Sharing colors

A friend I haven't seen for a long time told me it's wonderful that I already "have it all" checked. Husband, kid, career, all checked in tiny boxes like there's some sort of life form we all have to fill out. I told her, it's not that simple and no, I do not "have it all." Sure, on the exterior it seems that way but I never ever imagined myself having the need to check boxes so I do not see any success in completing the seeming requirements for a "perfect" or the "ideal" set up/life. I recognize that we all have ideals when we were younger but reality will always hit us if not bite us. Sure, we see posts across social media which creates an illusion of definition of what a "happy life" should be, causing either pressure to achieve them for ourselves. We always just see the photos of people smiling in their travels, people eating out with friends, people carrying their kids with big smiles. We rarely see the behind the scene photos. Who would want to see pictures of people in distress? Unless you work for a newspaper or work for a public information agency, I think you will not share the gory details and the sad moments. I think people posting about death in the family for example would rather grieve silently but because of diaspora and other reasons that separate family, they use social media to inform friends and relatives of a loss of a loved one. After all, posting for a minute is easier than calling each one of the concerned. I imagine it quite tiring to have to repeat the story of how someone died or why your ten year relationship with your girlfriend/boyfriend/partner did not work. 

As a photographer and a mom, I do prefer capturing happy and light moments myself. Everyday my feed is filled with all types of inspiring images and I wish I could share the inspiration I get from everyone else through my posts as well. Posting happy memories is not saying we do not have bad ones. It just means we were able to overcome our struggles and despite everything, we could still smile. It just means we chose to celebrate the moment instead of dwelling on things and situations we have no control of. 

Here, Thor is seen sharing his crayons to Rose, a neighbor's kid. Lately, he has been a source of stress because two year olds are cute but then they are indeed terrible. We try our best to be good parents and yet, we can't be perfect. We do make a lot of mistakes but we do our best to correct them when we can. Thor did not want to share his things at all and was pushing Rose away. With all my patience and energy left, I had to bribe him gently to be a "good boy" and that he needs to learn how to share. Bribery is never good, I know, but I'm not Mother Teresa, Angelina Jolie or any other perfect person. I had to make the best of what I had. I succeeded in making him practice kindness at this moment so I had to document it. 

So, no, our lives are far from perfect. We just work everyday and every moment to make it good in the least.