Wow

Wow. I was not expecting this. 

The response to my crazy idea is overwhelming and humbling! I ended yesterday with 689 page views on the blog, 80 Instagram followers on @uneditedlifeproject and 4 pics tagged #uneditedlifeproject. Which was surprising enough after only a few days.

Then my good friend Karla (IG: @karlareed - you follow her for her fabulous style pulled together from her amazing thrift finds) posted a pic of her unpacked suitcases left over from Christmas vacation to her 20K Instagram followers with an amazing caption. (And if you didn't see the post, you can see it here: www.instagram.com/karlareed - click on the picture of the open suitcases.) @uneditedlifeproject is now over 900 followers, the blog has had over 1100 page views and over 70 pics have been tagged #uneditedlifeproject. And the comments... all the comments! Everywhere! Wow. Just... wow. Thank you, Karla, for not being afraid to post your unedited life in your "highlight reel".  

I'm amazed by all the followers. Grateful for them! But stats aren't everything. I know all those followers and page views means that people want to feel like they aren't alone. That they're normal. That the pressure is taken off. I'm excited about all the tagged photos. That means there's some transparency going on around our social media world. I hope everyone continues to share some truth with their audiences every now and then. 

Now here's a little bit of my unedited life:

I texted Karla this morning to thank her and give her the stats (we're detail people... we like that stuff). She said the post helped her feel a little less pressure. Look at what I said (and the conversation is cropped because this is "Unedited Life", not "Open Book Life") :

Yep. I had fallen into the social media trap of thinking that my online life needs to be perfect. Thought out. Staged. And all in the midst of trying to combat that. Oops. This was, of course, remedied by my Unedited Life post on my personal IG account.

"That moment when the single people stare at you, the people with children knowingly smile and all you want to do is crawl in a hole." 

I really hope everyone finds this project encouraging and freeing. Don't be a hot mess all the time. Just know that when you are, we've all been there.

What was your Unedited Life moment today? 

For more Unedited Life Project photos and commentary, follow @uneditedlifeproject on Instagram or visit www.instagram.com/uneditedlifeproject