6.16.2014

#realbloggerbeauty


A few weeks ago I shared a photo on Instagram referencing #realbloggerbeauty. My friend Maya from Charmingly Styled came up with this beautiful blogger movement that she discusses here on her blog.

The moment she emailed us about this project, I was maybe all of five words in and immediately responded, "YES! I'm in!" I've been at this blogging thing for four years now, equal amount of time I've been out of college (I feel old!). Let me tell you, the blogging world is a weird world. It's hard to explain to those who are on the outside looking in, so often you find solace in other, often local, bloggers that live close to you. We've often shared our frustrations and our successes with one another, and have all at one time felt envious of someone else's success, whether it be scoring a huge campaign with a brand, taking that one (or multiple) perfect insta shot, you name it. But to be honest, blogging is just a glimpse, often stylized glimpse, of each of our lives.

Not to be too cliche, but our lives are not perfect, my life is far from that. Outside of the beautifully styled vignettes that I sometimes share on my newsfeed, what I'm not showing you is my extremely messy house (laundry, both dirty and clean strewn about my bedroom and bathroom (where the washer and dryer live), my car, equally as messy, boxes and boxes of unpacked wedding gifts, an office waiting to be painted, DIY projects and supplies everywhere, and let's not even touch the state of my closet. Thankfully I'm blessed with a very understanding, abet forgiving husband....I've promised to get to all the messes post wedding, that starts this week! I've been stressed to the max the last few months with wedding details, along with still hitting deadlines for freelancing gigs, and working a full time job.

Amidst the craziness of my life the past few months, I've seen my own blog take a back burner, something had to give. And I can't write about my life if I'm not living it. I've tried to keep that in perspective when I find myself frustrated that my stats may be lower or I see other great things happening to my favorite bloggers around me. This attitude often throws me for a loop and I find myself having to have an attitude check. People who are successful are successful for a reason, they've worked their asses off to get where they wanted to be.  In a community both within my day job and my night job (the blog) I'm surrounded by very strong, intelligent women. I've observed that it is often easier to sit back and kibitz about who wore what that you didn't like or someone did something or said something to piss you off.  At 26, I find myself reverting to a high school version of myself and those around me that I am often so fed up with. We sit there and compare ourselves to each other, trying to one up the other, as if that is what life is about. Newsflash and reminder to everyone, including myself, it's not. Life is simply too short not to support one another in our successes and to offer support in our times of need.


In high school, I experienced several bouts of bullying and those experiences brought me to Kind Campaign my senior year of college and ever since I've supported this amazing platform. KC encourages young girls and young women to simply be kind to one another. What a simple yet profound task that we have to encourage women to be kind, to be empathetic to one another. Lend a hand, an ear, or a shoulder to someone. Send a smile or an encouraging and uplifting comment on their post. It sounds trivial but it's the little things sometimes that can make that person's day.

Love these girls - Molly (L) and Lauren (R), the founders of Kind Camaign at a screening in Iowa City (such babes here - four years ago!)

You may be wondering how I can connect the two things, the crazy world of blogging and Kind Campaign? It's simple, really. We won't always like each other or agree with one another, whether it's someone you know or some random blog in the inter webs, we can always be kind. Like a photo, leave a genuine comment if you like something you've read, just simply be kind in your actions.

If you are interested in reading other #realbloggerbeauty stories, head over to Maya's blog for the link-up and make sure to follow the hashtag on social media! Share the love by using #realbloggerbeauty on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter!

7 comments:

Alissa said...

I wish I could give you a million high fives girl.

Unknown said...

This is fantastic. It's easy to get caught up but we just have to define what success means to us and remember that no two people's vision of success will ever be the same.

People will remember us for how we made them feel - not the things we did :)

Love ya lady!

Jacy said...

I absolutely loved this, and everything you said resonated with me. It's so easy to get sucked into materialism or jealousy while being a part of the blogging world, or even into believing that some of their lives are perfect. As for what you were saying about your house and car, I'm with ya! We close on our house next week and it's going to need A LOT of work to be anywhere near pretty, I'm so stressed with wedding planning, and I'm staying in a family member's basement while all of my belongings are at my parents' over an hour away. Naturally you won't see this on my instagram, but that's what my life looks like right now.
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful cause and your genuine story! I loved everything about this :)

~Jacy

Jessica said...

I think what resonates with me the most in this post is being there for each other in times of need. I've had fairly positive experiences blogging thus far, and it's comforting knowing I have an entire army backing me when things get rough. Thank you so much for sharing! :)

Amy Breckenridge said...

i've really enjoyed reading all of the posts from maya's linkup today! :) thanks for sharing your story and info on the kind campaign. as someone who was relentlessly bullied growing up, i definitely want to check it out and get involved! xo

Unknown said...

It is definitely hard to not get caught up in what's going on around you in the blogging world. While I was not the one getting married, I let my blog go to the back burner when I was moving and helping my older sister plan her wedding as maid of honor. Ever since, I feel like I have been playing "catch up" watching others get amazing collaborations with brands I could only dream of working with. BUT you are SO right. They worked their asses off for those successes and I should be happy for them, not jealous!

Also, I am so sorry to hear about your high school experience. High school was a horrible time for me when my self confidence was at an all-time low and people would use me to copy my homework since I was thought of as the "nice, shy, smart" girl. Looking back, I wish I would have stood up for myself, but now I just try to be the best version of me possible!

Unknown said...

What a great campaign! Thanks for sharing!

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