A Talk On Mindset/ Some of My Breakthroughs

So something amazing happened a couple of days ago for me. I got my license and I got a raise within the same day. This surprised me and I was so excited. Before all of this happened I never thought I would pass my license test. I failed it three times prior and it was only because I was getting nervous and I was being so negative. Before going into it I was like, "I already know I'm going to fail". And that's the reason why I failed it a couple of times. After all of this I was just thinking about how mindset is literally everything. Like of course you are going to fail if you go into it thinking you will fail. But once I decided to manifest a positive mindset that's when everything changed. I started getting motivated to change and to progress. My problem a lot of the time is that I'm so happy with my current state of being that I almost don't feel motivated to make it even better. But the fact is that you can improve every single day. And even if you are so happy with yourself now you can be even better in the future. Going through this I really realized that mindset is everything. Everything is up to you and it's all your choice. 

When I didn't have my license I felt like a loser because "I couldn't get it". I felt like the world was working against me. Maybe it was? But what I decided to do was to be strong and to pass this stupid test. And once I believed I could do it, that's when I did it. It was also on this same day that I got the raise. Before I got the raise I asked my manager about how much I was getting paid and she told me she would talk to me soon about it. I didn't directly ask for a raise, I just wanted to go over my paychecks with her. Then on that night at work she pulled me into the office and that's when she said she wanted to give me a raise. I was so excited because I didn't think I would get a raise. But then it happened. 

I'm writing this here today to tell all of you that it can happen for you too. It could all happen in one day just like how it did for me. You CAN overcome those obstacles and it WILL happen. Sometimes you just have to be patient and sometimes you just have to change your mindset. Mindset is truly everything. 

A Talk About Happiness

Long time no see guys! I am still trying to figure out where exactly I want to go with this blog but for the most part I want it to be an outdoors and positivity blog because I'm very passionate about those two things. So today I wanted to talk about happiness and what it means to me.

So to me happiness is the most important thing in life. You can find happiness in little things or you can find it with big things. It doesn't matter where you find your happiness but happiness is a key essential to enjoyment and fulfillment in life. Without happiness life is full of sorrow, doubt, and feeling like you're not enjoying life. Life is too short to be unhappy and truly you will get more out of life when you are happy. Now I know for some people it doesn't come easy so small steps are important if you aren't feeling very happy with your life at the moment. Even if happiness is something you need to work on you CAN be happy if you want to be happy. Happiness is not limited and anyone can achieve it with positive life changes. So never feel like you can't be happy because you can do it!!

Now you may be wondering what are the steps to be happy? There is not one set plan on how to be happy but do what works for you. So let's say if you are stuck in a miserable job and you can't seem to get out of it. Try to think of how you can leave your job and what job you can move on to next. Sometimes it's worth it to do what makes you more passionate and happier even if it makes you less money. So whatever the situation is think of what is in your way and eliminate the thing that is in your way, that way you can be happy or closer to happiness.

Once you eliminate everything in your way of happiness you can truly be happy. True happiness is blissful and it's something that cannot be replaced with anything else because it's simply everything. Chase happiness and when you are happy just embrace it and let it shine from within you. Let it radiate from you when you smile, when you laugh, when you talk. Just let it shine!

Now to talk about my story with happiness, personally I have always been a happy girl but it seems like as time goes on I just keep getting more and more happy. Right now I feel so fulfilled with life and I know that it will only get better from here. I have really found my love for nature and the outdoors so I have been going outside a lot. I have been doing a lot of hiking, hammocking, tubing, swimming, and exploring. I am also really glad I have this blog because I really want to inspire people and make a positive impact in people's lives. I feel like even if I'm only making a small impact it is still worth it in the end because I could add value to someone's life. I feel truly radiantly happy and I'm really glad I have reached this point in my life. I will keep sharing and keep moving forward with my life and I'm so excited for this journey.

Sorry if this post is kind of all over the place I haven't written in a while. I hope this inspired you guys, and I will see you soon with a new post!!

Quitting Fashion Blogging and Re branding My Blog

Hey guys this is something that I've been wanting to talk about for a while but I wasn't sure on how to go about it. So as you guys may or may not know I took a blogging break to think about what I wanted to do with my blog because I haven't really been into fashion blogging that much. I haven't posted anything on my Instagram or blog in two weeks or so and while I was on my break I felt really liberated and it was nice. While on my break I was really thinking about what I wanted to do with this blog and I feel like it's time to re brand my blog. I knew that I wanted to keep my blog but I just haven't really been into fashion blogging lately so I think it's time for some content that I actually feel good about posting. I am kind of tired of continuing to fashion blog when I'm not really into it that much. The truth is that I really enjoy nature and motivation and I would really like to gear my blog towards that. Now I'll explain why I'm doing this...

With fashion blogging it seems like everyone is trying to create this glamorous lifestyle with all this stuff, a big closet, and new clothes everyday and I really don't resonate with that. I feel like when you are a fashion blogger you have to always try to impress all your followers and gain social acceptance and social status and it's so dumb. You are not your status and I feel like as a fashion blogger you base your self worth based on how many likes and followers and comments you have and that is not healthy. I also saw what seemed like every fashion blogger saying shop my outfits, shop this, and shop that but really the truth is that I am minimalistic and I have a hard time with telling people to consume more. I think less is more and you really become so much happier with less weight on your shoulders so saying to buy clothes that you don't need is not my kind of deal. Fashion blogging was just starting to feel like a deep void and I knew I wasn't passionate about it anymore but I would still try to put out posts because I felt like I had to. But you know what I'm going to do me and if you still want to follow my journey then follow along but If not that is totally okay with me. Fashion blogging just isn't my thing anymore and I have accepted that and now I'm ready to blog about what I'm passionate about. 

Now to talk about what my new content will be like. So I will be changing my blog name to Courtney Hardy because it's just easier for people to remember me by that. I have been really inspired by nature lately and I've been spending a lot of time outdoors so I want to post more outdoorsy posts on my blog. I am also all about happiness and living your best life so I want to post motivational and inspiration posts on my blog too. I just want to share my thoughts and adventures with you guys basically. Those things are what I'm really passionate about so I want to post about those things for the most part. I also want to also have an occasional running post because I enjoy running too. With this blog re brand I will also not go out of my way to get more comments and likes on my Instagram pictures, I will just post and be done. Before It would take two hours just to post on Instagram because there was a whole process to it but now I won't be doing that. I will also forget the posting schedule and just post whenever I want to post. I just want to be more natural and show how I actually live my life on my blog instead of trying to make myself look and seem perfect when I'm not. If you also noticed I did redo the style of my blog and I really like it. So yeah that will be my new re brand and I hope you guys are looking forward to it because I am. 

I hope you guys support this change and I'm telling you I'm all about passion in life and doing what makes you happy so I'm going to do that because life is too short to not enjoy what you do. I am happy to say peace out to fashion blogging and I'm excited for this journey ahead! See you guys soon.

How to Kick Start Your Dream Life

I feel like everyone has dreams about how they would like their life to be. Whether it be traveling or finding a soul mate, everyone has dreams or goals in life. There may be things holding us down from achieving our dreams through like money, people, or fear. You can start living your dream life once you make an action plan on how you will achieve what you want to achieve. I will say if you are here reading this because I want a six million dollar mansion or something than I can't really help you because your dream is out of reach most likely. I am here writing this for the everyday kind of person who is looking for more passion and fulfillment in life. Now here I'm going to explain the types of steps you need to take and what mindset you need to have when it comes to achieving your dream life. I also want to describe to you guys my dream life. So let's get into it.

If you want to achieve your dreams you have to try to be optimistic about life. When you are optimistic about life you can get more out of life and your chances of achieving your dreams are higher if you develop a more optimistic mindset. Now I do understand for some people it's easier said than done but try your best to always stay positive even when life gets hard. You also have to motivate yourself to have a good day everyday even when you are having a bad day. You can always turn a bad day around to make it better if you try hard enough. Just make the most out of everyday to your best ability and you will notice that you will be happier if you live everyday to the fullest. Your chances of achieving your dreams will be higher since you are putting more effort into having a good day. And what I like to say is that when you have a good day everyday you will have a good life. 

You can only start living the life you love once you let go of what is holding you back. Really think about what you want to get out of life and think about what is in your way of you getting to your dream life. You have to be realistic with yourself too to see if your goals are even possible. Now whatever is holding you back from living the life you want to live, let go of it. Letting go is the hard part but once you let go of whatever is in your way you will feel absolute bliss. Once you let go you can finally be close to achieving your dreams. 

Taking action is the key way for you to achieve your dream life and if you don't take action nothing will ever happen for you. Think about how you will achieve your goals and put together an action plan for that goal. Once you have your plan together take action on it and if you are really determined you will likely succeed. 

Now I want to talk about what my dream life is. I would want a simple and happy life. I want to live minimally and work to sustain myself instead of living to work. I want to see things and have new experiences everyday. I want to be connected to earth and always be surrounded by nature. I want to be spontaneous and adventurous but not dumb. I want to be somewhat of a globe trotter and travel the world. I may only travel for a little due to finances but while I'm not traveling I want to live in a nice shack by the lake. I would rather chase waterfalls than chase materialistic things in life. To me experiences are always better than stuff. I for sure want to live by the water too because I love water. I want to have a good day everyday and I never want to regret anything in life. I don't see myself having an ordinary life and working 9-5 chasing the American dream. I want to work as much as I need to to support my minimal lifestyle and I want to go do cool stuff everyday. I don't want a lot of stuff in life I just want to have a lot of good experiences. While it's nice having money it's not everything in life, your happiness is always number one in life. 

I feel like I have achieved my dream life emotional wise but travel wise I have not achieved my goal because I am only a high school student and school is my life as of now. I can't travel right now because I live with my parents and I got a lot of stuff going on but the travel thing will come at a later time in my life. I do live a simple and happy life with no regrets and I am proud of that. I always surround myself with nature because it makes me feel good, and I am always doing some cool stuff. I feel like I have achieved my dream life somewhat and the only part that is missing is the travel part of it. But the cool thing is that It's not missing that much because I went to the Outer Banks this year already and I will be going to the Mountains on Sunday for cross country camp. I usually go somewhere every year so travel is still in my life y'all and I like traveling a lot. 

Recently I've been inspired by people who live in a van or a tiny house because they don't have much holding them down and they can just go wherever they want and see the world. To me that would be really cool just to do that for a year or something. I feel like there would be challenges of living that small but I feel like it would be very liberating at the same time. But anyways I feel like I have talked enough so we will end the post!! I'll see you guys on Friday with another blog post. Take care! 

How to Live Up to your Potential in Life

Are you living day to day, and never really getting any fun out of life? If so you are with the many people that are living day to day, and are in a miserable job, or just going through a hard time in general. That is really no way to live, and I think everyone should have a content, and happy life. Now I know I am just a fashion blogger but I also love spreading positive vibes, and since I have a little bit of a following I want to use it to benefit others, and inspire others. Now to start off, there is no answer key to a fulfilling life, it is simply how you want to live your life, and what you want to do while you are here on this earth. Now to escape from the negative life I believe you have to be determined, and you have to believe in yourself. Living up to your potential is possible, but it takes steps of action, and a positive mindset. There are so many of us out there that are not living up to our potential, and we go through life not being fully content. Now I'm going to get into the key things that may help you live up to your potential.

Your viewpoint of success may be stopping you from living up to your potential. Lots of people always strive to be successful, and they see success as a big house, or a nice car, or expensive clothing. Success is really none of those things, and it is simply how much you you have achieved for yourself in a non material way. Success should really be based on your health, relationships, and whether or not you're doing what you want to do with your life. We can have all the clothing in the world, and we can still be miserable. I think we should stop putting our success in what we have, and more in how we are living our lives. You will never live up to your potential if you let social, and economical pressure get in the way. Just try to be your best self, and focus on the things that are important to you, and then you will have a high chance of living up to your potential.

Having a positive attitude will take you very far. You will never live up to your potential if you are always negative, and dwelling on stuff. You can have a better life if you always vibe in a positive state of mind, and yeah sometimes life isn't always happy and hunky dory, and that's okay. Keeping a positive attitude will make you live up to your potential because you are waking up and being ready for the day, and trying to make the best out of life even if you're not having a good day. If you have a more positive attitude I believe that you will live up to your potential, and enjoy life so much more. 

We are not here to live a mediocre life. Always strive to be your best self, and I can promise you that you will live up to your potential. Never settle for anything when you know it can be better. Now I don't want to brag, but I am a three season athlete. I do spring track, winter track, and cross country for my high school. My mindset is that I'm going to be the best, or I'm thinking why am I here really here. I strive to be the best runner I can be, and I am the fourth best on varsity. Now it takes hard work to do what I do, and I don't want to brag, but I want to tell you guys that you can do it too. Think about life in the way that I think about running. We are here to do the best we can do, and really it's not about where you start, it's where you finish. Anyone can be mediocre so be different!

Taking action on what you want to change will create a better chance for you to live up to your potential. Actually taking action will cause you to do better in life, and be your best self. You can sit around and say you will change, but you have to actually change if you want to make a difference in your life. Once you start forming better habits, and once you stick to them you will see a change in your life. You just have to take action. 

Those were all of my tips. I hope you guy's enjoyed this motivational kind of post, and I for sure want to start doing more posts like these in the future. I am all about spreading positivity, and awareness about certain things. Anyways I will see you guy's next week, and I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Is Social Media Unrealistic?

Do you guys remember last week when I told you that i wanted to write a somewhat personal post, well here it is. I really want to talk about why social media seems so unrealistic at times, and I really want to talk about showing off your real success. I have to say I'm addicted to social media, I will be in school scrolling, and watching everyone's stories. It's really fun to see all of the content, and sometimes see an inspirational quote here or there. I will say through that with me being a blogger I follow a lot of other bloggers, and I feel like some people just seem like they are perfect. I will scroll through my feed, and see beautiful fashion bloggers, models, and amazing travel bloggers. All of the people I follow inspire me but sometimes I have to wonder if they are making some sort of an impact on me as an individual.

I do really feel inspired when I see their photos, but then an element of me is like, "these people's lives seem like an unreachable dream". I mean who gets paid to travel around the world, that is just incredible. Many people end up working ordinary 9-5 jobs, some jobs they may not like, but yet there is people out here living their dream being a full time influencer. I really want to be a full time fashion blogger, but i feel like it is so unreachable. I know that in my lifetime I want to be an entrepreneur, but it feels so far away. I am working an ordinary high school job at a fast food joint, and while I enjoy my job, I want to be a #girlboss and be a full time fashion blogger, and live my dream. Being a full time fashion blogger would be amazing because i could inspire many people from around the world, all while having fun showing off my style. It just love inspiring others, and I already inspire people, and to me that is amazing. I receive direct messages, and comments all the time that are so sweet, and supportive, and it just motivates me so much. Also if you're wondering what my life plan is as of now, I am going to college to be on the safe side, and then I will find a job that correlates with my degree. I will always continue blogging through, and if I could go full time with it, I would for sure. It is a part time thing for sure because I do work with brands, and get paid, and that is great. I do always try to work with brands who correlate with my blog style, that way you guys get things shown to you that are interesting. Right now I am working with two hair companies, and a clothing company, and I'm so excited to share all of that content soon!

Now to discuss social media, I feel like it is totally unrealistic. We only share the best of the best of our content, and I even do this. I feel like we are all competing for social acceptance, and we all want to showcase this perfect life, but the truth is that nothing is perfect. What I notice a lot with big fashion bloggers is that they will flaunt their expensive wardrobe, travel around the world, and eat killer food. All while they do this, they will document it all through pretty images, and you have to wonder how they achieve all that. They may look successful, and amazing, but inside they could be miserable, and very materialistic. I'm not saying this about all big fashion bloggers, but I'm trying to tell you guys that their lives are not perfect, and you should know that sometimes it's a false allusion. You can have all the expensive clothes in the world, or the biggest house, but you may be miserable. Money will never buy happiness, or success. Real success is healthiness, happiness, relationships, and being fully content with your life. We should all document real success more because it's important. Show who you are naturally, and just let it radiate from you. Let your real success show, show how happy, and healthy you are, and really encourage others to do the same thing.

I love being a fashion blogger because I really enjoy inspiring, and encouraging others to be their best selves. In no way is my life perfect, and i want you guys to know that. We are only human, and we all have our little imperfections, and we should embrace them. Now I encourage all of you guys to show who you really are on social media, and to not be afraid to be yourself. I'm very thankful that I have this platform to express myself, and inspire all of you guys. Thanks so much for following along, and I challenge all of you guys to be natural, and show your real success. I hope all of you have a good rest of your week, and I will see you guys next week with another post.

Finding Your Real Friends, and How It Can Be Hard

Hello guys i am back with another post. I was initially just going to post an outfit and be done, but i wanted to talk about finding your real friends, and how hard it can be sometimes. So if you guys didn't already know i am a junior in high school, and high school can be pretty shallow sometimes if you're not friends with the right people. Long story short i recently had a "fight" happen in my friend group so this is why i wanted to touch on this subject just to spread the awareness to always choose your friends wisely, and be careful who you hang out with. So to tell what happened, i have this one insecure friend who posted on her snapchat story "why don't people like hanging out with me". And some background on her: She has a lot of mental issues, and she is always complaining, and angry. So i commented something like "i don't know. Maybe because you are always angry". After that she just went off, but i wasn't trying to offend her, i was just trying answer her question just based off of how she acts. I was just being realistic, but maybe i said it too bluntly. I feel a little at fault because i should have thought more about my answer because she is really sensitive, and takes everything really personally. Then she blocked me on snapchat after going off on me. I don't get it because i was just trying to answer her question, but i think i could have done it in a better way. She has also blocked my best friend Gabby on snapchat, even through Gabby didn't say anything to her that was hurtful. She was saying stuff to me like, "you make half my problems worse". I didn't fight back because i don't want to stoop to her level, i just defended myself, and if it gets any worse i will go talk to a school counselor about it because I'm not going to let myself get bullied. And just to put it out there, you should never blame your problems on someone else, because it's your problem. I get it if you readers feel as if I'm at fault, and maybe i am, i was just trying to answer her question.

If you couldn't tell I'm trying to keep this generic because i don't want to tell every detail, but some of the stuff she said to me was nasty, and i will be speaking out about it for sure because no one deserves to be bullied, or yelled at. Finding your real friends can be hard, and it takes time. I'm just so glad that i decided to get into track, and cross country because i met really great friends through that, and those friends are like my squad now. In your younger years especially friends may come and go, and the real ones will be great to you and stay, you just have to find those friends. This situation really taught me to be more careful with how i word things because people could take it the wrong way. Me and this "friend" may stop being friends for all i know, but she is mad at me. If the best thing is to stop being friends with her, then I'll leave if i have to. It's not bad to leave a toxic friend at all because that just means more space for better friends. It can just be hard sometimes to find the right kind of people for you because everyone is so diverse, and sometimes it takes a while to weed through the crowd and see who you really should be hanging out with. I remember when i met my best friend Gabby my sophomore year of high school, and now we are like family. I'm so grateful to have Gabby as my best friend, and i'm really glad i met her because she is the closest friend i ever had. Like yeah i had best friends in middle school, but i was not as close to them as i am with Gabby. So it just goes to show that it can take some time to find the right people for you, but once you do it will be awesome. 

Outfit details: My top is from Target, my jeans are from Kohl's, my boots are from Macy's, my watch is from Garmin, and my glasses are from Coach. 

I hope ya'll enjoyed this, and i would love to hear your thoughts on this subject. I'm just feeling a bit torn because i don't know what i did wrong, i just think i could have worded it in a better way. Let me know your thoughts. 

Shop Similar

Blogging While Your Life is Already Busy

Blogging is hard when you have other activities going on in your life. It's been really hard with blogging lately because my schedule is crammed to the brim, and I'm having a hard time finding time in the day to relax.  I'm a high school student, a track and cross country athlete, i work part-time, and i have this blog. Those things keep me so busy that i practically have no work life balance, and my only new years resolution this year was to have a work life balance, and i really want to achieve that. I decided that i would only post twice a week if i have enough time to post twice a week. I mostly just want the flexibility to post when i can. My posting schedule will be every Tuesday, but if i decide to do a second post it will be on Friday like how it normally is.While i really want to post two times a week every week, it's just not realistic for the circumstances I'm in right now. This week will just be one post but if my work schedule is kind of chill next week there will be two posts. So that's the new schedule I'm doing, and i hope this inspires me to crank out better content since i will be able to think over my content more. 

Over the weekend when i was having a hard time finding time to hangout with my best friend Gabby. I was initially going to do my blog work, go on my long run, and do my Instagram post but i thought, "does the Instagram post really matter that much"? So you know what i did, i put it off until later, and i went on my long run, and then i invited her over. I knew that Sunday was the only day i would be able to hangout with her the whole week due to working 5 times this week, and having track practice, and school, so i made it work because i will not let myself become so busy that i can't make time for the people that matter in my life. I'm tired of over working myself, and pushing work on myself, so i want to make this blog change for the better. I want to work to live, not live to work. For all of the bloggers that also have a job on top of blogging, you know how busy it can get, and i think we all need to cut back sometimes and treat ourselves to a relaxing day every now and then. 

Blogging is kind of like having a business, you are your brand, and your audience is your audience, your audience consumes the things you post. As a blogger you have to maintain everything, and keep everything going. It is really fun to have a blog, but it also is a lot of work if you have other stuff going on in your life. It's cool to create content, create your brand, and to make an impact on people. That's why i am still here blogging because i truly enjoy doing it, and it helps you discover what you're truly passionate about. It's just awesome but it sucks that I'm having a hard time finding the time to blog. Since i am cutting down my blogging schedule i want to try to post some Youtube videos. My first video is above this body of text if you want to check it out. I still don't really have a clue about Youtube but I'm going for it anyways.

Now to go off topic a little bit let's talk about social media. In social media there is always an endless cycle of content, and it never stops, but you can stop scrolling at any time. I totally love Instagram, but at times it can all just seems a little pointless. The Instagram algorithm is worse than ever before, and not everyone may be seeing your post unless your engagement is really good. Since engagement is low a lot of people have been joining comment pods. Comment pods are groups where everyone has to like and comment on everyone's photos, and then when you have a new post you can get everyone to like and comment on your post. It helps out a lot with engagement, and it makes your post more likely to be seen by your followers because only the "best" photos get shown to your followers. Comment pods are good, but i recently had a problem with a comment pod. A woman was being very rude to me because i didn't comment on everyone's pictures supposedly. But the thing was that i commented and liked everyone's recent photos, and she was getting mad because i didn't comment on photos from like 1 month ago. It's like some of these people have to chill out for real, like it's not that deep. So for anyone in comment pods i would just make sure that the people in the pod are not psycho or anything, and if they are i would leave the group because it's not a good idea.

Point blank, blogging is hard, and it can sometimes be frustrating because it's like unpaid work. I enjoy doing it but sometimes it overwhelms me. I will still be active on all of my platforms, and i will try my best to post frequently. I hope you all have a great week, and i will see you all on Tuesday with another post.

The Glass Slipper

Hey guy's I'm back with another post. Today I'll be sharing a look that is inspired by Cinderella (hence the top), and yes I know it's November but shirt sleeve tops are always a must. So let's get into it!

This is an easy casual outfit that is pretty easy to throw on and be out the door. You know what's funny is when I was taking these pictures I was actually in a mall with my friends, and I saw a white wall, and I was like photo shoot time!! Like does anyone else appreciate a nice looking wall for Instagram photos or is that just me? There was also a couple people walking by who saw the photo shoot, and where I live there is no bloggers that I know of so people were probably like "why on earth is this girl posing up against a white wall". But the photos turned out good so hey!!

While writing this I have realized that I wear my Dansko shoes a lot. I feel like they are in every outfit post but they are just so cute, and comfy. So there is my excuse for over wearing them haha. Also guys this is not related to the outfit but I am currently looking for jobs because while blogging is my job I don't make much money with it because I have not invested in it yet, but I'm investing in my blog this Christmas because I'll have money from Christmas. But I still want a job as a side hustle kind of thing. So over to past week I have been applying to a lot of places, and hopefully I can get a job as soon as possible. Speaking of the application process, does it always take a week or so for the hiring managers to get back to you? Because I'm getting a bit worried about whether or not I'm getting a call. But soon I will be doing lots of follow up calls. I'm just so used to working for myself that I have a hard time relying on other people, and this is a whole other blog post but I have a very entrepreneurial kind of mindset, and I really want to start my own social media consulting business. But guy's I already have to balance school, being a three season athlete, my blog, and soon a job(hopefully). Either way knowing how I am I will get a job soon because I'm hungry for it, and my resume looks great. Sorry for rambling a bit about career stuff but I'm just at that point in my life where I have to start worrying about all this kind of stuff. But I will do a separate blog post about career stuff if you guy's want to know all my future goals and what on earth I want to do with my life. 

Outfit Details: My top is from Lauren Conrad, my jeans are from Kohls, my shoes are from Dansko, my bag is from Kate Spade, my watch is from Garmin, my earrings are from Forever 21, and my glasses are from Coach. 

That's all for today's post. I hope you guy's got some inspiration from it, and I'll see you guy's on Friday with another post. 

Shop Similar

Instagram vs. Reality

Instagram. It all seems perfect when really it's not. Being a blogger you're almost expected to have a perfectly curated feed, and have all of your photos look high quality, but there can be a certain point where it's like this is not how my life actually looks. During the weekdays I spend most of my day in school with a messy bun, and some stylish outfit, but not as stylish as what people may see on my blog or Instagram. I don't always look super fantastic, and I have bad days every now and then, I mean we all do. But even on those bad days a lot of bloggers and influencers still act perfect on Instagram because we are expected to always be happy, and in a good mood. Me personally when I'm having a bad day I talk about it on my story, and I get so much support from everyone which always feels great. But I don't have bad days that much, but when I do everyone usually makes me feel better about it. To talk about big accounts, it's almost a thing that can become hurtful because if you're a big account and people look up to you and you only show your good side, then your audience will somewhat be jealous of your lifestyle even through your lifestyle may not be all that. It's almost like showing a false image of yourself, and making yourself seem superficial to everyone else that follows you.

I thought I would include a couple funny pictures in here because let's be real who doesn't get sidetracked while doing a photo shoot and takes ugly front camera selfies. Or it's just what I do haha!! But on a real note bloggers are just like any other people. We aren't better than anyone else, we just have more publicity. I wish more people would grasp onto that because it can be negative sometimes to only show the good things in your life, and act like everything is perfect because nothing in life is perfect. 

So here is my feed as of right now when I'm writing this. By looking at my Instagram you can see that I like fashion, and my images all have bright lightning, and such. But let me tell you my Instagram takes planning, hard work, editing, and all kinds of marketing. So you wonder why it looks good, because hours go into this. So when you scroll through it blogger's feed it looks really good, but we spend tons of time on Instagram to make it look amazing for the people that look at our content. And you have to think about it, a lot of bloggers work with brands, and we have to have good quality images to give a good representation of that specific brand, and of ourselves. We also get paid for a specific photo, so of course it has to look good and have the right hashtags and such. 

Another example of Instagram vs reality is this one. The first image is on my Instagram, and the second one was when I was trying to take photos of this outfit but then it was too bright and the background did not look professional. So it just goes to show that we only show the best photos we get because we are expected to show our best side. I have also seen some bloggers and other big influencers being caught for using Photoshop to slim down their bodies, and remove people from their travel photos at a huge destination. And to me that's just sad because it shows that you're being fake, and making yourself seem like your life is perfect when really it's not. I understand how someone could feel insecure about their body because woman get bombarded by the media to be skinny, and have a specific body type. That may be causing some people to edit their photos to that extreme because they feel pressure in one way or another to please the media. It shouldn't get to that point where you're showing a false image to lots of people because that just adds to the negativity of being the "ideal" body type, and it will encourage others to follow in that path. 

I just wanted to post about a topic like this to spread awareness, and I really encourage everyone to be realistic on their Instagram's. You can also keep an awesome looking feed and be real at the same time with everyone on your Insta story, or in your captions. Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys on Friday with another post!

The Negative Effect of Social Media

Hey guys i'm back with another post. I thought I would write this kind of post because lately I've been struggling with the comparison game, who has better photos, and the Instagram algorithm in general. Being a blogger is not easy because there is a lot of competition out there in the blogging community. If you're a blogger I bet you feel overwhelmed sometimes because it's a 7 day a week commitment. You know we all have those moments, but I enjoy blogging so much that I keep going. I'm very passionate about it, and I consider it my part time job. You know it makes me happy, until I see my numbers go down. That sounds so stupid but it's true. I never wanted to sit here and analyze how many comments I get on Instagram, but I am guilty of doing that. 

Don't get me wrong social media is awesome, and it really connects people together, but it can sometimes have a negative effect because you can get caught up in the comparison game. You may look at someone's account and think "how on earth are they in Paris collaborating with an amazing clothing brand?" or "how does this lady have that many followers?". Recently I haven't been comparing myself too much to other people, I mostly just obsess about my numbers. Numbers do count if you're a blogger, but in the end it's just numbers, it's not your life. Hey as long as you're happy it shouldn't matter too much, but as a blogger you have to care about them a little bit because they do portray a little bit of who you are as a blogger, But they shouldn't be everything. From now on i'm going to try not to let a decrease in numbers get to me. I mean hey, I bet people get sick of me and then come back. I don't know but normally I'll just have a couple days where I see less engagement, and then it goes back up again. 

To move subjects I also want to talk about the "ideal woman" that is portrayed in not only social media, but all types of media in general. As a society, we constantly see beautiful woman everywhere in the media. We only get shown the best of the best. Working in the fashion industry can be difficult for someone who doesn't fit the "ideal body type". It seems like all the successful people are tall, skinny, and look like supermodels. The good thing is that I've been seeing a lot of posts that bloggers have done to spread awareness about this, and it's awesome. Being a short girl myself I find myself wishing I was taller sometimes so that A-I can be a better runner ,and B-So I can look like a model. I know that sounds stupid but this is what society has done to young girls nowadays. I enjoy being a short girl because short girls are seen as cute, but for real I need to grow a couple inches!! I've been 4 11" for 3 years. I think I've stopped growing, and I'm not even 5 foot yet, but aye I love myself, and if I'm going to be a short girl my whole life then aye I'm rocking it because it's what I got. 

So in conclusion, social media is great for marketing yourself and getting your name out there, but it also has it's negatives that can be frustrating sometimes. In the end it's worth it, and I'd say 50% if not more of my collab opportunities come from Instagram, so it is very powerful, but it also has it's downside. I really hope this post brought good awareness to this whole subject matter, and I hope I inspired other girls to speak out about social media and the media in general. As always, thanks for reading and I'll see you guys on Friday with another blog post. 

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/sugarcoatedbears-14134351

https://www.instagram.com/sugarcoatedbears/

https://www.pinterest.com/sugarcoatedbears/