Fake It Like You Mean It!

Thanks my my Sis in Law Lorie’s comment on a facebook status, I have a blog post today! Woot!

How many times a day do you hear "how are you?" and reply "I’m fine thanks, and you?".  But you’re not really fine, you’re stressed, or annoyed, or kind of sad, or all of the above in my case.  Because you know that is what the other person wants to hear.

I think I’ve mentioned it’s part of my "job" to keep my attitude positive, and put on a smile. And that sometimes, I’ll admit, I’m faking it. But why? A random stranger might believe my smile and "I’m fine" but people that KNOW me, they don’t.  Hunny will bust me in a flat second, just by seeing me on webcam from thousands of miles away. Friends and family will catch me just by how I’ve typed something in IM or twitter, even in my blog. And my Mom? Hell, I don’t even TRY to fake it with her.

When he first enlisted, and was set to go to Iraq, alot of the advice I got was to basically "Never let them see you sweat". From FRG meetings to message boards this was the theme. And I bought it for quite a while. I was still subscribed when he left last summer. Part of me still is. I refrain from whining to him, or moaning about how much this sucks alot of the time. Because he knows that. But it’s a load of crap that we should never let them know we’re sad, or lonely, or having a really crappy week. Sometimes, that can backfire right in your face. For example, you do such a good job of faking it, the poor guy thinks it’s easy for you being away from them. That is not good.

But, I found myself faking it here on my blog, on facebook, and at this point, even I don’t buy it anymore. Guess what?? Anyone that knows my husband is deployed, isn’t dumb enough to believe that I never have a bad day, week, month. That led to my post a while back about being honest in this blog and posting about the bad days. You can’t fake happy. You either are or you aren’t. Give yourself and your friends and family some credit. and remember…

It’s OK to be pissed off

It’s ok to be sad

It’s perfectly ok to be in a bad mood.

You can lie to that stranger at the store, and say I’m fine. But don’t lie to yourself. No matter what’s going on in your life. It doesn’t just apply to deployment. And to the Military world, stop encouraging us to fake it, because it doesn’t do anyone any good, and the ones we’re supposed to fake it for….they ain’t buyin it.