LivingOutLoudTemplate

I think about you a lot more than you realize. Yes, you. My loyal blog reader and friend. Even you quiet ones who continue to read and never leave a comment. But I’m grateful you are there.  And that you are still here with me on a new blog yet again.

I’m always thinking about what you like. What you don’t like. What should I blog about and share that would bless your day. Make a difference. Leave an impact and make it worth your time to spend a few minutes of your day on my blog.

I’ve gone through a lot of transitions lately. And you’ve stayed there by my side. And I’m always thinking about you trying to figure out what to share, not share. I want to create blog entries for you that inspire you. And often times I feel stumped. I don’t want to write just to write or just spit something out. I want to write because I’m inspired with hopes that it will inspire you.

Sometimes that means shifting directions completely to get back to the heart of things, which I’m doing once again this new blog as I try to navigate the best way to continue my journey with you through the world of blogging that has made up so much of my past, in addition to led me to some of my most beautiful friendships.

Through my years of blogging, I know I’ve been a little all over the place bouncing around from Scarlett Lillian Photography to Scarlett & Stephen to The Decor Diaries to now a new design and branding business I’m helping my hubby with called REmix Design & Media.  Lately, I feel like my life has been that circus act where a juggler has 5 sticks and on top of it he’s trying to balance 5 spinning plates.  It’s a been few years of transitions and really trying to find my way… from single girl photographer who lost the first love of her life with my dad to cancer, to finding the love of my life with Stephen, to now married wife sharing a photography business, to the hubby starting his own design website business to now, eek, the scariest of them all, transitioning into preparing for motherhood one day (keyword: “transitioning”, “one day”… not yet).  I feel like it’s been a constant whirlwind of feeling like, ok, whew I finally got my act together, this is who I am… to then wham, another transition… and wait, back up… I also like doing this… let me try this out… I thought once you left your 20s, that whole soul searching thing disappeared (along with acne… both false illusions).

Searching for another creative outlet to do something that went beyond the photographer I’m typically labeled as, I created The Decor Diaries last year in the midst of a bunch of home makeovers… At the time, I was so engulfed in all those design choices, I thought it would be fun to have a blog all about it… only to discover, hmm, ok, decorating is fun, but it’s not enough to make me wake up in the morning and want to write about it on a blog.  So I added in some girly things like Fashion Decor, and Life Decor and even tried to add in some Kitchen Decor posting recipes, when the bottomline is, I’m really not passionate about cooking.  Cupcakes, of course, but not cooking.  And fashion… sure, what girl doesn’t like fashion, but, really, at the heart of it, I certainly don’t consider myself a fashion blogger.  I just don’t have the patience to keep up with all the latest trends.  But yet, while it won’t be my main focus, I do still like it, and might still post an outfit of the week on this blog from time to time just for the fun of it…..

With all these things, I felt like I was trying to force myself to be something I really wasn’t deep down.

So I ate my own medicine recently rereading a book I wrote for photographers about giving God a 40-day commitment to trust Him to lead you where you are meant to be.  Rereading this along with a great group in The Prosper Community, I got clarity… I need to stop trying to “be” all these things, and simply be…. me.

With that, I’ve taken things back to my roots here at my old domain, scarlettlillian.com.  Not Scarlett Lillian the photographer… not The Decor Diaries by Scarlett Lillian… not Prosper by Scarlett Lillian…. not Creative Director at REmix…. just simply….. me, who yes, happens to have all these other things going on under the umbrella of who I am… And for the first time in a long time, I truly feel like, yes, this is IT!  This is where my blogging home is meant to be to connect with you best.

The clarity also came in the form of an email from a Facebook friend… as I sat there confused about where God was leading me, this email told me what was really buried in the core of my heart from the beginning…

“Thank you so much, Scarlett!!! I can’t tell you how much you’ve inspired me over the past few years!”

My first reaction was “How can I be so confused about who I am and still be inspiring people?”  But that word resonated with me…..“Inspired”…. that’s all I’ve ever wanted to do really. I just want to inspire people through my story I’ve shared with you on my blogs over the years.  Whether it’s been through how to hold onto your faith for dear life after losing a loved one to cancer, to how true love is worth the wait, to sharing cool photography through the love stories I’m privileged to shoot with my husband, to now nervously walking down the path toward trying to become parents (uh yeah, lots more on that topic coming soon), to even silly superficial girly things like outfits of the week…. All my heart has ever craved and longed for is that somehow, God would use my life and each chapter in it for a purpose to inspire others to draw closer to His heart through the story He is writing chapter by chapter in all our lives.  Even through all the criticism I’ve received taking risks along the way, it makes it worth it getting emails like the one above from you.  But that’s what living a bold faith is all about.  Taking risks for God’s kingdom, making it all worth it if just one life is led to knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior. While I am far from perfect, I am thankful for Jesus’ perfect grace to cover my imperfections.  And by living outloud, we all give other people permission to do the same.

So welcome to yet, another new blog… I promise to stick around this one for a while (uh, it is my name after all! I can’t ditch it!  ha!)….Thanks as always for your blog reader loyalty and following me to a new destination (or technically back to an old destination) as I figure things out one day at a time… I can’t promise I’m going to blog everyday as a good blogger should…. but I do promise I will blog when I’m inspired with something I want to inspire you with.  In the meantime, I’m going to resume my juggling act and hope that this blog can be a relaxing place to share life with you along the way.

As always… thanks for being here with me on the journey as we figure out how to do life together…

Sig

24 Comments