Ignore the noise

Confession time.

I am the absolute worst at comparing my life to the lives of the people I follow on social media. From the stylish outfits of fashion bloggers to the outings and trips that so many others are always taking with their families. Since honesty is the best policy, I'm going to tell ya'll that I usually let it get me down and end up feeling my life isn't that great.

Then if you regularly watch the news than you know there is some new study out about screen time, or early learning, blah blah blah. The best style of parenting, assigning chores, letting them be little, the list goes on forever. It literally makes me question if I know anything about mothering at some points or if I'm doing a good enough job.

Thankfully I'm finally starting to get a grip and realize that I should just be ignoring the noise! The noise of other's lives, the different ways of parenting, all of it is just noise! Everyone says this but there really is no one set way to parent because every kid is so different and responds to different things, so it's silly and such a waste of your precious time to compare the way you parent to how someone on IG parents, and yet I was guilty of doing this ALL the time!

All of that said, this is what I'm doing when I catch myself playing the comparison game:

Social media is used as a highlight reel, not real life. 
My kids are mine and they respond to different things.
Remind myself that comparison will only steal joy from my day and life. 

So tell me, do you have to stop yourself from playing the comparison game? Will you share your tips in the comments below?

Also, if you want a dose of real life in your feed you can follow me on IG: @aiftoncoleman