My Love/Hate Relationship with Pinterest

I have a confession to make…here it goes…I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. It’s true. You may be wondering to yourself, “How can someone hate something so wonderful?”, but give me a chance to explain.

You may recall that my little girl recently turned two. About a month before her big day I began frantically researching birthday ideas on Pinterest and plotting out a birthday party strategy. Now this is much better than last time, when I began Pinterest hunting MONTHS in advance of her first birthday. As usual, I was bombarded with so many amazing party ideas and countless images of picture-perfect birthday parties. You know the ones I’m talking about…the “I feel like I can’t touch anything or eat any of that food because it is just too beautiful” kind of parties.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for creativity, beauty, and a fun birthday celebration, but as I went pin crazy and my “Nora’s Second Birthday” board began to fill up, I realized that I was feeling anything but creative, inspired, and encouraged. It was more like discouraged, overwhelmed, and deflated. Why? Well, because I’m just not the suzie homemaker, super crafty type. I’ve tried to be many a times, but truth be told, I would rather make a cake from a box than scratch, I’ve messed up more than a few recipes in my day, and I find the details of throwing a party quite stressful. I wish this weren’t so but, alas, this is me.

It’s taken me awhile to be OK with this realization of who I am (and am not) and there are still days where I struggle to embrace “me”. I often find myself wishing I was better at cooking, cleaning, decorating, crafting, etc, and I’ve found that while Pinterest really is an amazing and fun tool, it can also breed much discontentment in my heart. What I have to remind myself constantly, and what I hope to remind all of you mommas today, is that my worth and significance as a mom is not wrapped up in how awesome my daughter’s second birthday party was, or how beautifully decorated my home looks, or how many crafty projects I do with my children. If my floors are not spotless and I haven’t tried any of the 50 homemade cleaning solutions I have pinned to my “Cleaning Helps” board, that is OK. What is important is taking the time each day to show my family how much I love them. I want to be spending my day loving on and serving my family rather than obsessing over organization tips, trying new recipes, and planning perfect parties. 

So what did we end up doing for Nora’s birthday? Well instead of throwing my hands up and forgoing a party all together (which I was on the brink of doing out of utter discouragement) I reminded myself that my daughter didn’t need a grand birthday celebration but just a day to know she was special and loved. We accomplished this by throwing a low key pancake breakfast party with a few close friends. Yes, the pancakes were from a box and all the decorations were bought from the store, but I don’t think my happy and loved little birthday girl really cared.