Why I’m Not a “Style Blogger”

The title of this blog post may come as a surprise to some of you.  And it may not come as a surprise at all to others!  I suppose the answers lies in when you started reading my blog or following me on Instagram, or however else you found me on the Internet 🙂  Or maybe you know me in real life and it’s totally evident.  By the way, however you found me, I am so happy you’re here!  But anyways, lately I have been feeling so passionate, more than ever before, about helping women find their confidence and happiness through both inner & outer strength. I’ve been feeling so inspired to share how I’ve managed to find a balanced life while maintaining my fitness, and I’ve also wanted to share more with you about the adventures that I get to take with my husband, friends, & family.  But I have felt like there was a little elephant in the room, at least in my own mind, about the kind of blogger that I am and that I want to be.  So I wanted to dive deeper into that, and into why I’m not a style blogger, why I never meant to be, what that means from my perspective, and what it means for BHC going forward!

outfit deets: tank top | leggings

For those of you who have been reading my blog since 2010 (you’re rockstars, by the way!!) then you know that I started out as a healthy living blogger…I blogged 3x a day (yes you read that right) about what I ate, my workouts, and just my life.  I trained for races, half marathons and even a full marathon (one and done marathoner right here!) and shared it all on my old site, bessbefit.com.  Long story short, and I’ve shared it here before, but in 2014 I had just moved to Charlotte and I was feeling burnt out on blogging.  I was just coming off of a breakup from a 5 year long relationship and after I moved to Charlotte, I kept up the blog for about 6 months but just felt like it tied me to such negativity surrounding the break up since I had shared so much of my life when it was going on.  I wanted a clean break.  So I stopped blogging.  I let my domain name run out, I lost all of my content, and lost a great deal of my readership as well.  My quitting blogging was short-sighted and impulsive.  I regret it tremendously. After a 4-5 month hiatus, I missed it too much and wanted it back, but I knew it needed to be in a different capacity.

outfit deets: crop top sweatshirt | jeans | sneakers | sunnies

At the time I was seeing a lot of style stuff pop up on Instagram (sort of when the style blogging thing was just becoming really popular) and on my old blog I used to share the “What I Wore Wednesday” post routinely, but it was far from the focus of my blog.  I figured it could be fun to incorporate that a little more into my new blog launch.  So a few months went by and The Fit Fave was created.  It was initially supposed to be my site where I’d focus on fitness & workouts and also my “fave” things like certain outfits or accessories, home decor, really whatever.  Fitness though was supposed to be the most prevalent component.  But I half-assed it (pardon my french.)  I posted mayyyybe 1-2x per week.  I didn’t think out content or try to provide value.  It was bad.  I just wasn’t feeling it.  I did, however, put a lot of time into my Instagram while The Fit Fave was live, because much to my surprise, posting my outfits was really getting me a lot of traction, engagement, and new followers on my IG account.  So there I placed more and more attention.  And before I knew it, I had sort of unintentionally created this Instagram account of a “style blogger”.  Sometimes I would look at my page and have no idea who I was from looking at it. That sucked…because I aim to be my authentic, true self to y’all.  But I also felt a responsibility to keep it up, because I had gained these followers and wanted to give them what they wanted.  Again, a nice thought on my part, but a bit short-sighted.

I struggled with it for months, changed my blog name to what it is now, and what has felt like slowly ripping off the world’s biggest bandaid I think has finally happened.  I’ve shifted my content back to being more fitness & lifestyle focused.  It feels right.  It feels like me.  Sharing how to be healthy, to be happy with who you are, to treat your body right with exercise, to enjoy wine & pizza & chocolate, to travel and adventure with a free spirit, to have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ above all else, those are the things I am passionate about sharing.  Does a cute outfit pop up along the way?  Of course it will!!  The style component is just going to be more embedded into my lifestyle content.  Think: my weekend activities, travels, etc.!  I enjoy style, I just don’t want to be labeled as a style blogger…I never meant to be!  Not because there is anything wrong with it, but because it is just not who I am.   I have other things to offer you and I plan to refocus my time & energy towards providing more value to you beyond letting you know when a sweater is on sale (although I love a good sale so I’ll still share ones that are too good to miss!  It just won’t be my daily content.) That’s not to say you’ll never see style. You will. Just not the focus.

(I hope that doesn’t sound judge-y towards style bloggers. I don’t intend for it to.  That ish is a LOT of work to do full time. It’s not a big enough passion of mine for me to give it that much of my energy any longer.  It will just come as an addition to my other posts!)

So what does that mean for the blog?  Nothing super different than what you’ve seen lately!! I’ll still share outfit details when I have them, but I want you to come to BHC to know that you’ll leave with something more than that.  That is my goal.  I want to serve you content of value that you can take away something and apply it to your own life and hopefully make some sort of positive impact.  Nothing would make me happier!

So what kind of blog is this? If you’re one of those people that likes a label…let’s go with fitness/lifestyle blogger with some travel in there too (more of that this year y’all, so excited to share with you!)

All that being said, I have big plans and things coming to BHC for you.  I am so excited to share new things here so soon that have been in the works!!  Hint Hint, one of those new things is kicking off TOMORROW!! Of course you all already know about my YouTube channel I launched last week.  My goal is to have at least one new video up every week for y’all, whether it be a workout, Q&A post, travel vlog, etc.  This Friday I plan to post a new workout video, so be sure to check back then for that!!

{PS- If you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube yet, I would greatly appreciate it!! You can do so by clicking here and then clicking the red “subscribe” button at the top! I also have a giveaway going on as a thank you for subscribing, which you can find here. }

I want to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for being here as always, for allowing me to grow and sort of figure things out, for being patient with me…I promise I will be making up for lost time.  I am feeling a re-energizing sense of purpose like never before.  I’m ready to bring it to y’all!

I hope you have an amazing night, sending you the biggest hug babe!!!  If there’s anything in particular you wanna see, holler at me in the comments!!

ALSO, speaking of Q&As, I need questions for my next video!! Please email them to me or leave them in the comments below!!  You can watch the first Q&A video here 🙂

xo,

Bess

-Last thing, here are the links to the Friday top and jean shorts from the header image. See?! Still sharing style stuff 😉