I am attached to my phone, I sleep next to it, and I almost always have it on me. One of the things I can do for quite a while is browse social media, such as Facebook, and Instagram. There are posts that I see that can get me quite downhearted because my life does not look that pretty.

You probably have one of them on your feed. It is the mom whose young kids are dressed in altogether too clean clothes, and their house seems to be perfectly clean. My kids are nearly teenagers and I have yet to figure out how to have that clean of a house. There is always something left out on the floor.

I have my own social media persona. I travel with my husband and kids when we can. It's been less and less since we are going on trips further away from home. Those travel posts do not come without heartache. The kids all have their earphones on, someone is taking up too much space, and the dear husband does not like to take pictures. The picture is not the whole story, it is a facade.

It was not until I started writing for Odyssey Online that I realized that social media is a full-time job. There are those who have the time to spend on making sure the pictures are set, taking just the right pictures to present their lives or whatever they are promoting. I really tried, I set up all that I could, put up an Instagram for my articles, and even did a Facebook profile. It's not easy to keep up.

Being a mom is a full-time job. Having a full-time job is a full-time job. Going to graduate school is a full-time job. If you are doing any of the above and find that you are not the social media queen that you want to be, you are not alone. There is no such thing as a perfect mom, even if that is the way she portrays it on social media.

Here is where I break some awful news, I love my kids, but there is not one day that goes by where someone is not in trouble. I am not the only one who feels this way. I have some amazing friends and family, and they face the same struggles. The picture on social media does not reflect what is happening in real life.

There are two people that I follow on Facebook that show the reality of life, Juggling the Jenkins Blog. That girl is real. She speaks about what is really going on in her life and how hard it can be, plus like me, she is not a morning person. The other is Lifestyles by Marla, she is a health coach who shows what real health is like, not just a skinny chick who tells everyone what they are doing wrong. She shows real-life examples of crazy times, and I know that I am normal.

Ditch the social media princess who does no wrong with the perfect kids, and find some real-life examples. Give yourself a break, because social media is all about the image. The image I want to show is that I am human. My kids are not perfect little angels, and half the time I just hope they are wearing clothes that smell clean, and they are wearing deodorant. Oh yes, we have reached that stage. Be yourself, and don't let anyone influence you otherwise.