When I was 22 I picked up a camera and a tripod, and started this blog. I was young, fresh-faced and barely wore makeup. Heck, I didn’t even know what foundation was!
Noticing little things on my face was not something I did at 22. Would I notice if my shirt wasn’t tucked in cute? Yes. Would I notice if my bangs blew apart mid photo shoot? Yes. Did I ever look at the minor details of my face like dark circles? Not even a thought.
I highly doubt that the person ringing up my coffee, or the friendly neighbor who rings my bell every few months to check-in would stop for even a second and get hung up on my smile lines. But for some reason, the internet does. The thing is, every single blogger who started their blog in 2012 when the blogging boom started has aged. We were all young, and now we’re all in our 30s (I wrote middle-aged but after dming with some of you, I guess I have like a decade to go until then lol). We’ve grown up, and so has our audiences. So many of you have told me you found me before Matt and I were even married! How incredible is that? That you and I have (possibly) known each other for a decade.
I am not sure why, but for some reason people think that influencers/bloggers/however you may call us should not share that we’ve aged. There is this pressure to remain stuck in the same little world we shared ten years ago. I admit, I’ve fallen victim to this pressure – when I began blogging I had blunt bangs, and they became synonymous with “my look” and I did feel a lot of pressure to stay consistent in “my brand” but HOW SILLY IS THAT? My brand is changing, I am changing, the world is changing, you’re changing, the INTERNET IS CHANGING and growth is beautiful! So this year I decided to grow them out. Have people unfollowed me because of it? Sadly, yes. But at a certain point, I think that we as bloggers have to say the unrealistic standards are not okay.
Look, if someone out there wants to get work done because it makes them more confident, I totally support that. The point of this post is not to bash those people. BUT it’s to say that when I scroll through my feed, or watch my stories, I would say about 95% of the people that I follow have shared their lip injections or their Botox and even in the place I am writing this from, I am triggered, so I cannot imagine how the rest of the world feels. Not to mention, there’s people out there who are UPSET that I don’t hide my forehead lines, or fill my small lips. I know they feel that way because a majority of the other people they’re seeing – celebrities, influencers, models – are all sharing PERFECTION that is not attainable in your mid-thirties in a natural way.
This post is not for pity. This post is not to hear that “I look great for 33” (thanks for your kind DMs though) but it is to say that the pressures to stay young and “perfect” are sad to me, and I wish we could all live on a planet that we could accept where we are at in life, and love ourselves just the way we are. I, for one, am okay with the way my face looks. As silly as it sounds, sometimes I feel my best on days where I am completely make-up free. Maybe one day that will change, but until then I will be here with my crows feet and my deep set eyes and my small lips smiling from within, and if that makes you uncomfortable to see, I am sorry.