Category: advice

advice, Lifestyle

2 Years Blogging | Now What?

mindbeautysimplicity

It actually blows my mind I’ve been blogging for 2 years now. What started as a quarantine based hobby because I was “bored in the house & in the house bored” for way too long; has turned into something far more than that. I’m surprised I finally got the nerve to just start a blog in the first place because I can’t tell you how many people have said “blogging is so saturated!” “Blogging was cool in like, 2007 & now it’s dead.” I’m glad I didn’t listen to those naysayers because creating Mind Beauty Simplicity has been one of my best decisions.

Life Lately…

When I started this blog, I had just moved in with my “than boyfriend” & now, I finally get to call him my husband in my posts, which is exciting. Time really flies by. This past year has been both a busy & tragic one. Blogging was my saving grace when my dad was really sick & on hospice last summer. There were so many times I thought I should just quit but for me, writing was & still is my healthy distraction. And when he finally passed, I put all my sadness into Blogtober & posted daily for an entire month. I immersed myself into this passion for my own mental health. And than, I jumped right into wedding planning when he passed because in my mind, I thought this form of distraction would be good. Although I felt my entire life had stopped, I was forcing it to keep going. And now that the wedding is over, we are just enjoying married life. For me, it’s been a “self care summer” where I’m finally putting myself first & healing properly for once. Although I thought these forms of distraction were good at the time, I quickly learned my grief still remains & I need to heal. So, I’ve been prioritizing a more slow summer. Allowing myself rest, getting lost in good books & figuring out what it is I want to do moving forward.

What’s Next For Me?

I’ve been seeing a lot of bloggers ask this same question & talking about how blogging was a lot easier in the height of a pandemic. Now that things are slowly getting back to normal, people are becoming too busy & the love for blogging isn’t quite what it used to be. I myself, have pondered such thoughts. I have less motivation to sit down & write. And when I do, I don’t feel satisfied with the results. Some of this could be due to the fact I’m in a season of healing & needing a break. And also because I’m wanting to place more energy on a career outside of blogging. I’d much rather keep blogging as a side passion & something I like to escape to when I’m feeling stressed. I don’t want blogging to be the reason for said stress, you know? And lately, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed creatively. One thing I have learned with my blogging journey is how breaks are really important. I know I still want to keep blogging. I enjoy connecting with you all & sharing my perspectives on intentional living & everything in between. I do think, I need to change a few things though moving forward. Focusing on quality over quantity is a good start. I also need to let go of the pressure of needing to look perfect online. I think I want to take a step back from social media & only post when I truly want to instead of burning myself out trying to keep up with a forever changing algorithm.

You Might Also Like: Taking My Power Back: How A Break From Writing Rejuvenated My Soul

What Has Already Changed

My blogging journey has been all over the place. I started posting 3x a week & strictly intentional living content for a good year. My narrowed niche quickly expanded to a general lifestyle blog, still focusing on a less is more mindset. As my following grew, I realized my audience didn’t have a specific preference to what I wrote about. Even my Instagram has changed from posting about my daily declutters to a full blown bookstagram as of late. It just goes to show, you are allowed to change things up & so what if it’s completely different from your original plan? Instagram, for instance has been a frustrating platform. I’ve taken breaks all together & contemplated not using it at all for blogging. But lately, I’ve been reading a lot [ as it’s a form of self care ] & I’ve decided to share that interest on Instagram with the book community. And it’s been going really well. I no longer feel overwhelmed by the platform & it’s actually really fun to make reels & post on there.

The thing I hold onto with blogging is the connections I’ve made. It was really nice during such isolating times in the beginning. And now, it’s a nice escape from reality sometimes. I’m not sure what the rest of the year will be like in terms of blogging, but I hope to keep finding the joy in it all. Just because I may cut back on posting or shift into other platforms [ like writing a book ] , what I want to remain constant is the connections I’ve made along the way. That is what I am truly grateful for. Thank you for 2 successful years of blogging & sharing my life.

-B

advice, Minimalism, Minimalism

How to Gift More Practically

mindbeautysimplicity

Call me a Grinch, but I find gifts to be quite self serving & a form of clutter that really can get out of hand. Safe to say, I don’t fall under that type of love language. You’re probably reading this & thinking, “that ungrateful bitch.” But even the Grinch said it right – all those gifts you receive or desire ends up where? In your garbage! And it’s not only the winter season that causes so much gifting stress. It’s an all year round toxic cycle that needs to be reevaluated. This is why instead of saving this PSA for the holiday season, I’m stressing this change in habits now because thanks to Hallmark cards & commercialism, there’s always an excuse to gift someone.

And no, I’m not saying you should NEVER buy someone anything or boycott gift giving all together. We can’t let our hearts shrink to a thimble. But I think we need to consider a few things before we make a purchase. In the past, I’ve discussed the issues of impulse purchasing, shopping addictions & being more intentional with our spending habits. Be sure to check out my intentional spending blog post after you read this one. These reminders hold true when it comes to gifting others.

I’m guilty to say, over the years one of my biggest culprits to clutter & maintaining a minimalistic home, are the items that come in from other people. And although I stay appreciative & understand not everyone lives a less is more lifestyle, it can become frustrating when you are constantly making donation runs trying to combat the chaos. Over time, I’ve had to be rather forceful & state we don’t need xyz, we prefer gift cards if anything & honestly – we just want their time.

This year, I want to make the conscious effort to gift more practically. And I’ve come up with a list of a few gift ideas I plan to consider when the situation arises.

Food

I think food whether it’s bake goods, a meal or even a gift card to someone’s favorite restaurant are great sustainable gift options. Now, I will admit we had someone return a restaurant gift card back to us, so maybe tread lightly with that suggestion. It did allow us to have a lovely date night at the Cheese Cake Factory – so win win for us. In general, I think food is a lovely option because there’s a stronger chance it will get eaten instead of being wasted. During the holiday season, we enjoy making cookies, so if you have leftovers – feel free to send those off to loved ones or for a dinner party dessert. If you want to be even more creative & add a hint of experience to the gift – you can always surprise someone with cooking lessons [ but always consider who you are gifting when making these decisions ].

Gift Cards

I’m personally a fan of gifting gift cards. I feel like it allows the person to have an experience or treat themselves when they see fit. Be aware of the potential “returning situation” like I mentioned above. I feel like that’s a rare occurrence & most people are appreciative. I personally love gift cards to Barnes & Noble [ follow book worm over here] or certain department stores. Instead of giving something someone may or may not use, you allow them to choose something they may truly want or need when they wish to buy something.

Photo Album

Personal gifts are one of my favorites & showcasing photographs with a specific friend or memory is a nice way to let someone know how much they mean to you & cherish their time with said person. For instance, my now husband gifted me a jar of rolled up photographs of our memories together that year. He knows how much I enjoy our adventures & capturing said moments, so this with an added note reading, “the best gifts are the memories we make together” really made my day. And I display the jar of photos in our living room to this day for the daily reminder.

Books

As minimalistic as I try to be, I will always find books to be worth buying. I do have a rule of selling / donating the books that are 3 stars or one’s I plan to never re-read. But I’m always looking for recommendations. If someone comes up to me & says, “I love this book & you need to check it out – 95% of the time I will read it. Will I always keep said book in my collection? No, but I’m always itching to read & add to my TBR.

Experiences

This can be as broad or simple as you wish it to be. It can be checking out a local coffee shop or ice cream parlor. Or it can be an extravagant 10 day vacation. I always believe traveling is worth the money. Those travels gain you memories, culture & help you grow as individuals. For instance, my husband & I plan to hopefully go to a lantern festival this summer. It acts as a creative date night & a new experience we can cross off our bucket list. Other experience related activities could include: going on a hike, visiting a new state, play top golf, spend the day at a theme park or even check out a new restaurant.

Help Complete a Task

I’m not the biggest fan of favors. I think people can take advantage of a person’s good nature. I definitely want to go more in depth on that topic in terms of boundary setting in a later post. But I think if done right & for the right person, helping them with a task or completing something is an appreciative gesture. Whether it’s helping someone move to a new house, gardening or painting, to name a few things – not only are you helping them but you are also spending time with that person as well.

What are some other practical gifts you can think of?

-B

advice, Self Growth

What Truly Makes You Happy?

mindbeautysimplicity

A sequential glide of a pen. The musical sound of fingers tapping one key after the other. Thoughts racing as the words spill out on the page. To me, this is paradise.

I have a book recommendation for you all. The Path Made Clear by Oprah Winfrey. I stumbled upon this book a few years ago & it changed my perspective on life. We humans feel almost guilty when feeling lost or not knowing which path is the correct one to take. You’ll get recommendations from all sides & although advice can be helpful, I find the best way to really find your way is to soul search & dive deep into what makes you, you.

Take ownership of your strengths, your short comings, what you’ve loved in the past & what you love now. Truly ask yourself, “What Makes Me Happy?”

You know what makes me happy?

Writing.

Looking back, my whole life I’ve loved the craft. I would keep journals of my thoughts, hopes & dreams for so many years.

I wrote short stories at 7 years old. I made children’s books out of construction paper & sold them to my neighbors. My one neighbor still has one of my “books” to this day.

As a little girl, I wanted to be like Harriet from Harriet the Spy & write down everything. As I got older, I dreamed of becoming a journalist & tv reporter. I was nosy, loved drama & always wanted to find out the scoop on everything. Every chance I took whether it was for fun or my high school newspaper, I was always writing. But unfortunately, like many of us do, I listened too hard to other people.

They would tell me newspapers were a dying bread & you can’t make lots of money doing that. Or they would tell me journalists were too saturated & I wouldn’t be unique enough. I became hard on myself, not thinking I would be good enough. So I changed my path.

And the path I chose isn’t terrible. I’m still proud of my accomplishments. It’s just funny how writing always seems to come back to my life in some form. My Nana used to call me the future Barbara Walters. 😊

Since I listened to others more than myself, I spent my college years learning about the human mind & personalities. Although I found it interesting, I always felt like something was off. One semester I decided to take one writing course, & ended up being referred to the college newspaper the following semester.

And guess what? I loved it!

Clearly, I’ve been oblivious to my calling. I brush it off as something I can do well, I guess? But always went with plans b, c & d.

It wasn’t until I read this passage in Oprah’s book that everything just clicked. It was in that moment I was like “yes, this is me.”

When it comes to your life, you have to find what makes you light up. Sure, I’m not saying you won’t find a career that pays bills well. Or maybe you like doing something as merely a hobby. I believe people can have multiple paths.

It’s so very important to not lose your passions. Passions are what make us stand out from the crowd. And although people might not see the vision, as long as you do, that’s all that should matter.

Take yourself back to when you were really young & people would ask you, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Before society tainted your outlook on the world, what was it?

Yes I dreamed of being a journalist. But I also wanted to be an artist, a teacher for a while & an actress.

Clearly, I have a very creative soul. And I try to engage those traits through other ways. No, I may not have an abundance of acrylic paint & paint brushes, but I do have makeup brushes & I find my makeup routine to be an art in itself. I also love decorating the house & design in general.

These are the attributes that make me who I am. And I wouldn’t give that up for anything. As long as you enrich yourself in activities that feed the soul, happiness can be just around the corner.

My path led me to writing once again this year through blogging. The combination of sheer boredom [especially during stay at home order] & having the time, I decided why not write? I remember laying awake at night & wondering what I would do to fill my time. And the idea came to me like a freight train. I’ve considered it in the past but my insecurities always seemed to bite me in the ass. “What would people think?” “I’ll be made fun of.”

I don’t know if it’s my age or what, but I just don’t care what people think of me anymore. If it makes me happy, I’m going to do it.

And so, I shall write. I shall write until my hands are sore, because it’s one of the things I love.

And sure, I may not be the next Barbara Walters. But I’m B, & I think she’s pretty cool.

– B 🌿💕

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