keeping it real

Maxabella proposed a fantastic question yesterday of whether we let it all “hang out”  or do we hold back a little? It got me thinking, is it only the blogosphere that allows us to keep it real?

So much of what we are exposed to is not the real thing, fake, artifical and everything BUT the real thing. Rachel Zoe’s newborn sons closet filled with Gucci, Louis Vouton shoes, Versace and all the names you can think of… a room slashing a reported $87000…. I mean come on, how can any of us think this is the life for a normal little boy? He doesn’t know the difference between target and Ralph Lauren. But are there people envious of her lavish nursery and expenses or do we all just think she is over the top and far from normality?

So why is it that many of us feel threatened, guilty or maybe a little embarrassed to say it how it is and show it how it is in the real world? We have to clean up our messy living room for when the in-laws come over because we don’t want them to see the chaos we really live in. Or wipe our tears away when other friends or family come over?

When a magazine these days shows a “real” model keeping it real, we are all jumping with joy, excited, praising of the magazine for featuring this article. When Jennifer Hawkins was the face of Marie Claire back in 2010 we couldn’t help but wonder is she the most appropriate and real figure for positive body image? Yes, it was enlightening to see her “flaws”, but why not the plus-size model, the “average” size model with a few rolls and overhangs? Was this keeping it real?

So I wonder, where are the other times we keep it real and don’t feel afraid to let it “hang out”? We all need a place, a community, a forum or a family (which I use the term in a broad sense, not just referring to our ‘family’) to be ourselves, be natural and be the person we want to be.

Our children are no different. By seeing their parents “keep it real” and be okay with who they are, their flaws and all, empowers them that they too can be true to themselves. Being true to yourself is accepting your weaknesses, flaws, overhangs and the guilty pleasures that we all like to indulge in.

Or is it the blogosphere and the internet the place where we feel most comfortable because there is a wall blocking us, shielding us from the “real” world? By having a computer, talking to a computer and communicating via cyberspace, we possibly reduce our chances of being judged and ridiculed. But then how often are we now hearing how epidemic cyber-bullying really is for our children and teens.

So how do you keep it real in the real world?

Tahlia xx

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