Why I understand best that we do not share sad things

Moon recently posted a photo of herself on Instagram. She had just cried and because she thought it was important to scrape away the polished layer for a moment, she took a selfie and described what had caused her sad state. Brave, truly. Good and important too. The accusation is made more often. Instagram is said to show too polished an image of reality. Those who fit the glove should wear it.

I decided to take a closer look at my own feed and immediately labeled myself as guilty. Just a glimpse of my last four photos. One of my husband and myself during the premiere of Tina, the musical. Then one, quite posed if I may say so, around the corner by our office. The third: a posed photo in a nice outfit from a brand we work closely with (where I also stole a colleague's bag because it matched the ensemble better) and the fourth a shot of the whole team in our cozy garden house. Polished moments, more or less. Or at least gilded and happy.

Was I not honest with my readers/followers? I believe so. There is little that I do not share. You may know about how silly I act on the scale and also about our girl who dances to a different size in life. But selfies without makeup or #wokeuplikethis….I can't imagine that I make anyone happy with that. Certainly not myself.

There are people who can and dare to capture and share the raw reality very honestly. Taking your followers along in your struggle against your child's illness. That helps you, that helps others. But when I am at a funeral or walking through a hospital corridor to go with my mother to the surgeon who removed her tumor, taking a snapshot for Instagram is not the first thing I think of. Rather the last. My phone is then on airplane mode and tucked away as deep as possible in my bag. I am then in the now. With her, with the surgeon. And when I fumble it out after the conversation (the phone, not the surgeon), it is solely to tell my father (who could not make the trip to the hospital because his foot was broken in a motorcycle accident) the results.

So, I agree that we should be more honest with each other. But let everyone choose their place, stage, and moment for that. I don't find a lollipop and cotton candy on Instagram that bad every now and then. And above all; let's be KIND to each other. Because only posting beautiful pictures and turning with your cute little butt may be annoying in the eyes of some, it is still not a mortal sin and following is not an obligation.