A curated life, or warts and all?

I have said it before and I’ll say it again, social media has a lot to answer for; particularly when considering the mental health of young people. I am aware that blogging and vlogging can be both self indulgent and create an impression of perfect lives that followers may strive to achieve. The reality is often very different. My life certainly isn’t perfect however I think it is improving and I hope I generally have a positive effect on those around me.

The process of blogging and vlogging allows us to present curated life experiences. It allows the author to share what they want to share and not show the messier side of life. Of course if it was all gloom and doom and misery people wouldn’t get very many followers. However given that I am trying to write about mindfulness I think I am duty bound to write about the challenges as well as the positives.

I chose to live in France. And whilst I don’t regret that decision it isn’t without a range of challenges. Our house was derelict when we bought it. And five years on it is rewired and has heating, so it is warmer, but it is far from finished. Our bedroom can only be described as horrible! This week, banking has been a real challenge. Most French bank accounts don’t work in real time. So if you have made a purchase that you forgot about you may find that when you try to withdraw cash or pay for fuel you can’t. There are also very strange limits on the amount of money that you can spend using your card each month. Yesterday that was one of the challenges that I hit whilst trying to pay for a website. I had reached my card limit for the month. We have to try to remember to spend relatively equally, which can be quite difficult.

I know that doing things on line has become a real stressor for me. I can spend days avoiding going near the computer. At the moment I am trying to set up a website for the gîte d’étape which is proving really challenging. Thankfully a friend has offered to help.

If I want to talk about mindfulness then I need to consider how I face the challenges that I encounter in my personal life. This week I have been upset. I know I am not good at dealing with that. I usually acquiescence but feel furious. So at the moment I am considering my way forward. Through mindfulness I am aware that I need to be proactive but that isn’t always easy. So at the moment I am trying to look after myself.

I don’t want my blog to sound negative but I want to be honest. One of the things that I detest is being treated to claptrap or nonsense. I feel that if someone expects me to believe their untruths, that they think I am not very bright and can be duped. I don’t want to have people think that I am duping them by providing images of a beautifully curated life. I want everyone to know that I know that not all in the garden is rosy and we cannot expect life to be perfect all of the time. What we can do is learn how to deal with the challenges that are presented to us.

It has been a gloriously sunny week here in Brittany. That certainly helps to provide a more positive outlook. I am certainly enjoying spending time in the sun.

Thank you for continuing to follow me. I hope that you all have a great weekend. I hope that you get to spend some time doing things that you enjoy. Until Monday…