On Being Untrendy

I have been blogging for years. At first I had a blog just for family, then I started a craft blog with a few friends. As our readership grew, so did my ambition. Which was not all bad. It pushed me to learn to take better pictures, to learn more about websites etc. Unfortunately, I also started paying more attention to my unreal blog world, than the living world around me.  I started spending  more and more time browsing online, looking for the newest trends and thinking about how I could turn that into a new craft idea.

I wanted to fit in so bad with all the cool craft blogs. Of course I knew I could never become big, still I was driven to imitate the trends I saw in my Google Reader.

 I was pushing myself  and my fellow blog authors to participate in giveaways, guest posting, different craft blog events just to get more exposure, more strangers to like a small part of me that I made more and more a priority.

All the while I was getting small promptings to stop. After a few months of going at breakneck speed, the small prompting got loud enough for me to take a step back and re-evaluate my life. I started to cut back more and more to the relief of my family and friends.



Changing my perspective of who I am was not easy. It took a lot of prayer, scripture reading, listening to a living prophets and apostles and putting in action all that I learned. I am still not perfect and I still get swayed by the soft glow of the computer screen all too often.  But I am more confident in living a life that is more authentic instead of artificial.

I still enjoy creating, blogging and even hearing from total strangers. But I no longer feel the need to fit in the world of craft blogs. I already have a place where I do fit in. In my own home, in my own family, in the circle of my friends. It is not perfect. I do not have an awesome craft room or the newest craft gadgets. I do not have a catalog perfect house. I do not decorate my fireplace mantel. I do not have a Cannon Rebel and white walls and sheets. My boys could care less about the clothes they wear or how their room looks like. As long as it is comfortable, they are happy. What I do have is a colorful patchwork of a home and life. Imperfect and untrendy.  And it makes me happy.