Self Love with a side of Azul

Hello all! I’ve missed you<3. It’s been two weeks since I last posted on my blog. Two weeks may not seem like that much time, but for me, stepping away from my website for that long seemed like an eternity. I launched my blog in January of this year, but I purchased my domain name on October 30th of 2016. I am now approaching a year of blogging! This means I have been doing photoshoots and creating content every week for the last year! It almost seems unreal to me. I have grown and learned so much about myself in the process of creating, launching, and maintaining my blog. BUT more on my blogging journey later – I will talk about that more on my 1 year blogging anniversary in January :).

Blogging is my creative outlet outside of my day job, which is also very design oriented. I am an aspiring Architect by day, working towards my license, and a blogger everywhere in between. This blog is something I started for many reasons, but one being that I wanted something that was mine; something that I could control and focus on to escape the other stresses of life: when I want, how I want, where I want. As my blog grows, I take on more and more responsibility which then adds more stress. When my creative outlet and escape from stress became a source of stress in itself, it can make life a little overwhelming. This is why I decided it was time to take a tiny step back.

Over the last two weeks, I have continued with the photoshoots and writing, but I kept it to myself ( until now :). I started this blog for me, and I wanted to take a little time and continue to blog for me – now I’m sharing it with the world once again ;). I think it is essential that we all remind ourselves that it is okay to not be perfect; I emphasised this in my last instagram post, but I would like to amend what I said just a little bit. Of course, it is okay not to be perfect, but if “perfection” is what we strive for, we just need to redefine what that word means to us.

I was starting to get overwhelmed by this idea that I needed to be the perfect blogger. Perfection meant continuing to post to my blog and on instagram several times a week, while keeping up with weekly shoots and writing meaningful posts that my audience would be interested in reading and engaging with. I started to get overwhelmed by the idea that I needed to be perfect for my audience or anyone who stumbled across my blog with constant posting, new outfits, and meaningful content. This idea began to inhibit my excitement to create.

My two week break was my time to redefine perfection. Creating for myself and writing down my raw, real thoughts make me feel free and more creative and happy than ever. This, to me, is perfection. I am NOT saying I’m perfect, but I am MY definition of perfect – happy! 🙂

We all need to take some time for self love. We all need to take a step back sometimes and remind ourselves why we feel the way we feel and why we are doing what we are doing. I felt that I was starting to stumble because I was reaching for something that was completely undefined, but I thought was expected of me by this intangible source. I had to pause and remind myself that I have pushed myself so far in my life and acheived things I never thought I could do. I need to be happy with where I am and what I am doing and not constantly worry about where I would be “if I just did this”. Girls and guys: are all awesome, we are all amazing, we are all unstoppable, and we are all perfect. We can do anything and we shouldn’t let anyone make us feel differently or let our happiness be defined by someone else’s opinion. We all stumble, we all fall, we all fail. Sometimes we don’t achieve something we strived for for so long, but we grew, we learned, and we are now primed to achieve something even greater. From our failures come our greatest accomplishments. 

I so look forward to what the next year of my blog will bring, and I hope all of you have enjoyed following along with my journey thus far. Thank you to all of you who have lifted me up with your well wishes and encouraging words. I hope, through my words and images, I can inspire at least one person to love theirself a little more and take a chance on their dreams. 

Photography: Jenna Lynn Photography

Shop this look:

Shop the jewelry: JJ Caprices – Use code SHAYLYNRAE20 for a discount

All of the jewelry in this post is from JJ Caprices, a site run by my amazing, beautiful, girl boss friend Jen. Jen travels the world in search of gorgeous, handmade pieces that she then brings back to Seattle and sells on her online shop. She builds relationships with each talented designer and shares their unique stories. Please check out her site and all of the unbelievably gorgeous pieces she has found all over the world.

Earrings: These DUBLOS earrings were handmade in Sevilla, Spain and make the fashionista AND architect side of me want to do cartwheels. These earrings are so gorgeous and remind me of the steeples of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Bracelet: A gorgeous piece like this obviously comes from a gorgeous place. This bracelet was made in Bali by Japanese designer Yuko Kozuki.

Ring: I am obsessed with the quartz that Jen found in Turkey. These rings are such beautiful statement pieces made in Istanbul. They are adjustable so they can be switched from finger to finger depending on your accessories for the night.