This Mom’s Honest Decade in Review Reminds Us That What We Share on Social Media is Only Half the Story
We are cheering for the mom who is sharing how the decade really shaped her.
Christinafattore.com
The new decade has many of us looking ahead to the future while also giving a nod to what we’ve done in the past 10 years. Christina Fattore, a mom of two and a political science professor at West Virginia University, was like many of us who took to social media to share the highlights of the past decade. However, Fattore lifted the veil on what really happens in our lives, including the good, the bad and how all of those pieces together shape us. Her now viral thread is a great reminder that what we see on social media isn’t the whole picture.
Fattore started with a tweet that quickly summed up her accomplishments during the past decade.
“My decade in review: Got engaged, got married, had baby #1, bought a house, tenured, had Baby #2, kicked ass at work, now... want to know a secret?” she tweeted.
There are all amazing things, right? Job, marriage, babies—all the things many wish for. So what is the secret? We only know half of the story.
In a second tweet, she continued on with: “My unedited decade in review: Got engaged, got married, had surgery to better my chances of getting pregnant, got pregnant, had c-section #1, dealt with crippling PPD, bought a house, almost didn’t get tenure, cried for a whole semester due to house + tenure shit.”
In other tweets Fattore added the parts of her life that she hadn’t shared on social media, like losing an ovary to endometriosis, fighting to get tenure, undergoing rounds of IVF and even more surgeries, all while keeping up with her job.
“I’m sharing this because you never know what others are going through,” she concluded. “I get sad when I hear people comparing themselves to others. Some years/decades are better than others. Be kind to yourself and empathetic to others.”
We love her honestly and the reminder that our family and career milestones should be celebrated but that they are not the only part of our lives worth sharing or focusing on. So, if you haven’t picked a New Year’s resolution or if you are looking for a new goal this year, why not try Fattore’s advice and be a little more kind to yourself and empathetic to others.
