I'm getting around the age now where dating has begun to turn into marriage and families. Not in my case personally, but it's becoming more and more common for the people I grew up with and the new friends I've made to enter that next stage of life. The family stage.
These changes just make the realization of being an adult that much more poignant, and that can be a tough pill to swallow. But, it's the many variations of being a young adult and the transition age that makes this seem so crazy. For example, I'm a college senior who loves living alone, and can't keep plants alive, but one of my best friends is the mother of an almost 1-year-old. Welcome to your twenties.
As of now, this family stage is on the back burner for me, since college and the soon building of a career are my primary focuses. I love the amount of support I get when I talk about those things, and about using the skills I've learned to write and create even more.
I get so excited and feel so lucky when I think about the possibilities of creating, writing, and sharing my work after college. And I know that when that time comes, whether it be my articles or my stories, I will have people there to support the work I make.
So, why isn't there the same level of support for moms when they share pictures of their kids? I simply don't understand.
Success and pride are such subjective concepts, and while mine are currently measured in essays, assignments, and writing, another woman's may be measured in the monthly, or even daily, updates of her child.
Like, if I created life, you couldn't pay me enough to stop showing my baby off. That's literally a person, she made a person.
This may come off as a weird comparison, stories and babies, but I think it strangely works. Since value and worth differ from person-to-person, why shouldn't a mother share pictures of her own child, the very thing she created and is working hard to raise? The same way I would promote and share a novel I'd written and published. Both are huge accomplishments, and I think people need to open themselves up to understanding the motivations behind accomplishments.
Don't look at one person's life and accomplishments and compare them to another's. That's not fair, and it's simply not how life works. And on the social media side of things, be happy for people and support them when they share the things they're proud of. If you see another picture of the same kid or another post about a new article, take a second to think about why you're seeing it in the first place.
As someone who is very proud of her own work after a lot of effort has been put into it, I want to share it with anyone and everyone. I don't think that's selfish or self-centered. It's self-confidence. I'm not forcing anything I do down your throat. If you don't want to see the things I post online, there are setting for that. But I urge you not to make judgments so quickly, online or in real life.
I hope everyone shares what they're proud of as much as they can. It warms my heart to see people's ideas and dreams become their realities.
