I Needed a Break...

And it certainly has been quite a break. 

I don't know if this is a normal post-college thing or just because of all the various things going on in my life, but I feel like I have changed a lot since May.

When I first started blogging and saw other bloggers that would take breaks, I ignorantly thought, "I'll never need to do that! Blogging is great!"

And blogging is great. I missed it a lot.

But, with everything that was going on in my life, there was some extra stress that blogging added. I felt a lot of pressure to keep up on tons and tons of blogs. So much so that I couldn't keep up with blogging and reading other blogs.

Besides all the changes going on in my life, that I'm going to mention below, then my five year old computer that I've had since high school, finally bit the dust and I took that as a sign to really think about a blogging break:

And I came to a main, almost hidden reason that I felt like I needed a break was that I couldn't ignore the feeling that my blogging "voice" was kind of...off. Or, honestly, maybe I never really found it in the first place? That my voice was always different somehow. That I never really showed my true self. That there was "blogging Laura" who just talked about thrifty clothes and then there was "real life Laura" who cares about and does a lot of different things besides just clothes. Don't get me wrong, thrifting and fashion is a big part of my life, but it isn't the only part of my life. And I felt sometimes that people who knew about my blog would think that "blogging Laura" was how "real life Laura" was too: someone who just cared about the used clothes that she wore and not much else.

And it all comes back to the great blogging dilemma: how do you feel like yourself on your blog, without over sharing? I felt like I shared very very surface level things, so not to hit that over sharing point. But, then I also felt that my blog lost some spark, if you will. I never got to show some of my other passions; things like my connection to my church denomination, my feminist beliefs, and social justice concerns that have stemmed from my social work studies. 

So, in an attempt to get back into blogging in a way that I can feel more like me, here are a couple of major life changes that happened since May:

I moved to Illinois!  I'm not too far from Chicago, currently. I'm working at my church's denominational offices for the next nine months now, helping to plan one of our major conference and getting to help with various other projects. I'm doing all of this through a volunteer program in my church called Brethren Volunteer Service or BVS. I moved to Illinois after a three week orientation in Maryland. 

BVS was started in the 1940's during as an alternative option for conscientious objectors - those who did not believe in going to war.
My denomination is relatively small and that it makes it easy to get involved at the denominational level, especially when I grew up in an active church and went to a historical Brethren college. Being Brethren has drastically impacted my life in many ways and being in BVS is an extension of that. I'm sure I will share more about being active in the Church of the Brethren and currently being in BVS.

If you follow me on Instagram at all, you might have picked up on this, but I'm in a relationship now! His name is Kuchanda; we met in April and have been dating since June. How we met is its own story and post, but my summer was filled with Skee-Ball adventures, ice cream runs, and movie dates.
We are currently doing the long-distance thing, which sucks - much more than we both could have imagined, (that is also another potential post) but it is absolutely 100% worth it. He is probably the sweetest, most supportive and caring person that I have ever met. Even from 506 miles away, he makes me crack up laughing or blush by saying something super adorable and cutesy. In the past seven months or so, he has become my best friend and my biggest support! 

And trust me, I'm holding back a lot. My friends have dubbed us that disgustingly cute couple - you know the kind that make you go "awwww"  and want to throw up simultaneously? Yeah, that is pretty much how we are. 
I don't want to over gush and be that girl, but you'll be seeing/hearing about him a little more around here, for sure!

So, those are the two major things going on in my life.

And of course, I have still been thrifting up a storm! 

Not EVERYTHING has changed. 

It's good to be back! 

xoxo, 

Laura