Choose Wisely: Quentin L. Cook

January 15, 2015

…when using social media, we tend to broadcast the smiling details of our lives but not the hard times at school or work.

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We portray an incomplete life—sometimes in a self-aggrandizing or fake way. We share this life, and then we consume the “almost exclusively … fake lives of [our] social media ‘friends.’”

 

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How could it not make you feel worse to spend part of your time pretending to be happier than you are, and the other part of your time seeing how much happier others seem to be than you?

 

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I am guilty. For the longest time, my excuse was that I didn’t like sharing negative things, that sharing the other things that were real were too personal. In many cases, they are, and I want them to stay personal. However I want to make a point.

Friends, if you don’t already know, or haven’t guessed yet, my life is not perfect. *Shocker!*

When I take photos for my tutorials, you don’t see the toddler half-naked in the bathroom playing in the over-flowing sink, or the unnecessarily angry scolding that comes afterwards. When I share about a little project that my two-year-old and I did together, you don’t know about the baby that had to cry for a couple of minutes so that we could finish.

Although I think of our home and lives as generally happy, fun, warm, and care-free, there are… those days…

Those days when Chelsea decides that she WILL NOT take a nap and Daddy has to come home to a VERY over-tired toddler and grouchy wife (I should point out that Alexa is nearly always happy. For reals). Those days when I’ve spent a little too much time on social media seeing how much happier everyone else seems to be than me.

So here’s the thing. I’m going to keep sharing the positive stuff. I’m going to keep taking tutorial pictures that are neat and clear, and I’m going to keep letting my creative juices flow, BUT (“everyone I know has a big but”) remember:

No one’s life (particularly mine) is perfect or always hunky-dory. We all get sad, depressed, jealous, angry, deflated, frustrated, and (oftentimes) just totally bushed.

And you know what?

 

 

It’s okay.

 

 

Each day, I will do what you do. I will do my best, repent, and try harder to be better than I was before, to be a little kinder, understanding, patient, tolerant, productive.

Every day is a new day, with a brand new start and no mistakes in it.

Each day, I get to repent and try again.

Let’s not be paralyzed or feel defeated because we think we’ve failed again. Let’s feel enabled through the Lord’s atonement to try again, because that’s what He wants for us.

Thank you for supporting me. Thank you for your kindness and understanding. Thank you for being examples to me and for just being my friends. I am so grateful for all of you who read my blog and appreciate me, my talents, and my family. I appreciate you, and hope that through the strange workings of cyber-space and the bloggo-sphere, I somehow offer you the same support and friendship. Thank you for always trying your best.

Thank you for just being you.

 

To read more from Elder Quentin L. Cook, click here.

4 comments

  1. Thank you for sharing this! I always feel like people always seem so much happier than I do. So I always try to be real on my blog and on social media because I want others who are struggling understand that I struggle too! So thank you!!

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    1. Thanks for being one of the dependable "real" people on social media. I'm learning that people are often likely to be understanding rather than condescending and judgmental when I share some personal, real-life instances on my blog and I feel like I've received such positive feedback. Thanks for yours!

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  2. i love your quote from anne of green gables about new days with no mistakes in them. ;) such a comfort.

    also i'm stopping by your blog today via your sponsorship on he and i. i can't wait to check out some of your tutorials!!

    xo

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    1. THAT'S where I got it from! I've been using that quote for so long and now I remember where I heard it from!

      Thanks for stopping by Nicole! I just LOVE Alexa's blog! She is so inspirational!

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