Out of My Comfort Zone

The hubs recently got a new camera. So lucky me, I get to reap the benefits of having higher quality photos! Woohoo! However, all of my insecurities have come out even more because I can see what I consider my flaws, that much better 😱 However, through this process of having more pressure on how my photos turn out, I have decided that I am much happier with how they turn out when I choose to be confident in my own skin. When I decide to just go for it and not be timid about these photo shoots, I realize that I can actually do things I thought I couldn’t before. And with the encouragement from the hubs, I feel better about how I look and less discouraged when picking out what photos turned out best. Now, I am no model - that’s for sure! And I’m definitely not confident all the time. I am still a work in progress but I am stepping out of my comfort zone and I am proud of that because it means I am growing. So this is my advice for you: Do something you’ve been wanting to try. Step out of your comfort zone and go for it! You don’t have to be perfect on your first, second, or twentieth try. But take pride in the fact that you went for it. Cherishing those small victories are what get you to achieve the big ones! Good Luck!

XOXO,

Lauren

Here's some extra photos from this shoot...

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Encouragement

I can’t believe we have already made it over half way into February of 2018. January flew by so fast as did the first half of February. I’ve been so busy with everything else around me that I just haven’t had the time to sit down and share on here. However, I was able to make a good step towards reorganizing my home. And I am excited to keep moving forward and show you what I have been able to reorganize soon. I have been taking my time as I reminded myself that I need to do, but also because my homework load has been a lot lately, which is also why I haven’t had a chance to write again sooner. Luckily, I got a hold of the work load recently and I am excited to get back here. Something that I’ve been wanting to share was some encouragement. Some days can be really tough. Tough to take care of yourself. Tough to truly LOVE yourself. But I want you to know, you are wonderfully and uniquely made to be you. I want to encourage you to stand up for you. Don’t let others put you down. We should be building each other up. One little act of kindness can go a long way. You never know what someone else is dealing with behind closed doors. But showing love can bring more love! Which is a much better option than choosing hate which will only lead to more hate. So go out and choose to be kind. I promise, your day will turn out to be much happier!

XOXO,

Lauren

#encouragement #sweaterweather

Day 1 of 2018

Day 1 of 2018: Let’s be honest, already a rough start for me. I was so excited as the new year was approaching with some new and some recycled goals. I felt so hopeful and inspired to take on my goals full steam ahead. One of my new goals was to dive into this whole blogging thing and come up with some ideas and post away. I started a few days early because I wanted to start the year off with a bang. I thought I was so ready and going to really share something awesome on here. So I took on one of my goals and it totally crumbled in my face. I took it on way to fast and expected myself to have it completed on day one of the new year. I don’t know what I was thinking! If it’s a goal for the year, and I knew going into it that it would take time to complete, why did I get so caught up in wanting to finish it on day one?? Needless to say, ended the night in tears. But that’s okay. You know why? I learned some very important lessons through this little mishap >>

1. Take my own advice. As I look back at what I wrote for the original blog post, I clearly knew what I was talking about. Multiple times I wrote down that I need to be patient with myself. Yet, I skipped that step completely when trying to complete the tasks that I was writing about. (SMH to myself). How could I forget such an important step? Anyways, I obviously need to listen to my own advice.

2. Take my time. As I said before, my advice is to be patient with yourself. So not only do I need to listen to myself, but I need to follow through with that advice. I don’t need to rush into anything before I’m ready. This is one of the reasons my plans crumbled in my face - I wanted to finish the task so fast that I didn’t choose the best option. I just chose the fastest/easiest option that I felt I could complete on my own.

3. Help is a good thing. I can have a hard time with this sometimes because I think I can do things on my own - especially when I feel like I need to prove myself. But why? I don’t need to prove myself - especially with this blog thing since I chose to do it for myself. So who am I trying to impress all on my own? Also “two is better than one” so why not make it even better with people alongside you. I need to remember that help is a good thing. When friends and family or even strangers come alongside you to help you out, take the help! I have some pretty special people who have helped me out along the way, and I would have never been able to create such amazing things without their help.

4. This is for me. I started this blog journey as a way to share myself. It doesn’t matter if I’m the only one who reads it and learns from it (which I already am doing 😉). I created this space as an outlet for my thoughts, adventures, life, etc. It should not be something that causes me more stress on top of all the stress I already have going on.

So cheers to 2018! Here’s to learning new lessons and growing more this year, even on the first day of the year and even if my original plans completely fail 😜

Now I will get back to working my original post, but take more time, get help from others, and make it that much better. Thanks for reading along!

XOXO,

Lauren

P.S. I didn’t want to forget to show this cute work outfit. I got this perfect pink button down shirt at Forever 21 for $10. Can you believe it?? So cheap and so cute. It’s amazing!

Come back again for more 💗

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