Hi nice to see you again! Are you following me on Twitter? Have you subscribed for email updates to receive the 10 free healthy fruit and veggie recipe eBook? For full transparency view my disclaimer! Stop back soon!

Something has been bothering me. A week ago or so Jessica Gottlieb wrote a blog post on the FTC and Mom Bloggers and I love her honesty and what she said on the matter.  The post received a wide range of comments (wow on traffic) and a unfortunately far to many attacks about Jessica Knows, even some saying she isn’t a “real” person. I love how Jessica took the high road but I’m sure because she’s human her feelings were hurt to some degree. What has me bothered is a comment about Jessica claiming to be green and others online but that they’re not really green because they drive this or that and they wrote a post about Windex and don’t have a garden. Sometimes reactions online from mommy bloggers  make me not like being a “mom blogger” and wishing sometimes I could disconnect from the pact when some make us look like a bunch of whiny brats that are having a high school brawl.

I actually got sick to my stomach over this because it reminds me of the exact reason I started Green and Clean Mom and how over time I’ve even been scrutinized and condemned but also because as easy as it is for people to turn on Jessica someone can turn on me and say I’m not really green and it would be far more appropriate because I have a “green” blog. The deal is, I’m not trying to be “green” to live up to anyone’s standard but my own. There is not some yardstick that says if I measure this I am green and I get an award and stamp of approval.

I’ve worried several times that someone would come to my house and do an inspection to see just how “green” I am. That they would raid the cupboards, ask me what I use to highlight my hair, inspect the sheets to see if they were organic and then write some horrible expose’ calling me a liar and I’d have to walk the plank. Seems silly that I would worry but more absurd that anyone would care. Except people easily sit behind a screen and they can write whatever they like and treat people with disrespect and make snarky judgmental comments and condemn a person because they’re not actually looking that person in the eye and they don’t have a relationship with that person to see they have a good heart.  It’s easy to hurt a person you don’t know and that is why the tabloids exist.

The fact of the matter is this; there isn’t a blogger out there or person who is perfect. We all live lives away from the computer and families we love and friends we hold dear and near. For me, I have a blog that’s in the “green niche” because that is where my interests lie and I enjoy writing, reading and researching on this topic. It doesn’t define who I am as a person because I’m more than just Green and Clean Mom. I’ve even thought of selling at one point because of the “green mom” label and not really being sure that when I started the blog I would know how that would encompass how I was known online. It’s become a brand of it’s own and that includes me but if today was my last ever blog post (which it isn’t) I would want people to know this:

I am sometimes not so green. I am learning about being green with the rest of the world and improving everyday. I don’t believe that throwing a stone at someone and making them feel bad about what they drive or washed their clothing in does any good for the eco/green movement. I know it isn’t easy to change and do things a new and different way but all I ask is if I can try maybe you can try as well. Maybe that will open the door to trying something new next week or next year that improves the health of your family, helps the environment and saves you money.

I wish there was more self reflection online, encouragement and inspiration and fewer cat fights, name calling and competition. It’s great for traffic but is that how the blogger is in real life and if so I guess I would want to know them.  I’ve actually realized why I was never “popular” in high school and that’s because it was  crowd I never liked hanging around and being judged by. Just like there is more to a person than what they wear there is more to a person than there blog.

I am measured by the person who looks me in the eyes every morning and night when I look in the mirror; I am human and so are you so if you’re the person who feels like you need to judge or create that yard stick I suggest looking in the mirror – it’s more powerful.