Do what makes your soul happy and see how life falls into place.
It’s been crickets around here, sorry about that.
When I first dove into the idea of having a fashion and fitness blog. I read other bloggers apologizing for taking an unannounced absence I would think “what, how could that do that? That will never be me.” Just like my Mommy used to tell me “never say never” because I’m guilty as charge for leaving this place without new content for months.
I’ve missed this place- I miss writing and creating. I however do not miss the anxiety that comes with being an influencer. I realized over these months that I miss sharing my style, creating workouts, or sharing a recipe that I made but not the pressure that comes with the 2018 world of blogging. Everyone is an influencer working on that CPC (cost per click). Don’t get me wrong, a blog is a lot of hard work- gurl should get a little something for the hustle. For me, the more I worked the Influencer game, I realized I wasn’t having much fun. It felt like a constant deadline that I was always chasing my tail to finish.
I jumped in head first when I launched Style in Shape. Joined the affiliated programs, researched more than I could possibly read about blogging, branding, SEO, hashtags, social media growth, monetizing, etc. All the things to make this space a business. While that works for some, I don’t think it worked well for me. It became about doing everything I can to gain a following while struggling to enjoy the process.
When you take a break for so long it almost becomes paralyzing on how to rebegin. Last month I started to Insta more- sharing fitness and style as it happened naturally for my life. I did not think about how my little squares would line up or research hashtags. And you know what? I enjoyed it a lot more. It may not be collaboration eye candy, but it’s real and sometimes we need the real sprinkled in our feed.
Maybe in a few years I will think this approach was a bad approach, but for now- I’m refocusing on sharing to share. To build naturally & organically. You’ll see more posts but probably shorter and less photos but without compromising the quality of content. My insta feed will mix between my iPhone and my digital camera. I’ll link stuff if I can, but I also like to work my closet a lot, so I’m going to scale back on the similar link ups. Style is much more than new arrivals and I want to inspire over influence.
Do what makes your soul happy..sharing my frugal style finds, fast and effective workouts and my healthy lifestyle makes my soul happy. That’s why I started this space. I’m grounded, committed and ready to feel this site beat again.
