Comparison is the biggest thief of joy. Fortunately and unfortunately, social media is typically the highlight reel into other people’s lives. If you scroll for any amount of time, depending on your algorithm, it is easy to be inundated with perfection. The perfect family, perfect car, perfect mom, and, of course, perfect home. Homes that rarely look to be lived in, not a spec of dirt to be found, clean and spotless.
What do you see in your own home? The laundry waiting to be folded, the stain from where the toddler discovered markers, or the dried snot from the dog that sneezes constantly? The reality is we live in our homes. They are not a backdrop for a glamour photoshoot. They contain memories full of so many emotions for real people and real families.
The stage of life that includes raising kids is such a busy stage. Having multiple free hours every night or on weekends just seems to disappear. We shift to survival mode and get what we can be done when we can. So that means sometimes my house will not be clean. Sometimes, that includes a full, deep clean; sometimes, it just ensures the surface layer is clean. Whatever that may be is enough. Some of those projects to improve our home are put on the back-burner as well for more important things.
Wouldn’t it be a beautiful thing if we had guests over, friends or family, expected or unexpected, instead of instantly apologizing for the mess, we could just welcome them with open arms? Not worrying if they are going to be looking for where there might be a tuft of dog hair or if we remembered to clean all the toothpaste off of the bathroom mirror. That we did not feel the unrealistic expectation to always have a perfect home because this is actual reality.
While I love keeping my home tidy, including cleaning my baseboards because white shows everything, there are also going to be days where the sunlight hits just right, and it looks like I have never dusted a day because I have an old home, three dogs, and a toddler, it’s real. I am never going to judge someone else’s home if their baseboards are not spotless. Here’s to surrounding ourselves with those who won’t judge the mess if they can find it.