Life Update: When Life Changes Focus

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Dress: Thrifted  |  Shoes: Ross  |  Hat: Tenth Street Hats (gifted)  |  Bag: Thrifted  |  Earrings: Wallmart (old) 

Dear lovely readers, wow....it has been far to long since I wrote those words, and even longer since I properly wrote a post to you all. I sit here, on a Saturday morning typing out a post, just like I used to do. It's a strange feeling coming back to something that used to be such a huge part of your life...like using muscles that have since been dormant. While I have posted a few travel posts here and here, it truly has been FOREVER since I took fingers to keys and got back to my actual blogging roots.

When I started this blogging journey as a young and ambitious 18 year old, I had no clue what the future had in store. I also didn't know how much this space on the internet would mean to me & I also didn't know how much my life would come to change in so many ways. However, here I sit, almost half way through 2020, stuck at home during the Coronavirus, and I find myself missing this creative outlet of my fashion blog!

The thing is, that I haven't completely stopped creating or styling. While I might have dissipated from the blog, and while my fashion posts might have been few and far between, I have still been creating, just on a micro scale by posting on Instagram. Whats really sad is that in the time I have been gone I actually have done photo shoots, but for some reason I could never find the inspiration to write up a post about them.

With that, let me fill you in on all that has been happening in my life since my last official style post back in October of 2018...WOW...that was forever ago! If you have seen my very sparse posts between now and the fall of 2018, you might have noticed that they focused on Travel and teaching....and that honestly kind of sums up my life in a nutshell.

In all honestly, when I started teaching in the fall of 2018, I told myself that I would still be able to blog, and here I am in the midst of 2020 with a meager 11 posts to show for it. It's not that its the worst thing in the world, but I have realized that for this season, life has kind of changed focus. Thus, while this corner of the internet will always be a part of me, I have realized that currently this corner will probably be visited by me less frequently, though I am determined to try and get back to my roots!

However, what's the "real" life update? No, I'm not getting married nor am I in a relationship (as much as my sister and mom would like), but I have realized my focus on life has changed. Maybe it comes with now being a 24 year old (adult) with a teaching job? Since becoming a teacher, my life honestly hasn't been the same (in a good way). To be honest I kind of see it similarly to when someone becomes a mom and suddenly their life is busy and all about their child....being in my now second year of teaching is honestly a lot like that (not that I have experience being a mom or anything). Life honestly most days (and weekend, and nights, and even in my dreams & daily thoughts) is about my "kids" as I like to call all my students. My week days are busy teaching lessons and transition between the 4 preps that I teach, not to mention the work usually doesn't stop when I get home.
Okay...so that is at least what my life and schedule looked like before a WORLD WIDE Pandemic, and I am now currently a teacher adjusting to online learning and not getting to see my kids every day (but we are making it work).

Apart from teaching, I really have been focused on travel, as many of my blog posts in the last 2 years can attest to. Honestly I think a huge incentive to now being a teacher and having a job is that I have the means to travel....not just in saving in order to go on trips, but also in planning educational trips for my students (more on that later). Travel has honestly become a HUGE part of my life, and a part of my life I didn't know was missing. I have visited 7 countries over the past 2 years, and 5 of them were without my whole family (either alone or with a travel friend) (See: Paris, Scotland, England, Oxford).

Oh, and between all of that I moved classrooms after my first year teaching & also changed the preps I taught...which means I now teach Fashion Design (3 levels)...talk about Dream Job!! Oh, and I also dyed my hair RED on my 23rd birthday (in 2019), bought TONS more vintage clothes (seriously, I need my own house), actually started reading more books (almost got to 30 books each year), became obsessed with Sewing again, and started a podcast (more on that soon).

Over the past 2 years, I have come to realize that life is composed of seasons, and each season has a different focus, meaning in different seasons different things are important to you. Teaching is definitely the season I find myself in, but that doesn't mean that I am not still that ambitious and creative 18 year old who loved fashion and used it to express herself. I still have so many of the same dreams I did back in college, and in the midst of life changing focus, I am just trying to figure out how all of those dreams fit into my life.

One thing I can say is this corner of the Internet will always be mine and still hold who I am. I was actually looking through old posts the other day and reminiscing about how much I have changed through my time as a blogger. I grew so much as a person and experienced so many things I never though I would...it honestly made me very proud of who I have become. All this is not to say "farewell" but more so to say "I AM BACK" but maybe a little less frequently (although you can stay up to date on my life on Instagram). I truly have missed this corner of the Internet! Oh, and if you are completely confused and wondering why my blog is now called Invintaged, I will write a post on that soon...don't worry, it's still the same me :)

- Madison

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