SOCIAL MEDIA

9.16.2015

Blogtember // Online Me & Real Me

online-me
Today's Blogtember prompt is to share some thoughts about the Real You vs. the Online You!

The internet can be a wonderful place to share bits of yourself and make friends that live no where near your zip code. I have definitely enjoyed doing just that since I started this blog and have made what I consider to be some of my closest friends along the way. The internet can also be a place to reinvent yourself, and be a version of yourself that you may not entirely be in your real life. Some may take that freedom a little too far, and create a persona that is way off from the reality of who they really are.

I like to think that the person I project myself to be online is the person I really am to those who know me in "real life." This idea is something I have carried with me all through my blogging journey, as I have always tried to be as authentic as possible and be the same person online as the one you would meet for coffee.

Sure, there are definitely things about myself and my day to day life that I don't necessarily share here. This blog is, after all, just a small glimpse into my life. Underneath nicely curated photos, I have laundry piled up, a really messy car, and traces of dog hair on most of my clothes. I usually do my makeup at stoplights on my way to school. I stay up late finishing homework because I work into the evenings and have to drive 45 minutes home (ok, and I get easily distracted). I sleep in when I can and don't always use my free time wisely. I am usually running late and rarely stick to my editorial calendar that I wish I was organized enough to accomplish. I run from one place to the next and am actually quickly typing this post up at Starbucks before I have to go to work for the rest of the afternoon. Also, I ramble on and on sometimes.

Where it counts, however, I think I am pretty open with the happenings of my life. In the past, I have shared about suddenly losing my great-aunt to cancer, the sadness of moving from the home I lived in longer than any other, the difficulty of living on my own for the first time, my various insecurities, the financial and job struggles I have gone through... and much, much more.

Though I may not show you all of the messy parts of me, I think that I have given my readers a pretty good idea of who I am and I would hope that you would be able to quickly connect me to my blog if you have met me in person. Truthfully, I have no interest in not being myself here because I feel that it is entirely missing the point of blogging. I want to be able to look back on all of these posts as a journal of sorts and it would be doing myself (and the friends I have made through this blog) a disservice by being anything but genuine.

Life isn't perfect and neither am I, but I think if we were to be friends in real life, I hope you would know that this person you come to this site to visit is the same as the one you would be meeting in person :)

What do you think about your online self and your real self?