A Mini Update

Hi friends! Been a minute since I hit “publish” on here. October was a very interesting month for me in a lot of ways, and this blog was on the back burner.

I’m sure I will share the full story of this at a later time, but the short version: I was planning on debuting a new business of mine in mid-October. I’ve been working on it since February, and obviously, it was impacted by COVID, pushing my summer-ish launch to the fall. I decided that October would be the new date, and made preparations accordingly. I turned down blog campaigns and only shot once in the entire month leading up to my “launch date.” Blog stuff definitely was low priority. Alas, the red tape of government and licenses, combined with a delayed supply chain, prevented the launch from happening yet again.

I was frustrated, to say the least. I had a whole blog post ready to share with you explaining everything about the new business and the journey to get to the launch; all my branding was prepared, with samples of packaging, stickers, and more sitting around my office. I was SO READY to break out of the stagnant feeling I’d been in since coming home in the spring.

Luckily, we had a family road trip planned to the Smokies, which was the perfect way to take my mind off of everything. I actually tried to be “off” during the long weekend, which was a rather new concept for me. Usually, trips are content opportunities (though I was lucky that my aunt and mom waited 10 minutes for cars to leave this quaint bridge so I could get a snap). This was the first trip I didn’t feel an overwhelming pressure to create content. I took pictures when I felt like it, and when opportunities naturally presented themselves, and it felt good.

I’ve kind of taken that approach into my everyday life now that I am back home, a month after the trip. When my makeup looks great, I’ll try to get someone to document it for me, but I don’t feel the stress surrounding “shoot day” that I once did. If it’s raining and I don’t get a picture, it really doesn’t bother me like it used to.

I suppose what I’m getting at is through all the ups and downs, pauses and waiting periods, I have learned to let go of what I want, and accept what is. It’s not always been easy – I am very type A – but I’ve learned to only apply my thinking and over-analysis where it serves me. No more overthinking “What if XYZ had happened?” or “Did I try hard enough?“

When used correctly, my type-A brain is a major strength of mine! I’ve done audits of my blog, prepared a holiday content strategy, and, of course, done a million more things for a business that is now coming your way in early 2021.

I will try to find a balance between my other work and my blog, because this truly is my “fun” work once again. Now that it’s no longer my primary income stream, I’m able to do what I want, when I want, without worrying about performance of posts or if I met a brand’s sales goal on a collaboration. I’m sure when life slows down, I will take on a few collabs again, but I’m enjoying this blog and my personal social media without the added stress of contracts for the time being.

Holiday content coming your way soon – within reason. I’ve already seen gift guides floating around with $300+ items… don’t know about you, but that ain’t in my budget, especially with COVID.

I hope you all are staying safe and healthy! Love ya, mean it.