I am constantly reading blogs and/or facebook posts about how people are so lucky, and so in love with live, and how everyone at home is sooooo supportive of them and their endeavors. Well, let’s get real for a minute. I generally think the people posting over and over again that “Life is sooooo GOOD!” are lying wistful thinkers. I immediately think they are trying to convince us, the reader, that their life is in fact as good as they would like it to be or possibly even more so, they are trying to convince themselves. Please forgive me if your life really is “Soooooo Good!”. Congratulations. Really. I am happy for you. Cheers to all of your Sunshine & Rainbows!
Life for the rest of us isn’t “always” sunny. In fact, we sometimes (gasp) struggle. We struggle with motivation, we struggle with our needs vs desires, we struggle with time management, we struggle with $$, we struggle maintaining sanity and not taking out our frustrations on others, we struggle with MAKING IT HAPPEN, we struggle with the fact that our hubby’s aren’t standing on the sidelines of every long run with the pom-poms. Our lives are REAL and sometimes that means real complicated. And messy. 
I’m okay with that. I don’t expect you to be perfect and please, don’t expect it of me or others in your life. Know that it’s okay if your life doesn’t look as good on paper as your neighbors. Know that it’s okay if you have to struggle to MAKE IT HAPPEN. The important thing is that you are out there making the effort and trying. Yesterday may not have been the best but focus on making today better. And know that each day you get a fresh start to do things differently than you did yesterday. 
I encourage you to thank the Lord for the gifts you have been given. I encourage you to acknowledge and accept that we are all different, have different lives and different circumstances. I encourage you to Make It Happen FOR YOU, regardless of who is in your cheering section. 
Cheers, Amanda – TooTallFritz amanda@tootallfritz.com
TooTallFritz 
I completely agree, I think people who post about how awesome their life is ALL the time are overcompensating or making up for something. But I’m starting to think I need to tone down the running-related posts on my personal FB profile, because I think my non-runner friends are getting tired of it. Which is sad. But whatever. The less I post on FB these days, the better, right? Sometimes it feels that way.
I pretty much stopped posting about running on my personal fb page when I created the TooTallFritz page. Unfortuneately, not everyone wants to hear it. And if they are “unmotivated” then it makes them feel bad (I guess?) and I’ve been deleted for it so I try to keep it off my personal page for the most part. You can tell me ALL about your running though, I’m happy to talk about it!
I know, that’s why I’m so thankful for my blog, and group runs!!
I pretty much started my blog because everyone was tired of hearing me talk about running. I don’t post running photos or anything really on my personal Facebook page anymore. Thank the Lord for group runs, running blogs, and running stores! Runnerds Unite!!!
I really like this post. And my phone sucks for leaving comments 😛
EXCELLENT! I don’t know if the really positive folks are “real” or compensating, but what I do know, is that life is really hard regardless of the path you have chosen for yourself and I appreciate that you have given all of us permission to say – Damn today was HARD!
Really awesome post Amanda! Life is tough sometimes. And for running, not every run is perfect and some are completely miserable! But step back and realize the good far outweighs the bad. And every day is a new day to achieve what you want to!
And I still post running stuff on my personal page. If people don’t like it, they don’t have to read it! It helps keep me motivated and there are tons of people on there that want to hear about it and it’s also motivating to some. And others respond and help motivate me!
TTF…great to see ya pointing out that most of what you see on Facebook or personal blog-sites biased towards everything great – an illusion. Sometimes I go deep or too the dark-side on my FB page and not afraid to “tell-it-like-it-is.” When I get criticisms for some of these things I post or told way too long and FB just some network to find and/or stay-in touch with others, I will point to the prompt when I go to my page and it says, “What’s on your mind?” So, I will post what’s on my mind at that moment in time. Great to see someone else out here in cyber-land not afraid to tell it like it is and that life isn’t all pretty flowers and pleasant aroma.
Yes…there will be days where the sun doesn’t shine (like today!), “But things don’t always have to go our way… So take a drink when I pass you the cup…The bitter can taste so sweet another day.” That’s lyrics (think I got them right) from a Robin Trower song (Another Time, Another Place).
And like the book cover you show to not let yesterday consume too much time today, I guess when it seems like life seems heavy, the old analogy to breaking a new horse can always apply – When you get thrown off…just brush the dust off and climb right back in the saddle!
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance” – Alan Watts.
So interested to read this today – I have a post going up on my blog tomorrow about a Chicago Tribune article telling people with low self-esteem to be more positive and upbeat on Facebook! I am going to link back here 🙂
Can’t wait to see your post. Did you publish it?
Yeah, I posted it yesterday: http://www.ilaxstudio.com/blog/2012/02/08/surprise-if-youre-always-a-downer-on-facebook-you-might-push-people-away/
I found it! I need to “follow” or subscribe or something. How do I do that? I don’t see the normal WordPress “follow” button for you. Help me out!
I didn’t know you could follow wordpress blogs! Do you use an rss feed? I have an “Entries RSS” button at the top right corner of the page.
I’ll look in to a wordpress follow widget. Thanks for pointing that out to me.