Saturday, March 21, 2015

A Transition: Our Story


About two an a half years ago, me and Fatima started blogging.

It was merely months after I had met her and it was also the first time, I had visited her house.

We being the typical 13 year old's were tottering the internet and I happened to have shown her one of my favorite Youtuber's.

From that moment, Fatima gave birth to the idea of creating a blog.


In that very second, I had felt such insane happiness. I was young though I will not categorize myself as old now but I feel as if, I am older in many ways but in that very instant, things felt so amazing. It may sound slightly melodramatic to many but the thought of sharing something so small yet so creative as a blog with my best friend seemed one of the best things that could have happened to me during 7th grade.

Without giving much thought to the genre in which we wanted to blog on, we instantly decided on makeup. I barely even knew much about makeup, I wouldn't be lying if I said that we experimented with our mom's makeup cases to create childish posts featuring Loreal or Rimmel or Boots.

I have always despised makeup, I am now 14 and a half and yet barely wear any makeup apart from an occasional dap of lip gloss or mascara and that too on very fancy occasions.

As we reached our second year of blogging, I was constantly disappointed with all of the posts I put up. Shortly, I stopped blogging about makeup and focused more on Fashion as Fatima handled the makeup section of the blog.

But I was still unhappy.

I was unhappy with the content, the template, the lack of professionalism, the audience, the response. Just about everything.

I was so very unhappy.

So very soon, I knew or well assumed that the reason behind my unhappiness is because I'm not taking the blog too seriously. Or because we need to be more professional.

So a month before Fatima was headed to the US for the summer break, I talked to her about starting a new blog. I told her that I didn't want to blog about makeup anymore and she agreed so we decided Lifestyle and Fashion would be the next big step.

Oh, little did we know; it wasn't.

It took me a month and a half to design the blog that you are currently reading and I was very happy with it when I had newly finished it.
So we started blogging here. Within the first two weeks, I was unhappy again.

This time, I couldn't even assume what the reason behind it was.

So I took a little break. We didn't blog on this blog for a while.

But I still couldn't come up with the reason behind my lack of inspiration and optimism when it came to this blog.
So after months or putting out posts, halfheartedly, I took another break.

And this time, I thought about the content and everything in terms of the blog in a much more composed and coherent manner.

And I wrote this post.

I talked about finally finding direction and that I think I knew where I was headed with the blog and my life and maybe, just maybe, I was one step closer to clearing out the fog in front of my direction.

Soon enough, I came to terms with the fact that I wasn't blogging about what I liked, I was blogging about things that I thought my audience would like.

And that sudden realization slightly shattered me.

To think, that these years I had wrote and worked on two different blogs on two different concepts; both of which I was barely educated on and both of which, did not interest me like I would want them to.

Fashion, I had blogged about it here, on this blog but it still wasn't me. I like fashion, every girl does. It's fun, I suppose but I don't think that I blogged about the type of fashion I loved.

I don't like Chanel, I like band tee's. I don't like Versace, I like black grunge lace up boots. I don't like dresses, I like ripped jeans.

That's me. That's the person that I had managed to hide behind all the sugar coated posts that I had created. 
I don't like playing dress up or worrying about what brand curling iron I'm using. Fuck, I'd use any kind as long as it curls my hair which again, frankly, I don't like curling my hair.

I don't know why over these years I have blogged about things that I never treasured.

I do have a passion for fashion (okay, that rhymed, I know) but it's not the type of fashion that people normally think about. It's my type of fashion. It's raw. It's real and not the fake one that I've been putting up all these years.

Normally, people would regret that they spend so many years blogging like this but I thank Fatima for coming up with the idea to blog because without it, I would have never found the direction that I have today.
Today, I'm happy.



Today, I''m making a transition; spiritually and on the blog-sphere.



I've talked to Fatima and I am here; screaming out to the world that I have direction. I have direction when it comes to what I like talking about opposed to what I have talked about (past tense).
So today, I formally announce to you that we are going through a transition.
This blog will no longer be about fashion. It will be about us; me and Fatima. It will about our life and things that we have seen and memories that we have created and things that have inspired us and that continue to inspire us.


It's about two girls that like to travel, love music, have dreams and aspirations.


It's about things that we love talking about and promise that you will love hearing about as well. 
Over the next month, I will work on the social media and the blog layout and it will be according to the content we will now be pushing out. It will not be a long process, it will take less than a month or maybe a couple of days more depending on how much school kills my time. We want this blog to do justice to what our content is.

This is not a goodbye to the fashion side of us or this blog, it certainly isn't but from this point on, I want to blog about the fashion we like and you guys will certainly learn to discover through our perspectives.

I want this blog to do justice to us. To us as individuals and to us as best friends. To us as writers, to us as travelers, to us as humans, to us as teenagers, to us as people who like to dream and live and feel alive. Who want to inspire and are inspired easily by small books with yellow pages and small acts of generosity.

Although this is not all that you will hearing from us blog wise; I, Zoha plan to start a new blog this summer that will be be mine and I will blog on it without Fatima although this blog will go on just as actively as we plan to make this go on.


To sum this all up, I would like to give you all some advice.

I know that you feel like what you're doing is right because everyone seems to be doing it. I know you feel like success is a huge fragment hidden in following the crowd. That if you do what you see other people doing; you're going to get there but trust me, over the two and a half years I've spend blogging and the almost fifteen years that I have been alive, I know that that's not what really matters.


Imitation is suicide. 


You want to make things happen than they don't lie in following the crowd. If you follow the crowd then I assure you; you will get lost. People won't crave your story or your success because you'll never have it. I certainly don't mean to imply that if you talk about common things like fashion and beauty then you won't be successful; you will, I swear upon my life, you will but only when you have passion for it. You have a burning intensity inside you that's waiting to be unleashed and carved into people's hearts through your undeterred love and frenzy for that very topic.

Do it because you love it, not because others love it.

Do it because you feel it, you sense it, you endure it.

You'll get there trust me. I promise you. Write and blog and speak and talk and feel things that you want to feel, not what others are doing. Only then, when you talk about things you love will you achieve success. Will you find eternal bliss.

You're going to go far, darling, you really are. Even the sky isn't a limit. Infinity is a word that may fall small.
Believe in yourself and your passion.


"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are"
Until then,

Zoha x



9 comments:

  1. Beautifully, beautifully said. I went through a thought process like this in the beginnging of the year. I deleted all my fashion and beauty posts. They were not me + were not quality. I found myself miserably failing to keep up with blogging trends for those two. I knew my love was in creativity and lifestyle. I'm still learning + developing my blog. But I believe in it. I believe in you too! You're taking leaps and bounds creatively. It's inspiring.

    doitfortheirony.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you so much, I appreciate it so very much and you're right; giving yourself some time and really thinking about where you are headed is a crucial step in any part of life. Hope everything is going well for you. All the love. x

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  2. Oh my goodness you two are so very young. I admire you for finding your passion and putting yourself out there and working to stay true to yourselves through this transition!
    Gina - On the Daily Express

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    1. Thank you so very much! So sweet of you for the motivation. Much love. x

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  3. Thanks Gina, we thought about this long and hard and eventually decided that this was the right thing for us. We appreciate your support.

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  4. This is beautifully written, and so important to remember. It's hard sometimes, to let yourself be who you are, when it would be easier to go along with what's "cool" or what everyone else does.

    xx Alyssa — fragments of memories

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    1. Exactly! You understand exactly what we're trying to put forth. It's hard being yourself in this world! Thank you so very much for commenting Alyssa. Much love. x

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  5. really well said, i've definitely gone through periods where i've been unhappy with my blog & content. it's important to stay true to yourself and write about what you love and it'll be more fun & less like a chore!

    danielle | avec danielle

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    1. thank you so much for commenting Danielle - i'm so glad that other bloggers understand how important it is to through these periods and realize where you're headed with your blog. x

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Zoha & Fatima x