“Keeping some shit private doesn't mean I'm pretending I've got it all together.”
Social media makes it incredibly easy to believe everyone else has their life, business, family, and future completely figured out. What we don't see are the breakdowns, financial stress, relationship changes, health issues, self-doubt, and random Tuesday nights spent wondering what the fuck we're doing.
As a business owner, I've shared a lot of my journey, but I haven't shared everything. And I'm starting to realize there's a difference between pretending you've got it all together and deciding some parts of your life don't belong on the internet.
I'd be lying if I told you this wasn't one of my favorite blog posts, because it absolutely is.
I am not perfect. Very fucking far from it.
There are days I wake up questioning every life choice and decision I've ever made. There are also nights when I'm trying to fall asleep, and my brain decides that's the perfect time to ask:
What the fuck am I doing?
Being a business owner is probably the loneliest I've ever felt. Don't get me wrong, my husband and son are my biggest cheerleaders and supporters. But bless their hearts, they have zero clue what actually goes into running a business.
I think they see me doing the things and they're like, cool. Mom made another journal. She's going to another meeting. She's working on her website again.
Meanwhile, there's an entire circus happening inside my cabeza.
And half the time, I'm acting like everything is A-OK because I don't want to stress them out.
Turns out... that's not necessarily okay either.
Eventually, Something Has to Give
After about five-ish months of holding everything in, I literally lost my shit in the car one morning before pulling out of the garage to take Aiden to school.
And I cannot forget the look on his face.
I immediately felt like I had emotionally damaged my child because it's not his job to put his mom back together. He's the kid. I'm the mom. But there I was completely falling apart in front of him.
The one thing I remember him telling me was, “Mom, it's okay. It probably started as a bad day, but it's only going to get better.”
Well, shit.
He does listen to me.
Apparently somewhere between all the random mom lectures, car conversations, and things I say that I'm convinced go in one ear and straight out the other, something stuck.
I'm not going to turn that morning into some beautiful inspirational lesson because it wasn't. It sucked. I was overwhelmed. I was exhausted. I was dealing with shit I hadn't really dealt with.
And my kid happened to be sitting there when it finally came out.
That's real life.
Nobody Really Prepares You for the Struggle Bus
It's been a rough couple of months, to say the least. And there's a mental struggle that comes with building something that I don't think you're ever fully prepared for.
Nobody really talks about the relationships you lose along the way. And I'm not talking about some acquaintance you speak to twice a year who suddenly stops liking your Instagram posts.
Sometimes it's family. Sometimes it's people you genuinely thought were friends. People you thought had your back.
And then somewhere along the way, you realize they didn't.
Or maybe they supported you when what you were doing was small enough to feel comfortable. Maybe something changes when you start actually doing the things you said you were going to do.
Whatever the reason, losing relationships while you're already trying to build something is fucking hard.
Nobody tells you there are going to be a lot of bad days in the beginning. Nobody tells you how much money it's going to cost or how much competition there is. Nobody tells you that sometimes you're going to look around and wonder if everybody else knows something you don't.
And nobody tells you that sometimes you're going to feel incredibly alone while surrounded by people who love you.
I Don't Show You Everything
Here's the thing. I don't show all the bad parts.
Part of that is because there are people who I once thought had my back who seem to be waiting for me to fail. And then there are people who never had my back in the first place.
Why bring wood to that fire?
I understand the phrase “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” a whole lot differently these days. But honestly, I'm also not interested in giving anyone more reasons to send bad vibes my way.
Some people LOVE drama.
I don't.
Well... I love a good novela.
But I don't particularly want to be the main character in someone else's chisme. I mean, they can make up whatever story they want, but I'm not feeding them the information. There's a difference. 😂
I'll probably never understand why some people would rather watch someone fail than cheer when they succeed.
But I've also realized something important:
Keeping something private isn't the same thing as pretending it doesn't exist.
Privacy is allowed. Boundaries are allowed. Not everybody needs backstage access.
And I don't have to post a picture of myself crying in my car to prove to the internet that entrepreneurship is hard.
Social Media Isn't Showing Us Everything Either
I went looking for the actual numbers because social media makes it seem like everyone with a ring light and an Instagram account is making six figures.
Turns out, they're not.
CreatorIQ's 2026 State of Creators study surveyed 5,095 creators across 100 regions. Sixty-seven percent reported earning less than $10,000 from content creation in the previous year, while just under 5% earned more than $100,000.
So apparently, a whole lot of the people we're comparing ourselves to don't have it all together either.
And honestly, I'm not trying to be a creator, influencer, or whatever else nonsense. I'm a business owner. Social media is simply one of the tools I use to build that business.
And there is a whole lot happening outside that little square you see on Instagram.
You keep your commitments to everyone else. What about the ones you make to yourself?
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Here's What My Life Actually Looks Like
I wake up at an ungodly hour so I can get things done before the rest of my house wakes up. I make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for my little family. I take Aiden to school and occasionally pick him up.
I have a 9-to-5 job. At one point this year, I was also a full-time student. Aiden plays sports, and we go to every game. I started volunteering at his school for the high school football team, taking money at the entry gate.
I write these blogs. I write a newsletter. I maintain my little tiendita. I attend networking events, mentorship calls, and monthly Collective meetings.
I'm building a business while also living an entire life outside of that business.
And sometimes I'm really fucking good at managing all of it.
My calendar is organized. Things get done. Everybody gets where they need to go. The blog gets published. The newsletter gets sent. The products get restocked. Dinner somehow appears.
And I look like I've got my shit together.
Then life throws a curveball.
Because apparently life loves those.
Life Doesn't Care About Your Content Calendar
My health has suffered this year and even gifted me an overnight stay at the VA hospital. (Zero stars. Do not recommend.)
My child has apparently inherited my propensity and gift for injuries and has spent time in a cast, a boot, and an arm sling.
There have been business problems. Family problems. Relationship changes. Financial stress. Health shit. Parenting shit. Work shit. Regular life shit.
And somewhere in between all of that, I'm still trying to build something I genuinely believe in.
Some days that feels exciting. Some days it feels absolutely terrifying. Some days I'm incredibly proud of myself. And some days I'm lying in bed thinking: What am I doing?
Both versions are me.
Authenticity Doesn't Mean You Get Access to Everything
I think this is the part I've been trying to figure out.
I want to be authentic. I want the things I write to be real. I want someone reading these blogs to know that when I tell you something happened, it actually happened.
I'm not manufacturing vulnerability because it makes good content. I'm not staging my life to make entrepreneurship look harder than it is.
But I'm also not going to make it look easier than it is.
There's a middle ground.
I can tell you this has been hard without giving you the name, date, location, screenshots, receipts, and a four-part Instagram Story explaining exactly who pissed me off.
I can tell you I've lost relationships without telling you who. I can tell you I've struggled without handing everybody unrestricted access to my struggle. I can tell you I've questioned myself without recording myself doing it.
That's not being fake.
That's having boundaries.
And maybe that's something we forget now that so much of our lives happens online.
You can be honest without being completely exposed.
Maybe You've Been Doing This Too
And maybe you're not building a business.
Maybe you're the person everybody assumes has it together. You're still going to work. Still taking care of your kids. Still answering the texts. Still showing up. Still making dinner. Still meeting deadlines. Still doing whatever needs to be done.
So everybody assumes you're fine.
Maybe you even help create that impression because explaining everything feels exhausting.
I get it.
But you don't have to fall apart publicly to prove something is hard. And you don't owe everybody access to every difficult thing you're navigating. Sometimes you're simply doing the best you can while carrying shit nobody else can see.
That doesn't make you fake.
It makes you human.
I'm Not The Truman Show
So no, my life is far from perfect.
And no, I'm not The Truman Show. I'm not going to show you everything.
Some things belong to me. Some things belong to my family. Some things I'm still figuring out. Some things I may eventually write about.
And some things you will probably never hear about.
But don't mistake what I choose to show you for the entirety of my life.
I have really good days. I have really shitty days. Sometimes I know exactly what I'm doing. Sometimes I don't have a fucking clue.
Sometimes I'm confident. Sometimes I'm scared. Sometimes I need to sit in my car and completely lose my shit before I can keep going.
I'm human.
I don't have it all together.
And I don't want to be that chavala who pretends she does.
But if you ask me how it's really going?
I'll keep it real.
Before You Go...
📖 Read next: The Internet Thinks Success Happens Overnight
If you've ever looked at someone else's life online and wondered why you're not moving as quickly as they are, this one is for you. What you're watching might be the final movie. You have no idea what happened during production.
🌵 And remember: You can be honest without giving everyone access to everything. Some things can stay yours.
