Hi friends!
Wow has it been a hot minute since I’ve written a blog post. I can’t say it doesn’t feel good to be back writing one because it really does. My last blog post was June 10th and my last Instagram was over two weeks ago. I can’t say I intended to take this break because I really didn’t, it actually all started by complete accident and just life taking over…. I didn’t mean to lose track of the blog but I absolutely did. AND if we are on the topic I am absolutely glad I did.
Life Happens…
There were a few things I think that contributed to this mental break. I flew home with Pierce to spend the 4th of July with my parents and totally got swept up in the weekend and didn’t post on Instagram or stories at all. Sometimes when I fly home I like to just leave my phone turned off and I can’t even respond to a text message let alone remember to post Instagram stories. Being far from home, I love getting to spend that extra quality time with my parents and give them my full attention.
If you’ve been watching my (inconsistent) stories you may have seen that Pierce and I ended up extending that trip home with my parents a full extra week. We were there 10 blissful days and it was amazing. I loved being home for that extended period of time. I don’t think I’ve ever spent that much consistent time at home with my family since early college. It was also great for them to spend that extra time with Pierce and get to know him even more than they already did.
When Pierce and I got back from our trip I felt so disorganized as I’m sure you know how it goes being out of town for an extended period of time there is just so much catching up to do. I was also watching our friend’s dog Cooper all last week and it was so nice to take him on long walks in the evenings which made it challenging to post at night. Two of our best couple friends also got engaged last week/weekend and we spent time celebrating with them!
The Blind Need for a Mental Reset
Now this is the part I am struggling to form into words so bear with me. As I was just letting these personal life events happen and really pushing the blog aside I found so much relief in not having to juggle creating content when life is crazy busy. I just allowed myself to live fully in every moment and soak in all the time with my people and it was bliss.
I absolutely love creating content and sharing pieces of my life with you all. But I guess I just didn’t realize this need I had to just allow myself to fully reset for a second. The more time I spent away, the harder it was to come back. I was feeling so uninspired and struggling to create content.
I mentioned on my stories last week how I am trying to be sensitive to this uncertain financial time we living in. I have struggled to find a balance of what content is truly appropriate to promote at a time like this. Some people can’t afford all these new things right now and I didn’t want to come off as insensitive to that. A pandemic is something the blogging industry has never faced, how do we navigate that?
July is also the hardest month for content. My sales are always the lowest because people aren’t really shopping for summer clothes but it’s also too early to shop for fall clothes. The break seemed to happen at a good time and instead of stressing myself about not being engaged on my platforms I just let myself reset.
In the blogging world, sometimes taking a break is easier said than done and the loss of engagement you can get from a break can be overwhelming. People follow you because they want to hear your unique voice and going radio silent isn’t exactly encouraged in this world.
I really think even with that mental pressure to continue posting it is so important to take time for yourself and be able to read when things become overwhelming or confusing and when to take that step back. I knew I had to take care of me and just enjoy life as it was happening to me.
Take the Time for YOU
I think a lot of factors contributed to this break that I didn’t even realize until it happened. I was feeling in a creative rut, I was insanely busy in my personal life, July is typically a slow month, this is an uncertian financial time for a lot of people, I was filing taxes for the blog for the first time, I could go on. I just really needed to take a second to allow myself to reset.
I don’t want to come off as the blog is a chore, because it is absolutely not. I love this space and am so grateful I have Styled Zebra to completely be myself and share anything and everything with y’all. Sometimes our minds just need a mental reset. A moment to recharge our batteries and really live in the moment.
I have been itching to come back to creating content the past few days. I have thought of so many ideas for Fall and the next few months and am so excited to get to sharing! Ultimately, I am so grateful you are here and being patient with me while I work to juggle a million things at once.
If you are ever feeling overwhelmed with anything you are passionate about you have to take that time to walk away and give yourself a mental reset. It is so important for not only your mental health but your overall happiness in doing whatever it is you love. If what you love is becoming overwhelming and like a chore, it is time to reevaluate how to do things differently.
Getting back into it once you’ve stepped away can seem like the hardest part. It is so crazy how quickly we get out of our routines. I always say this to my friend who is an amazing artist now works full time in graphic design and struggles to find that creative freedom to paint and be expressively creative now that she works on design all day. You just have to start. Pick up a post-it and just draw and just start painting. Even if it is on such a small scale you just have to find that medium to work through that creative block.
The same goes with blogging. I gave myself one task – just write how you’ve been feeling and then let’s go from there. So this is my start to jump back in head first because I absolutely love this space and am so excited to continue sharing content with you.
xoxo,
Zoe
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