Imperfect Lives

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Lately this blog might read a bit like a moan. Because I know that from the outside looking in, everything may appear to be moving in the right direction. And if I’m honest, in a global sense, they are. I know that. But that doesn’t mean the road isn’t fraught with disappointments.

It also doesn’t mean that because things are good we automatically stop feeling negative emotions. Of course we do. We still have bad days. And I think so much of our online lives pave over the imperfections. We hide them from the world and from ourselves. Maybe if other people envy our lives then we will start to feel good about them too. I understand it.

But this space, my footprint on the internet has always attempted to show a more balanced picture. Yes, I have good days but I also have bad ones, and I share them not to seek pity or reassurance. I share them because very few people do. So we all walk around seeing these perfect lives and wonder why our own lives don’t look the same.

I am happy, mostly. I am content. But sometimes I’m not. And that’s fine. It’s not the end of the world. It’s normal. So fucking normal. But we’ve been convinced, somehow, by the pseudo-perfection all around us, that having a bad day or week means there is something wrong. That we should be concerned. But it’s normal, it has to happen. I’ve written this message so many times – we don’t appreciate the sunlight without the rain. We need the rain. We need perspective.

And that’s why I write about the hard times. Because I want people to stop pathologizing their imperfect lives. We are all imperfect. That’s why life is so exciting.