We don't say these things in public, eh?

Today is day 2, and I've yet to take today's picture. Day 2! For pete's sake! I do have a plan, though. Last night, I spotted a potential photo in my son's room while I was up in the middle of the night soothing him as he suffers through the flu. Today has been sheer misery, with a doctor's appointment and a car puking incident thrown in just for good measure. I didn't take my camera with me on our miserable outing, because I would have felt like a schmuck stopping to shoot photos somewhere while my son and husband are both sick in the car. But, I will get today's photo done, one way or another.

I was toying with the idea of using Facebook as a commitment device for this project, but at this point I'm more likely to just delete my facebook account entirely. Today, I came across a post from a friend that went something along these lines:

The gym was so empty today! So much for those resolutions, I guess. Oh well, all the better for me, because I didn't have to share the equipment and I've already managed to lose my Christmas weight!

Maybe I'm just overly sensitive about my Christmas weight (and my 4th of July weight, and my Valentine's day weight, etc) but this struck a wrong chord with me. I'm happy that my friend is feeling fit and excellent and very proud of herself (these sort of braggy comments have been pretty common from her on facebook for the last 6 months or so). But at the same time, rubbing your success in the face of your friends seems like a bad idea, even if you do have the benefit of the internet veil between you. If it's not something you'd say right to someone's face in person, I feel like you shouldn't say it online. And the really surprising thing is that the girl who made this comment is totally sweet in person. I've never heard her say anything remotely braggy in person. She's very sweet and adorable. And then there's facebook.

Which brings me to my point: Why do I even use facebook at all? Nine times in ten, when I log on, it's just to peruse through the news feed. I rarely post anything myself (status updates, pictures, etc). And most of the time I'm left just feeling worse about myself than when I started. And yes, I know, you can hide all sorts of things there now and I don't really have to read folks' humble-bragging if it's just going to upset me. And I know I can un-friend people---I've done a mass un-friending exercise once or twice before. But at this point, it just feels like it fuels the negativity and feelings of inadequacy in my own life. In real life, if I find myself in a situation where a certain aspect of my life (friendship or whatever) is bringing me down more than it is lifting me up, I cut it out like a cancer. So, I don't see why I don't just do exactly that with facebook.

In other news, the following things can just go ahead and suck it:

1. The flu,
2. My left foot, which is too slowly recovering from foot surgery, making it impossible for me to actually exercise and deal with my own Christmas weight, and
3. Cabin fever, which I can't escape due to everyone else in my house being sick with the flu.