Photos x Mandee Rae
Today’s post is more of a diary entry, but after getting the photos back from this shoot, I sat and reflected on my blogging journey so far and how much it has affected my life. There are the ‘obvious’ blogger perks that people often bring up to me like getting free clothes, being invited to events, getting followers and likes on Instagram; but it goes much deeper. I often use the term ‘relationships’ when referring to why I love blogging so much. I talk about it on my ‘about me’ page, when I am partnering up with brands, and in general conversation relating to my blog. This blog has brought me friendships and people into my life that I never would have met or connected with otherwise.
Friendship is definitely one of my core values – I’ve been like that since I was a little girl. I’m constantly wanting to grow in my friendships, never to just get to a certain point with someone and feel like our relationship is maxed out; cause it’s not! People are constantly growing and evolving and I love to be a part of that journey for other people. There are SO many amazing women that I have met through blogging. Whether it’s the Seattle influencer community, connecting with girls via Instagram, on Facebook groups, meeting bloggers in other cities like at fashion weeks, or even building relationships with my readers – I’m continuously growing my ‘blogging’ community & friend group every single day.
Recently, us Seattle gals decided we really wanted to make it a priority to connect with each other and build each other up. We’ve started meeting monthly for brunches, drinks, or photoshoots, and I feel like this has made our city’s blogging community so so unique and special. There’s a common perception of bloggers that thinks we are all in competition with each other, and I will say that in a lot of cities it is like that!! But not here. We are building something based off of genuine friendships, venting about our struggles, relating to other people in our industry who will actually understand us and not think we are crazy. (Seriously if you were to sit in on our conversations about blogging you would probably laugh at the amount of times we mention Instagram or Pinterest or whatever else it may be.) But we are so connected! We go through the same things and help each other out. It’s amazing.
I have also recently realized how connected I am with a ton of my readers and followers. Whether they are sharing excitement with me about our new home, or relating on struggles like needing to take Leo into the pet emergency this week, things happen and we get connected. I feel such an amazing support system from SO many women who I have never even met before. They give me advice, ask me for mine, build up my confidence, share stories – the connection is there and it’s real! The past three months or so I have felt it stronger than ever and it really makes me so happy. Building these friendships with people from all over the world is amazing. It is such a blessing that this blog has brought me this!!
I have found an industry that I love; that allows me to express myself, and to grow, to connect, to reach people around the world, and to make genuine friendships that I value so much. I am so thankful that my 19-year-old self thought of creating a little website to show off her daily outfits because it has seriously changed my whole life. I am very thankful.
I get a lot of messages about starting blogs and hopefully those of you interested will read this and be inspired to start one yourself. All it takes is a little leap of faith in doing something I know you’ll love!
As always, you can shop my look below. Hope you are all having a great week so, thanks for stopping by 🙂
Xx,
