Recently, a good friend, Meghan Arnold, questioned the #100happyday hashtag on Facebook.
“I don’t understand hashtags like “100 days of happy.” First, shouldn’t you make the goal of every day to be happy? Second, can’t we, as a society, recognize that it is okay to have other emotions too? It’s okay to be sad or frustrated or pissed off sometimes. Even if it ruins our hashtag-driven lives, which we shouldn’t have — we should have lives, not status updates.”
This thought stayed in the white noise of my brain until I next took to Instagram and saw picture after beautifully-staged picture filled with soft lighting, fresh flowers, and gold, gold, gold! (Did you know gold was in? You should. You should and you should like it. Neh, you should and you should be obsessed. Just like you should be obsessed with Warbly Parker glasses, kelp pasta, polka dots, baby leggings, and mimosas. Related – can we please put “obsessed” back where it belongs – as the verb appropriate when you overly fascinated with something to the point of sickness, not when you’d just think it’s pretty??)
Sorry, I got side-tracked. What was I talking about?
Oh, yes. Being happy.
I responded to Meghan that I thought this was a good exercise because it’s hard to find something new and exciting in each day. I still agree with this, but she raises a valid point. Why not be honest and post pictures of not-so-perfect moments? Why not recognize that we don’t get the option to view the world through blemish-reducing filters. Rather, its more bright light and magnifying glasses! Those “ugly” moments are just as much a part of life, and if I’m to believe the parents lining up to give me advice, someday these hours of tears, laundry and being stuck in the rocker for hours will be looked back on fondly. Guess it wouldn’t hurt to document them.
With that said, I propose to you #realgoodlife as the newest, hippest hashtag y’all should be rocking.
Let me get us started with a preview of my next post, Eggroll’s 2 month pictures.
This photo session went so poorly, I’m laughing already. I think I nailed this Pinterest-worthy set-up, no?? 🙂
Share with me here, on Facebook, or Instagram. What does your #realgoodlife look like?
