Fun. Honest. Me.

Over the last few weeks I have been soaking up and enjoying my family and friends. Christmas break for me has nothing to do with gifts, or having work off, and everything to do with reuniting with those I love. Focusing on those I love, and the gospel, helps me think about all the many ways I can be better. I want to be the type of person where I am always getting better, never stagnant and always moving forward, progressing.

I thought a lot about this blog over that time. This space online has meant many things to me over the years. It has brought me so much joy, and even some pains. I have met amazing people, have had amazing opportunities. But have also had struggles with what I want this space to be.

It is impossible to showcase ones life accurately online. What we see is a small portion of an edited life. Yet we forget that. We forget that and we compare and we judge and wish and a whole list of emotions that come from seeing and reading what other people want to share with us. It can be frustrating. It can be frustrating to read something or see something and feel insecure about yourself. It can also be frustrating to write something that others misunderstand. The internet and all the social media that goes along with it can be confusing. It is both positive and negative.

Sometimes I have been committed to this space, other times I have wanted to wake up and delete it. But after four years of blogging, I haven't really done either if I was sharing my honest opinion with you. I haven't been as consistent and committed to it as I would have liked to be, and yet I haven't deleted it. So why? Why haven't I?

There is something about sharing yourself to the world that can help refine you. Do I really think clothes are that important? Is finding a great shade of lipstick something to care about? It can all seem really shallow and petty at the end of the day when we live in a world with real problems. People dealing with real life heartaches. People who need service. 

Yet life is also meant to be enjoyed. A lot of people sacrificed their lives to make it so we could. So we could have fun, we could be silly and free. So we could chase our dreams. I really do believe that "life is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured."

This blog has been a place to document my life, a little online journal. It has been a place for me to explore my interests, and even to share the frivolous and just enjoyable things in life. I have also shared personal more serious things on this blog. While looking back it all just makes me smile. These random little moments of my life and interests preserved. Why is this important to me?

We all have something to share, and it is only human nature to want to share and listen with others. I want to share and learn. I have learned so much about myself through blogging, as cheesy as that sounds, it is true. It has challenged how I view myself and has often showed me how I need to change. Or better yet, how I have changed.

With the start of the new year I want to refocus the purpose of this blog. I want to share myself with you. You, whoever is reading for whatever reason you are reading. I don't consider myself a "writer" but just another person who wants to connect, share, and learn. I am a blogger.

So I have made a list of everything I want this place to be, a mission statement, if you will.

Fun.
Honest.
Me.

Because if I am not doing that, what's the point?

25 comments

  1. Well said! I have found my favorite blogs share some of the hard along with the happy. I blog merely for fun and most days I wonder, what in the world is the point? But then on those days when I have something on my heart, I am grateful for my little place online that stores these moments for me. :) Happy new year!

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    1. You said it perfectly! It is valuable for those little moments that are captured!

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  2. Agreed with all you said. I say, blogging isn't meant to be difficult. It's meant to do whatever the heck you want to do. No rules. It's not a science. Share what you want. I think the most important thing I learned about blogging about my life is that because it was from my heart/chaotic mind, there were always going to be posts people liked and didn't like, and that's okay. It's a means of expression to fulfill a creative outlet and that's why we love to do it and read it.

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    1. Tiffany, you always leave the best comments. I couldn't agree more. "It's a means of expression to fulfill a creative outlet and that's why we love to do it and read it." Wise words.

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  3. I think anyone who doesn't love their blog and then also think about deleting it may not have a healthy attitude! It's a wonderful thing and community, but I think at the heart of it you have to realize you don't see much of the bad, and that there are more important things and people in life! I think you are super inspiring, even if it's inspiring readers to have fun and choose that perfect lipstick! I love this post, and I think most your readers are excited to see what the new year brings!

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  4. I love this. I think all of us bloggers have been there...I too recently refocused my blog and it has me so motivated and inspired! I'm excited to follow along with you. :)

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  5. I like your mission statement! Short, sweet and to the point. I enjoy reading your blog and this space of yours in the internet. I think we all have those days where we wonder why am I doing this, who reads this stuff, and should I just delete it. I'm reconnecting with my blog lately and I'm feeling re energized about it. I am excited for what 2014 might bring.

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  6. Love this Alycia!! I've loved reading along so far, and I look forward to the new year! Share your heart and whatever big and little things make you happy, make you think, make you grow. I'm sure there are many others like me who enjoy great blogs for the connection, inspiration, conversation and growth they often instigate. Yours is definitely one of them :)

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  7. I agree with you about blogging. I love documenting my life to share with others as well as to have something for myself. I hope one day my son will appreciate it since it's mostly about him :) Happy 2014! Here's to more fun and honest posts about your very special, uniquely original life.

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  8. You know I am all about this. I admire real people. You go girl.

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  9. I have that feeling often - that I want to delete my bog, but then I am always very glad I did not!

    xx
    Kelly
    Sparkles and Shoes

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  10. Your so right .. great post ... love reading you blog.. you blog help me deal with some things. thank you so much you are a great blogger ...

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  11. Yes I so agree with you and all that have commented before me.....................I will be back as you know I am like a bad penny you can't get rid of me

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    1. That made me smile! Jo-Anne you are the best! I always love your comments.

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  12. I couldn't agree more with what you wrote and with what has been said in the comments. You are a blogging inspiration to so many people, I'm glad that you never hit the delete key and that you've decided to continue sharing.

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  13. I think "refine" is a great word for what blogging helps you do. Obviously our blogs are edited versions of ourselves. But that helps us think about what we value, what we want to present to others. That really helps me think about what I want to be.

    Emeralds and Stripes

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Howdy Ho :) Thanks for stopping by my blog! I have enabled the forum feature on my comments so we can all interact in conversation. So if you leave a question, look back for a reply!