PENDA SARR

You never know where your source of growth comes from, but once it’s there it all starts to make sense. This is what happened to me when I began my journey to becoming a “style and beauty blogger”. It’s almost been 3 years since I began my blog (wohoo anniversary coming up!); it was scary starting something  so new to me, but the results have been worth it.

I’ve gotten questions from people asking me how I became so comfortable with myself/gained confidence and quite often, I found myself giving half-responses because I wasn’t so sure. However, I sat down a few days ago and really thought about it and a lot of it has to do with my side hustle, which is basically blogging.

I’m not gonna sit here and tell you guys that it’s one of those things that just “happened” because it definitely wasn’t lol. I had low self-esteem in highschool. I hid it quite well but I was struggling with loving and being comfortable with myself. A lot of those negative feelings started to go away when I began my blog.

If we’re being completely honest, I had no idea what the heck I was doing when I first started. But, I liked it. I liked brainstorming ideas, I liked creating outfits, and most of all, I liked practicing poses and then executing them on the days of my photoshoots.

In the beginning, it was hard for me to pose in front of people, but as I kept doing it, it became one of those things where I was like “oh well if people stare at me, then they stare at me”. The fact that I immersed myself so heavily in my worked greatly helped me learn how to love and gain confidence in myself. I also think it has to do with the fact that I felt good whenever I wore an outfit I liked. Apart from that, the photoshoots were quite empowering for me. So, little by little, I started to celebrate myself and recognize my worth. And as weird as it may sound, 95% of that was due to two things I loved doing: creating outfits, and blogging.

I also met a bunch of people through my blog who had the same interests as me. These people, some of whom are my closest friends now, had such a great energy and that was refreshing for me. The saying that surrounding yourself with people who love themselves and have good vibes can lead to the same for you is definitely true. I’ve been on both sides of the spectrum: surrounded by people who tore me down, and the opposite. And of course, I gravitated towards the opposite because I noticed it helped me with my own self-esteem.

It was definitely a hard/weird journey but it was necessary for me. I think at some point in our life, we all go through a phase(or multiple) where something sort of triggers a change and we consciously or unconsciously embark on a journey, no matter how uncomfortable or scary it may be.

With that being said, I’m really happy I’ve reached a  point where I’m confident in who I am. It’s taken a lot to get here and sometimes I wonder what would have happened had I not started the blog or discovered my love for fashion. Of course, there’s no one way to boost your self-esteem, what works for some people may not work for others. But, I do think that it all starts with positive thinking, and allowing yourself to realize how you feel and working towards changing that. And who knows, maybe starting a blog or expressing yourself through creative mediums such as fashion may help ;)!

Speaking of fashion, let’s talk about style! I actually wore this outfit on New Years Eve, however, it’s one of those looks you can wear during the daytime. I combined a floraly bodysuit with some semi-flare (is that even a term haha) pants, and black block sandals.

Because of the prints on the bodysuit, I barely accessorized: just some large gold hoops, a watch, and a bracelet. By the way, I’m trying to get more jewelry, so if you guys know about some cool stores, please let me know!

I really liked the bodysuit. I was a bit hesitant at first because I found it fitted weirdly on me, but I think wearing it with the high-waisted pants helped. This is just one way to wear it; for example, you can wear a skirt or some cute culottes with the top.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a comment below! <3