My husband and I have two beautiful children that currently reside in South Africa with their mum.
This morning I woke up to a sweet message from our daughter (11), she had shared a cute image with some angel wings painted on a wall. As I clicked into the image I realised it was someone (another child) our daughter follows on social media, but this child at 13 years old has a following of over 3.6 million people and from what I can tell it’s all from a vlog that’s made her famous. How does that even happen!
The I began to wonder, how do you keep a child healthy and balanced under that kind of pressure and exposure? I only watched one video, it was harmless and fine, and I’m not casting judgement of any kind, I’m just in shock. I do hope her parents protect her from those trolling with negativity and hate as she grows older and becomes more aware of what the reality of the influence she carries.
So much of what we do is influenced by everyday people that create this life on social media that we desire and so much pressure and expectation is put on those who create these perfect ideal lives we watch and follow. But these ideals and expectations created, through images and videos we look at, reflect a small moment in a day, that quite possibly took 100 takes to get the perfect shot or video. The out takes and bloopers aren’t posted. The ‘real’ moments aren’t put up for the world to see or judge. Vlogs are edited down so that they fit a time frame that will keep our attention and cut away all the fumbled words or awkward chatter.
Real is no longer real. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a little reality tv (The Block is a fave of mine, much to hubbys dismay) but where do real people get to see real examples of how to do life in a healthy way. It may not make for good tv or lots of social media likes, but we need to see much more of it. Bad hair, no make up, what a real day looks like.
Right now I’m sitting outside a doctors clinic waiting for a friend who needed a lift. But who wants a photo of a doctors surgery sign, that’s not glamorous. But that my friends is what life looks like, well my life in this moment. So, if you want real, it’s here. My life is far from dull, it has its spectacular moments (like the whale watching I did on the weekend – so amazing!!) and it has its hard and sad moments (like the fertility journey my hubby and I have been travelling the past 4 1/2 years). But in all it’s ups and downs that’s what I hope to share with you and then how I navigate through the mountains and the valleys.
So I invite you to come back and visit soon.
Angela's Blog 