I haven't blogged for so long for many reasons. I've had my blog for so many years and I had lots of content ideas throughout high school and college. Graduating a semester early and within three months entering into a pandemic I didn't have much inspiration. I couldn't do much, I was working 8-5, and I was uninspired.
Another obstacle I kept running into was feeling the need to define what my blog was going to be, essentially niche down. As I've continued thinking about it and thinking about the bloggers I follow on Instagram, they all have themes — like fitness, wellness, or cooking — but all things considered they share their lives. Day in and day out. So why can't I? Heck, I'm not making any money from this so I may as well just use this as a place to keep my creative juices flowing.
So what have I been up to since I last blogged in October 2020? I decided to do all of the things.
1. I left my first "big girl" job for a new opportunity. This happened super fast, like the whole process was complete within a month, and I truly wasn't expecting it. Graduating from college I knew that my first role wouldn't be my forever role and had casually browsed LinkedIn for many months trying to find a job posting that I felt fit me better. You should have seen my journal throughout the pandemic as I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Did I even want to stay in communications? I toyed with going back to school to get my masters in education to teach high school, getting an accelerated masters degree for school counseling, and looked at roles in higher education marketing/student services. When one day out of the blue I saw a remote content marketing opportunity for an educational technology start-up and decided to apply.
I had been temporarily working remotely and didn't want to go back to the office if I didn't have to, I loved the idea of working within the education field using my strength as a writer, and the idea of a start-up was thrilling. I liked the idea of something fast paced, full of energetic people who cared deeply about their work, and who weren't so defined by how things were always done. I was nervous that leaving a stable, traditional corporate job would be a dumb decision especially coming out of a pandemic that wasn't truly over, but after many talks with David, my family, and my close friends I realized I couldn't pass up a really great opportunity just because I was a little scared. Of course change is going to be scary, but how can you grow without it?
2. I started that new opportunity. And absolutely love it!! I love remote working like I knew I would and I get to pick my hours/they have flexible work arrangements to fit work around life when needed!
It's not a super new start-up, they technically started in 2017, but they've seen rapid growth in their products as a result of the pandemic. There are just over 40 employees and it's the perfect size for me (which I find funny because my sorority had 40-50ish members in it... I just really like that size group apparently). I'm creating valuable content for products that I believe in and that I know make a difference within school districts, classrooms, and students' lives.
4. We moved in with my family for a bit. To save money and allow time for our OP house to close and get the financing to go through we moved back to O'Fallon for a bit! I loved getting to see my family more than I normally would and my parents dog and our dog got to play all day, every day. By the time we were moving out of O'Fallon they had to go on walks together and wouldn't walk if the other wasn't coming.
5. We moved in! It's been such a relief to know we have a place to call ours for a *minimum* of five years (hopefully ten because moving is exhausting). While there are a lot of costs upfront in regards to taking care of things, it's also exciting to start moving into the space and make it our own. I'm looking forward to a month or so from now when we will hopefully have living room and bedroom furniture (for real.... they couldn't give me an estimate on when it would arrive).
So what does the future hold?
The countdown is on until our wedding — 80 days! It's something I originally was so excited to blog about along the way but when the pandemic hit I wasn't sure if any of our plans would actually happen. I started feeling more optimistic in May/June, but that confidence has rapidly deteriorated this past month. I am really hoping and praying our wedding can still happen as I envisioned, but I'm also trusting that it will all work out and no matter what we do everyone will be safe and healthy.
I'm hoping to start getting involved within the Blue Springs community. I would love to start coaching Girls on the Run again, unfortunately the 5K is on our wedding day so I'm eyeing the coaching spots for the spring.
I am also looking forward to continuing my fitness endeavors. I've continued to strength train and I've seen a great amount of progress in my bench press and some other lifts. I haven't trained for a running event in a while but training for a 10K or a triathlon is starting to sound fun again so I may try to incorporate that into my schedule, too.
All in all, I'm feeling really good, all things considered. I always say I'm back to consistently blogging, but then quickly fall off again. I'm not sure when my next blog post will be, but I'm feeling more confident in myself and my ability to share these posts for me and not for anyone else.
Until next time,
Taylor
