I like to share pictures on social media. They are often pictures I take from nature or places we go to, but also some of my family and I. Yesterday before bed time, I had a discussion with one of my daughters and I was quite firm with her which, of course, she didn’t like. The situation turned rather unpleasant for all of us especially since we are staying in a little apartment we are borrowing from my sister-in-law. It wasn’t a big argue but I could see our other two kids be uncomfortable.

When I went to bed I thought, that’s holiday together. Some really good moments and some not that good moments. It would be interesting to post a picture of this situation on social media, but what would it bring? Discomfort for many. Why would I share the difficult moments too? It would also be disrespectful towards my daughter. But why is sharing the good moments okay but not the challenging ones?

I also think that I don’t want people to believe I’m looking for sympathy, but again, what would be wrong with that?

We often criticize social media for showing a too glossy picture of people’s lives, and I guess some do use social media to appear as perfect, but that is not the case for me. Maybe I don’t share the challenging moments because it could be misinterpreted. We all know that most of everyday life challenges come and go, and the only thing to do is to get through them. I feel that sharing them would make them appear bigger than they are.

Maybe sharing life’s little and not so little challenges on social media wold normalize them too. When things turn sour, I tend to panic and want to ‘fix the problem’. I regret my part in the conflict, but yesterday, as we all went to bed, I thought, this is not a big deal, and it is good to also get through the discomfort that disagreement brings. Both for me and my kids. Not everything needs to be pleasant, not even during the holidays.

This morning, after my sadhana, I drove to buy fresh fruit and vegetables, and when I came back, our youngest daughter set the table, and we had a lovely breakfast. The discomfort from last night was washed away and maybe we all five were a bit more resilient than yesterday morning.