Saturday, May 17, 2014

Let's Be Real

Hi readers…I know I haven’t been posting a lot for a few months. I’ve been focusing on finishing my degree, planning my wedding (yay!), moving, work, and a lot of health issues (which has been so hard and frustrating- a huge challenge in itself!). There has been so many moves, changes, lessons, ups and downs these past several months! It has definitely been one of the happiest times in my life, but also the most difficult and challenging. Despite all of my busyness, I also have been going through a lot of spiritual growth, and learning very challenging lessons. This is one of the reasons why I have slowed down on the blog and social media to focus more on that. Most anyone reading this probably doesn’t care…but I still thought I’d share a bit with you and let you know what I’ve been learning, for it may be of encouragement to you too.

My blog has been a wonderful outlet for so many of my passions and interests over the past year. I’ve been blessed to work with some amazing people and companies. But what started out as a very naive and innocent outlet to share my passions, it turned into something that I’ve really had to work through. Through the blog, I started to look around to other bloggers, fashion sites, and models, comparing myself and trying to measure up to all of their successes. So sharing my inspirations, photography, and fashion all of a sudden was no longer good enough for me and didn’t satisfy this need to be the best, to reach “x” amount of followers or views, or getting in “this magazine”, or “that feature.” While looking up to inspirational people to help motivate you is such a great thing; I believe that it all has to be balanced and through it all, you should never loose sight of who you are and what you’re all about. This obsession with trying and trying to reach impossible goals, started to give me such a negative outlook on myself. I wasn’t happy with where I was at in life and always was striving to become “better.” Before this adventure, I didn’t have a lot of these insecurities and I’m not blaming the “blog” (poor thing ha) but for me it lead me to prioritize in a very unhealthy way. As a believer, the priority of spending time with my Lord fell very low and the focus on my appearance and success went to a very high priority.

During this time, my relationships to those closest to me really suffered! I became a little “too big for my britches” (as my dad would say :)) and focused on everything worldly, things that do not matter through God’s eyes. And the person who I want to be is someone that helps others, someone who encourages others to be confident in their own skin, and someone that is an example for other girls and women to love themselves for exactly who they are. And if this is what I truly wanted, then I don’t think I was doing a very good job, because if I honestly accessed it, I wanted to use the blog for my own selfish ambitions and glorification (which was never ever my intention). I didn’t want me (or the content that I posted) to ever give women ammo to say, “oh, she is doing this, I now need to do that,” or “oh, she looks thinner than me, I need to loose more weight.” I never want my posts to make someone else internally compare and become negative or sad about themselves. I see so many other women around me struggle with this same issue, and some women that, sadly, never learn this lesson and fall prey to their own captivity and lies that they tell themselves. Lies telling them that they are not “good” enough.

After a lot of prayers, wonderful counsel and encouragement, I realized that the Lord wanted me to fully surrender it to Him. To give up what I viewed as very important in my life, to what needed to be MOST important in my life. I finally realized that by giving my life fully to the Lord, and trusting in Him, that I did not need to worry about anything else. If it is His will for me not to blog, then I won’t do it anymore. If it is His will for me to try something completely new, I want to do that something that is completely new. I know that with whatever I do, or wherever I’m at in life, I will grasp onto the Lord for my strength and security.

If nothing that I described resonates with you, then I am in awe of your strength and security! For those of you who can understand the feeling of never adding up to either yourself or someone else, I simply urge you to believe in yourself—to be confident in WHO YOU ARE and try not to transform into someone else. Don’t let the world’s standards make you conform, do not let that “one person” who you compare yourself to, make you feel so inferior that you feel negative about yourself. Find your worth in the things that are unseen, the things that cannot be taken from you, like kindness, humbleness, determination, compassion, and thankfulness. God made each one of us specifically the way He intended; for we are beautifully and wonderfully made in His image. The best you can ever be is yourself and when you are that, you will be the most beautiful and captivating woman imaginable.

xo
 

14 comments:

  1. Really lovely written and I totally agree with you. You shouldn't compare yourself too much with others and let them feel negative about yourself. You are who you are, one of a kind. I'm following you for quite some time now, and I really hope you will continue blogging, because you're doing a wonderful job :)!

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    1. Thank you darling. You are so so sweet and those words seriously make my day! Hope you're doing well love. xo

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  2. Wow what an awesome post. I have been following you for a while now and have always enjoyed your pictures and other things you've done. You so beautiful and I actually compare myself to you! I think you could be a great example to other girls and really use your blog and influence for good. Keep up the good work!

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    1. Thank you so much for your encouragement. I've actually been working on a blog redesign and have been thinking and trying to figure out how I can make these posts more of a reoccurrence than this one. Don't compare yourself to me please! haha I may look like I have some of my crap in order, but I really don't haha. I hope you're doing well! xo

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  3. God has blessed you with beauty, talent and a spirt of kindness and compassion. You are to be admired and emulated for the woman you are... Flaws and all! You are amazing Emily! Life is never without challenges, but you are seeking wisdom in all the right places. Take time to give thanks for everything, good and bad, for we learn much from both. I will bombard heaven with prayers for your healing. Much love! L.

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    1. Oh Lauren... how I miss you!!! Thank you so much for your friendship, these kind words, and encouragement. I just love you!

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  4. Sweet Emily…the world can so distract us can't it? Slowly leading us to places we never intended…and most importantly away from God's best. You are a precious jewel and I'm so thankful God is reminding you to keep your focus on Him. Life is so short, sweet girl--make every day count and thrive in the abundant life He promised.

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    1. The world can so easily distract us! Thank you so much for your sweetness and encouraging words. It really means a lot. xo

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  5. Thank you so much for this post, Emily! This struck a chord and was so humbling and convicting! Wow, thank you for your transparency xoxo

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    1. You are so sweet. Thanks Jessica for you comment, it really means a lot to me!! xo

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  6. I have missed your posts. And miss them more, now that I know you better with this post :-). Thank you for your message-you are lovely inside and out.

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    1. Thank you so much for those words of encouragement and continual support! xo

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  7. I happened upon your blog this morning... and honestly I really have no idea how I found it!! I have a very free spirited, artsy daughter. She's 16! We live on a pretty tight budget, so she knows that we cannot afford clothes from Urban OF's or other such expensive brands... and honestly, she could care less about that! She never whines or cries about not having all of the things she REALLY wants & is just humble & thankful for what we can give her! She finds bargains or thrifty stuff & creates her own style to match her personality... not conforming to the ways of this world, but becoming who God is creating her to be!! Seeing a blog post like this, where a beautiful girl like yourself, is doing the same thing, makes my heart sing!! May God bless your life in more ways than you can understand!!
    I cannot wait to show her your blog!! Thank you!!
    ~Melissa

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    1. Hi Melissa, thank you so much for your kindness! I am so glad that you found me and that your daughter my read and enjoy the blog! That is the hope of it, to help and to bless others around me. I hope you've been doing well, sorry for this late reply! xoxo

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