Instagram vs. Reality

Happy Monday loves! I am so sorry I have been slacking on my blog posts lately. Life has been extremely busy. I’m like screaming inside but keeping all smiles on the outside 🙂 which is exactly what inspired me to get this post up today!

As a blogger I post things on social media daily, it’s part of my job. And as part of my brand, I like to keep things positive. That is why when you go to my social media pages you will see 99% of the things I post are all the “happy” things in life. I love sharing positive quotes, pictures and captions to make you smile and most days I am smiling on the outside and inside. But what you don’t always see are life’s not so happy and sometimes even terrifying moments.

From the outside looking in, I know it may look like a blogger is “living the life” but in reality most of us are just living our lives. And that means all the good, bad and the ugly that comes with it. Instagram is just a highlight reel of someone’s life. Instagram is a platform to help us share joy, outfits, recipes, etc. with each other. It doesn’t always show the whole truth.

I’ve seen a few of the bloggers I follow share Instagram vs. Reality posts where they show the hard work and struggle that actually goes into making that one photo perfect. One of my personal favorite Instagram vs. Reality posts are when bloggers share bloopers from their shoots LOL. But today, I’ve decided to share something a little different because personally, my family and I have gone through some scary moments in the past year and although I share bits and pieces about that every now and then I just wanted to give you all a good example of what social media can portray vs. what may really be going on behind the scenes.

Instagram vs. Reality Example One

What do you see? Probably this pretty pink Free People sweater that was trending like crazy last Fall!

What you don’t see: We got a phone call that morning for a Foster to Adopt placement. It was for a baby boy who was 2 months old and had been left at a fire station. They called me right before I walked into a meeting. I immediately said yes, called Brandon and sat down in my meeting. It was only like 5 minutes and I was already so invested in this baby. 10 minutes into my meeting Brandon called and I answered because I thought we was going to tell me details on pick up but he was actually calling me to tell me that the baby had been placed with another family.

Our agency told us that situations like this could happen but nothing prepares you for it. It took EVERYTHING in me not to breakdown crying in that meeting.

Instagram vs. Reality Example Two- literally only one week later

What do you see? Maybe a super fun travel pic and a happy care bears tee? You possibly read the first sentence of my caption talking about how it was my birthday.

What you don’t see: We got a second phone call for an adoption placement this day. This time they called Brandon. We were in Colorado for my birthday, I was relaxing at the hotel because Brandon went to go visit a customer that afternoon. He called me and said “the agency called. There are 2 little girls, sisters, under 2 that needed to be placed”. We told the agency we could hop on the next flight home and they said as long as we could get there by 6pm then we were good to go. I never packed up a hotel room so fast in my life! Brandon met me in the lobby and we didn’t even check out we were rushing out of there so fast! Brandon was flying to the airport as I was looking up flights back to Houston. There was literally one leaving in 30 minutes so we decided that I would rush to get on that one and Brandon would take the next one so he could check in our bags. We pulled up to the airport and Brandon’s phone rings…another family from a different agency was available to pick the girls up asap so…yup you guessed it. We didn’t get placed that day. It was definitely another sad moment but maybe the week prior had prepared me a little bit because I didn’t cry that time. And then when we turned back around to go back to the hotel Brandon and I laughed because we realized we never checked out and said to eachother “well I guess that worked out” lol

Instagram vs. Reality Example Three

Ahhhh!!! We were finally placed with our sweet baby boy. He had been in daycare for one whole week when I took this photo. And with daycare came a full on stomach virus. He got it. I got. I actually had blog campaign due the very next week so I couldn’t cancel this photoshoot with Yash.

So what you don’t see? I had to pull over twice on the way to this photoshoot so I could throw up. So gross I know. But again, Instagram vs. Reality my friends.

Instagram vs Reality Example Four

What do you see? A sweet photo of us on our anniversary trip with our sweet baby Weaver. Maybe you think “yay, they finally got placed with their son!”

What you don’t see: 4 days prior during one of our casual, routine CPS visits they notify us that a blood relative wanted custody and verbatim she said “once she passes the background check it could happen quickly”. Just like that. So matter of fact. “Once she passes”,  basically our whole lives would have been turned upside down.

I looked back to my Instagram to see if one picture that week showed an emotion of sadness that would have even given the hint that we had a rough week that week. Nope, not one photo. That’s the “beauty” of social media.

Instagram vs Reality Example Five

What do you see? A smiling gal at a popular Houston restaurant? I was actually having lunch with my team that day.

What you don’t see: Actually I myself didn’t even see it coming. Right after lunch that day Brandon called me on my way back to the office. He had gone to court for the both of us that day. Since the court hearings were basically a day long event we took turns on who would attend.

Anyway, Brandon called to tell me that another relative showed up to court that day. He wanted to put forth a “family friend” to take custody of baby Weaver. This family member had never met baby Weaver nor had the “family friend” but according to CPS a family member will always take precedence over a non relative adoption.

Sh#t.

Excuse my language here but honestly that was the first word that came to mind. I can’t really describe it any other way.

Without getting into the details, that person clearly did not check out nor did the other family member I mentioned earlier but in all scenarios we went hours, days, weeks, honestly it wasn’t until last week (almost 10 months later you guys!!) that all of my fears were diminished of losing our son. If you have talked to me in the past ten months I probably told you “everything was good and that we weren’t worried”. Well, I’m sorry that I partially lied to you. Yes, everything was good. It is good. But with all of these surprises and unknown we were still really scared on what could have happened. As you may know, we received some really good news last week.

We (thank the good Lord) are in a position that we have been praying about. Thank you Jesus. But before I steer this blog post into another direction my point today is that life isn’t always as it seems on social media.

Some might ask “why would I even choose to post that day if I was really having a bad day?”. Well, because in most cases I signed a contract with a company agreeing that I would post my review that day. Clearly not knowing what life could throw at us that day.

Life is…truly like a box of chocolates 🙂

The comparison game is so real and I’ve heard people say that they stop following bloggers that they originally loved following because it started to make them feel bad about themselves. That breaks my heart but I totally get it. If you ever start to feel like that just try and remember that Instagram is just a highlight reel and that everyone has their own struggles even if it doesn’t seem like it because of a perfectly staged photo.

I know I’m struggling like everyday over here, haha. These are just 5 examples but trust me I could share like 100 more.

If you ever need a laugh or just want to vent I’m here girl, info@roselynweaver.com.

Love you all so, so much!

“Everyday may not be perfect but a perfect moment can be found in everyday.”

Dang..that was good. Did I just make that up?? 🙂

xo, Roselyn