The Real World

"It was always half invented, but the other half was good."

This is one of my absolute favorite quotes.  It comes from the Jimmy Eat World song "Littlething" from their 2010 album "Invented".  Really, in my opinion, their best album.  Gasp!  What?  She didn't say Clarity?!  No, I didn't.  But that is a discussion for another day :)  The reason I started this post with that quote is because I feel that it really relates to life.  Think about your daily life.  Your relationships, your thoughts, your feelings about where you are and where you want to be.  There is reality.  And then there is what you think is reality.  
Maybe you have gained 3 pounds and feel huge but the rest of the world looks at you and thinks you are fit as a fiddle.
Maybe you completely adore your new boyfriend and in your mind have a perfect relationship "invented" but, in reality, he's a jerk that is more preoccupied with how he looks than with you and your feelings.
Maybe you just logged onto Facebook to see that one person from your graduating class is a brain surgeon, one is a successful author and one is a perfectly pampered mom of three.  According to their posts.  What you didn't see was the other side, the real life side.
So, that's where the invented stuff comes in.  We often invent a parallel reality that is what we wish our life was.  Or we invent how we think our friends or family are living, imagining it to be perfect.
Reality sucks some times.  Chronic illnesses.  Bills to pay.  Dishes to wash, floors to mop.  Regrets and unfulfilled dreams.  Who wouldn't want to live outside of reality in an imagined Brady Bunch land?
There is the other half, that is good.  Everything you love about your life.  But the first half, the part we try to look past, is often the more important part.  If you feel neglected, overwhelmed, or disappointed about how your life is going THAT is what you need to look at, rather than "inventing" an idea of what is really happening.
Embrace reality.   It hurts sometimes.  
There are many things in my life that will never be cookie cutter perfect, no matter how much I long for them to be.  But they are my perfect, my life, the only one I will have.
Step into your reality and make the changes you want to see.  And the things you can't change?  Let them go or embrace them for what they truly are.  
Leave the invented half behind so that you can become whole.

Not the best recording but this song is absolutely beautiful.  Thanks person that took their phone to the concert to record this :)