Back with A Vengeance (Or Maybe Just a Lack of Direction)

“She livvvvvesss!” all of my followers cry dramatically, like I’m Frankenstein being shocked to life for the first time. Just kidding—while I’m not making that much of an entrance, I am fulfilling the promise made in my most recent post and returning from my blogging hiatus! July 4^th marks the date I last hit the blue “Publish” button on the blog, and that’s the longest break I’ve taken in the 2 years of Graceful Rags’ existence. Here are a few things I learned in that time.

1. I’m not prepared to write this post, and it’s kind of a shit-show of my thoughts, if I’m being honest. Bear with me. 😉
2. I’m a massive procrastinator. I wanted to give myself roughly a month to think about blogging, my goals, my likes and dislikes, and how I could make it enjoyable again. Instead, I blinked and it was suddenly July 30^th. And I still hadn’t done a single thing on my blog to-do list. And I still hadn’t even thought about my blog.
3. In fact, it scared me a bit how little I thought about Graceful Rags and its future (her future? Should this website be a lady? More thoughts to noodle on…). I’m not kidding when I say I didn’t think about blogging at all, except for a little pit in my stomach that formed when I realized it was almost August 1^st. I felt dread! That icky feeling you get when you have a huge school assignment that you put off until the night before. So what did that mean for my blog? The anxiety and the fact that I didn’t even miss blogging could only indicate one thing… that I should just stop blogging altogether. And the thought of that scares the crap out of me.
4. But yet, here I am! Back to the blogging world. This morning as I ate my weird chocolate Honey Bunches of Oats—which by the way, didn’t taste like honey at all—I crammed to brainstorm a list of what I like about blogging and what I don’t like so much. It mainly boils down to this: I didn’t like the stress and pressure I was putting on myself in regards to blogging. I really wanted Graceful Rags and my social media accounts to grow, and as a result I took it very seriously—always trying to fit into a certain mold, getting everything just right, and following a million different strategies from online. I’m the type of person who likes to be good at things. Who isn’t, right?! But blogging is something I’m not very good at, and the frustration of failed expectations slowly killed my love for it.

So here’s my plan for moving forward: I’m going to take myself and this blog less seriously. Rather than feeling like I have to post a certain topic or follow a particular protocol, I’m just going to enjoy myself. I want to write about whatever inspires me at the moment—even if that topic isn’t fashion-related—and focus more on my writing, sharing article-like posts and maybe even short stories. I’ve always tried not to get very personal on the blog and avoid sappy/serious topics, but I shocked myself when I wrote my meaningful post about high school. It felt really good to share my thoughts with the world and receive heartfelt comments, so I think you can expect more content like that in the future (mixed in with my usual carefree fashion posts).

I have a lot of ideas right now and they’re swirling as a jumbled mess in my brain. And thanks to my amazing procrastination abilities, I need more time to sort things out and find my sense of direction. That’s why my next new post will be published on Monday, and hopefully my blogging will become regular again after that. Over these next few days, I will be updating my About page and social media platforms, changing a few things here and there. The biggest change I’m making will be publishing new blog posts on Mondays and Thursdays now instead of Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I decided 3 times a week was just too much, especially as I plan to head to college in a few weeks.

Thank you so much for sticking with me through this transitional time! I promise I’ll actually get my crap together by Monday—haha. Taking these photos reminded me that I do love being silly in photoshoots and sorting through the photos afterwards. 🙂 I’m looking forward to having fun again and just not caring about the numbers (stats, followers, likes, whatever…I’m only in it for enjoyment now, the rest doesn’t matter).

Have a wonderful Wednesday and welcome to August!

Miles of smiles,

Grace

Crochet Tank: A.N.A. via JCPenney, $16 // Green Eyelet Shorts: Loft, $25 // Brown Beaded Sandals: DSW, $19 // Aviator Sunglasses: Icing, $16