have them!  And the same goes for literally any other content creator you follow online.  No one's life is perfect!

Hopefully this encourages you!  And hopefully it helps you see social media through a more accurate lens.  We're all just doing the best we can!