New Year, New Me.

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denim jacket (on sale) // turtleneck // jeans (less expensive option) // booties // purse 

Happy New Year Guys! 

My goodness, 2018 is finally here. 

We rang in the New Year on our apartment balcony, with our closest friends by our side.

It wasn’t wild nor crazy, but it was perfect.

 I have so much to fill you guys in on, that I don’t really know where to start.

So I’ll just dive in. 

Ringing in the New Year meant something entirely different to me this year because….well…..

I quit my job to take on blogging full time. 

I literally can’t even believe it and it truly brings tears to my eyes as I type this out for you all. 

As most of you guys know, I have been working full time while running LifetoLauren on the side for the past 2 1/2 years.When I first graduated from Baylor, I didn’t immediately have a job lined up and I was mortified. I mean, graduating and transitioning from a college student, to a young adult was really hard for me in general, but when I didn’t have a job immediately lined up, I kind of started freaking out. I had moved home and I was embarrassed. Disappointed even.  I had expected to graduate with some awesome high paying job, then move off to a new city for an exciting adventure and that wasn’t happening.

Instead, I was back in my family’s house, figuring out what my next step was. 

I hated the thought of living at home for free, so I started going to the office with my Dad everyday. I would job search and send out resumes in the morning, then work for my Dad in the afternoon. Quickly within those first few weeks, I stopped sending out resumes and spent more time working for his company. I took on the role of the Marketing Coordinator and within the first two months I did two trade shows, out of the country, by myself. Which was kind of super awesome, exciting and scary all at the same time. The whole thing was a really great experience and while I did like it and appreciated it so much, it wasn’t what I saw myself doing forever. 

Anyways, that fall, I really found out a lot about myself. A lot of soul searching and reflection on what I was supposed to do in this world. I knew I wanted to help people but I wasn’t sure how. A huge part of who I am is my Fitness Journey, so I have always known that would play a huge role in my life. I loved fashion and giving fashion advice. I was never the kind of girl to not tell someone where I bought something. All of the girls in my sorority were always asking what I ate on a normal day, I loved to decorate and host parties, but I never really knew how I would mix all of that into something more. 

Somewhere along the line, my roommate introduced me to blogs and I fell in love with them. I started reading a lot of blogs, but there were three blogs that I would read every morning (Chronicles of Frivolity; The Skinny Confidential; Pink Peonies), that inspired me to start my own.

 I played around with the idea of starting a blog for almost a year and after a huge push from Colton, I finally took the plunge and launched LifetoLauren in July 2015. 

At the beginning, I was on fire. Yeah, our photography skills weren’t the best, but I didn’t care, I loved it. I loved coming up with content and writing every day. I didn’t care about followers or making money, I just loved writing. When I started gaining traction and meeting other new bloggers in the community, I learned how to grow my blog and saw that I could actually make a living off of it one day. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this is what I wanted to do. 

So for the next 2 1/2 years, I’d spend every evening working on this blog and all of my weekends would be dedicated to it as well. Then when Colton and I got engaged and I started wedding planning, I basically took on a third job. I was so overwhelmed it’s not even funny. I started slacking on here, I was slacking at work, I was slacking in my relationship. I was basically slacking everywhere. I was extremely stressed and my anxiety was shooting from the roof tops. When the wedding was postponed, I was devastated, but I was also super relieved because I was so stressed at that time. I had a huge feeling of relief knowing the wedding was planned and I could go into May with ease. I thought that I was going to get my life back and that I would start doing a million times better at work and on here, but I was wrong. I was still just as stressed as I was before. From October to December, it starting getting really clear what I needed to do and it was obvious that I wasn’t giving my all at work because my mind was elsewhere. 

I’m telling you all, all of this because so many of you guys send me messages, daily saying,  “How inspiring it is that I work full time and still run this blog“. But I don’t want to lie to ya’ll because the truth is, I wasn’t making it work. I was a stressed mess, half ass-ing my job and my blog. It wasn’t fair for me, or my Dad.

So two days after Christmas, we decided it was time for me to pursue my passion.

It was a really, and I mean really, hard decision but I think that it was the right one. It’s time for me to spread my wings, I guess you can say. 

So what’s next for LifetoLauren?

Well, now that I am taking it on full time, I will finally have the chance to really put the energy into the content you all want and deserve. 

I want to get back to my basics.

I love clothes and fashion, but that’s not why I started blogging. I think because I’ve been so busy, just posting outfits has been the easiest thing for me to do. It was the easiest way for me to get content out. 

But I am so much more than what I am wearing. There is so much more I want to share with you all. 

While I will still share a lot of fashion, I plan to share more everyday workwear clothing for you all,  I really want to get back to my fitness posts, my recipes and daily healthy living habits. I want to share my favorite places around Houston, inspire other women, and share insight into our everyday life. I don’t want to make you guys think that my life is perfect and that I don’t struggle or have hardships because my goodness, do I ever. 

I don’t know if I plan on only running LifetoLauren as my sole and only job forever. I’ve thought about getting a part time job or getting into another industry that I match better with, but for now, I want to give this a shot.  

&&& who knows, I may regret this miserably and run crying back -lol. But I hope that’s not the case and for now, I need to take this step. Because if I don’t now, I never will. 

So, Wow – ha! That was a long one. If you stuck around and read all of this, then you are a dream and I thank you so much! For supporting me, reading my blog and just caring. 

I’m excited and I’m scared, but I am praying a lot and I am really excited for this next chapter.

Lets see what 2018 brings.  

New Year, New Me. 

xo,

Lauren 

P.S. – If you guys have any post requests, please send me an email, a DM on Insta or leave a comment below! Tell yo friends, tell yo family!:)

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