How to Stick Up for Your Own Happiness
See anything different… you betcha! For the past few weeks, I’ve been changing my blog’s layout and I couldn’t be more excited to finally share it with all of you! Playing around with my layout brought me back to the good ole’ days of designing my myspace page and trying to figure out the “perfect tune. Spoiler alert… there was no perfect tune. After Myspace, Tumblr quickly took over my life. I still go on mine every few months to get inspiration. Somethings never change because as soon as I started college, I joined WordPress and started my first blog. Now that I’ve had this blog for a few years, it has brought me so much happiness. I love looking back at old posts and seeing where I was like the lavender field last year or Barcelona a few years earlier. I love reading my thoughts and seeing how I’ve changed since.
When I first made my blog, I didn’t tell anyone for a full year. I thought it was “weird” and “lame” so I decided to hide it from everyone. After about a full year of blogging, I decided why not let people know what I’m doing. At first, it was terrifying because I cared an insane amount about what people thought. Would they think it’s weird? Would they hate what I had to say? Would people even read it? To my shock, people liked what I had to say, which brings me to my main point of writing this post. If it brings you happiness, why should you care what people think? Mind you, the thing that makes me happy is not chopping up barbies and gluing them to picket fences… thank god. But, the thing that makes you happy should only matter to you. With that said, here are four ways I’ve been trying to stick up for my own happiness.
Top | Skirt (Stripes) (Solid Blue) | Bag (Similar)
Don’t talk down the things that make you happy
I didn’t realize I was talking down my blog until my friend pointed it out at the bar last week. We met up with another friend that we hadn’t seen in a year or two and he informed me that he has seen all of the blogging content I’ve been doing. I quickly responded, “oh, yeah, it’s just a weird little hobby I do.” But the thing is, it’s not weird and it’s more than just a hobby to me. It’s something I care about. So why did I feel so inclined to make it seem like less of a deal? I’ve been blogging since 2014 and I love interacting with each and every one of you. It is something that brings me so much happiness. My goal for the rest of the year is to be okay with the “weird” things I do and embrace them instead of talking them down. After all, why talk down something when it makes you happy?
Be proud of what you do.
As a woman, I always find myself toning down my success instead of celebrating it. For example, when older adults ask me what I do for work I quickly blurt out a rehearsed statement that I do ecommerce and media for a medical company. They then always respond with something about social media. It doesn’t matter if they’re saying positive or negative things, I always tone it down and say something along the lines of, “oh, yeah, it’s just one aspect of my job.” When in reality I should be saying something like, “I increased ecommerce traffic from social media by 71.2% last year,” or “it’s a great avenue to generate more sales for my company.” I’m working on improving this but it all starts with being proud of what you do. Being a wallflower won’t bring you happiness, instead, be tall and proud for all of your accomplishments because you deserve it.
Go after the things that you think you can’t do.
In order to be happy, you need to make your own opportunities. You cannot sit around and just hope something big comes your way. Go out of your way and smile at that stranger, learn a new skill, join a club, run that extra mile, or reach out to that old friend. If you aren’t happy now let’s do something about it. The best things are the things that prove you wrong.
If it isn’t bringing you happiness, change it.
In theory, this is the easiest tip but is actually the hardest one to grasp. Say you dread going to work each day but stick by a job because it pays the bills. Brush up your resume and stroll through the long list of jobs on LinkedIn. Say you’re unhappy with your body and it’s preventing you from doing things that you used to love. Join a gym, eat healthier, walk your dog, or go to a trampoline park with friends. We have the ability to make our own happiness because we can change everything about our lives. We can change the people we have in our lives, where we live, what we eat, how we look, and even how we think. If it isn’t bringing you joy, say buh-bye. Check out how to get rid of negative influences out of your life here. 
How do you stick up for your own happiness? Let me know in the comments down below.
As always,
24 Comments
Styles By Erin
Your skirt is so cute!!! <3
PeculiarPorter
Thank you so much! It’s beyond comfy too 💕
Kelsey Barlow
You are literally echoing my thoughts!! I have still yet to tell people about my blog and I don’t know why!! Thanks for the inspo and push to get it out there and be proud of my work!! Also can we talk about your outfit!!? Obsesssed!!
PeculiarPorter
Oh my gosh, I’m so happy to hear that Kelsey! I feel like it’s so nerve racking when you finally say something like “yeah, I blog and it’s something I really enjoy doing” because we don’t know how people are going to react. In the end, if people aren’t okay with it then maybe they’re not the type of people to be around. Tell your friends about your blog because it’s super awesome!
Also, thanks girly! I saw this skirt and knew I needed it in my life 💕
Deborah
I’m like you – when I first started my blog I didn’t tell anyone until after three years! My boyfriend helped bring me out of my shell about it though. I had similar thoughts as you about it at first – what if people thought I was shallow, vain, and vapid because of my blog? But none of that happened. You’re right that we shouldn’t talk ourselves or our passions down and do a disservice to ourselves.
Also, I am loving your outfit! That one-shoulder top is lovely!
PeculiarPorter
Oh my gosh, he deserves a big chocolate fudge sunday for doing that! People like that are exactly the kinds of people we need to welcome in our lives because they’re trying to enhance our happiness.
Thanks so much girly and I’m so glad the world knows about your awesome blog! 💕
Kellie
This is an awesome post, and I totally agree. I told people about my blog from the beginning, but always qualified it in the way you describe – “Oh, yeah, it’s just a weird hobby.” Or, “Oh, it’s just a fashion blog.” And it ISN’T “just” a blog, and I really care about it, so I’m trying to be more proud of it.
PeculiarPorter
I’m really trying to be better at it but sometimes it’s hard because I worry how people are going to react. We can definitely work on that together 💕
Natalie
Loved this post! I’m currently working on being proud of what I do. I always find myself talking down my blog when friends bring it up. Also, love the skirt!!
PeculiarPorter
Thank you so much, Natalie! I find myself doing it so often but I’m trying so hard to start saying things like “yeah, I blog and it’s super rad because I get to meet a bunch of different people all around the world.” We gotta talk ourselves up because we’re pretty great 💕
50shad3s0fjay
Love this post so much! All those tips are brilliant and so inspiring 🙂 thanks for sharing! X
PeculiarPorter
Oh my gosh you are the sweetest thing! Thanks for stopping by 💕
50shad3s0fjay
You’re so welcome x
Cierra
I LOVED this post! I feel like I unintentially talk down my own blog to others (outside of the blogging world/friends) instead of owning that it’s just as much a part of my life as my full time or graduate work. Thanks for the helpful tips! Time to stick up for my own happiness 👏🏾👏🏾
PeculiarPorter
I’m so, so happy you loved this post! It’s definitely a new skill I’ve been trying to learn but I’m hoping it gets easier with time! Also, your blog is adorable so definitely be proud of it! 💕
Darrian @ AM Coffee Collective
I. LOVE. THIS. SO. STINKING. MUCH.
The entire time I was reading this I wanted to scream “Preach!” but would have scared all of my animals.
Anyways, such a great message we all need to hear!
Darrian | http://www.amcoffeecollective.com
PeculiarPorter
Oh my goodness, thank you so much Darrian! You literally just made my day 💕
Andrea
I can relate to this in so many levels! I hate feeling ashamed of it and its just because people aren’t used to it! Just the other day an aunt said “that’s not a real job, I hope you’re not taking it way too seriously” and I was like.. yeah of course not! Which I hate myself for saying that, because I DO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. Great post!
PeculiarPorter
I soooo get that! Like I always find myself toning down the awesomeness of my job because I’m worried what other people think. Then it hit me that if they don’t like it or think it’s weird why do I even want to be around them. It’s hard with family though because you can’t really walk in the other direction. I feel like in that situation you just need to throw out three awesome things that come from your job or blogging and be like BAM! How do you like them apples hahah!
Thanks for stopping by Andrea! 💕
Francesca
LOGAN THIS POST IS SERIOUSLY AMAZING AND I AM SO HAPPY IT EXISTS IN THIS WORLD! Diminishing our own pride and happiness is all too common and I totally feel you! I work in influencer marketing so when people ask, I just dumb it down and say “oh you know I’m on social media all day LOL tough life!” but in reality it’s so, so much more. I don’t even tell half the people I meet that I blog because of the negative connotation of everyone on Instagram thinking they’re an influencer (and so what, right?). So, so happy to hear you’re sticking up for your own happiness. ALSO, this look is THE BOMB DOT COM. I tried that skirt on at J.Crew when I was home and it definitely did not look nearly as nice on me as it does on you. So, so cute! <3
PeculiarPorter
You have NO IDEA how happy this comment made me! I legit had to sit down to take it all in hahahah. You have SUCH a cool job so props to you for landing that awesomeness 👏🏼
Thank you so much! I bet that skirt looked awesome on you! 💕
Eva Phan
You are so on point with all of these tips! That skirt is so cute on you!
-Eva
http://www.eva-darling.com
PeculiarPorter
Thank you so much Eva! 💕
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