LIFE THRU A LENS: Did you see the Northern Lights?

Last week there was a lot of excitement at the arrival of the Northern Lights across York. Did you see them? If not, I’m sure you’ve seen people’s photos of them?
Well, I did see them (not boasting, just saying…). What I saw was a bright, white shaft of shifting cloud that beamed through the night sky. It was beautiful and very faintly pinkish, with possibly a bit of green (if I squinted my eyes!). However, I then saw people’s photos. People who lived nearby. People who shared the same sky as me. They seemed to have seen something VERY different. Their photos showed a rainbow of pinks, purples, blues and greens. Did the sky look that different from just two streets away? I don’t think so. But their camera picked up what my eyes could not see. The camera captured the colour and showed a brilliant display of light. The camera didn’t exactly lie. The colours and light were there. But the photo did not match what I had seen. And it got me thinking. How often do photos on social media capture the light and colour of people’s lives in a way that does not exactly lie, but that shows the very best, enhanced, most colourful version of what is happening? How often do people show the ‘Northern Lights camera version’ of their family life or relationship? Maybe we should just be a bit braver to present what we actually see – without the colour enhancement. Maybe then we’d realise that we’re all the same. Maybe then we would feel less alone and realise that we’re not failing. It might even help us to look more closely and see the little bits of brightness and colour that we hadn’t noticed before. At our Family Matters York Parenting courses, we love to provide this space for families to be real and to share the normal messiness of family life. Whilst we know there will be moments of brilliant colour and vibrancy in our families and relationships, quite often we’re just muddling through with ordinary days and the odd shaft of brilliant, white cloud that if we squint and look hard enough, will reveal a faint glow of pink or green……and that’s OK!