More than one moment

A picture paints a thousand words, but those thousand words almost never tell the whole story.⠀⠀⠀

Whether the picture be on social media, through the windscreen of your car as you pass a cafe, or through your sunglasses as you engage with other mums at playgroup, the same applies.⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

When we look at the picture before us it can be easy to think some mothers have it all together.⠀⠀⠀
It is just as easy to think some don’t seem to have it together.⠀
Unfortunately it seems even easier to judge other mothers in that one moment.⠀⠀⠀

While the pictures can leave an impression on us, it is not the gallery of that mother’s journey.⠀⠀⠀

A mother may look immaculate, smile at all times and hold her cards close to her chest but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she always bestows these traits. It may be that she’s just had a good night sleep, is a private person or wanted to wear nice clothes that day.⠀⠀⠀
Her story is more than one moment.⠀⠀⠀

A mother may look disorganised, frazzled and worn, but that doesn’t mean that she always looks like this. It may be that her baby is teething again, she hasn’t had a good night sleep in weeks or that something happened earlier in the day that rattled her.⠀⠀⠀
Her story is more than one moment.⠀⠀⠀

A mother may let her child have screen time at a cafe while she checks her emails and eats her her lunch, but that doesn’t mean that she always does this. It may just be that she has deadlines to meet, hasn’t eaten since last night or had tantrums the whole way to the venue.
Her story is more than one moment.

There is ALWAYS more than just one moment. After all a day is not made up of only a few seconds, minutes or hours.⠀⠀⠀ It’s easy to forget this sometimes when considering the one picture you see.⠀⠀⠀ Perspective can be lost, judgement can unintentionally creep in and unfair weight can be placed on that one frame.⠀⠀⠀
I do it,⠀⠀⠀
We all probably all do it sometimes, whether we are aware of it or not.⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

I often need to remind myself that there is more to a story than just one moment and I want to remind you of the same.⠀⠀⠀
Don’t be so hard on yourself.⠀⠀⠀
Remember,⠀⠀⠀
Your story is always more than one moment.