Miscellaneous – Now And Then With Jen

REALNESS OF INFLUENCERS – IS IT OVER OR JUST BEGUN?

Influencers. Who would have ever thought that that word would be engrained in part of our modern-day-vocabulary. I sure as hell would not have! But yet here I am, a consumer and lover of social media, and I find question on my mind pretty regularly: is the realness of influencers over or has it just begun?

What I mean by this is, the times of when an influencer has gushed over something and has been SO EXCITED to try something out… have those times been genuine? Or for a pitched or paid ad? I can’t help but wonder. And on the flip side, we have another side of influencers who’s energy is inviting and open and they are so dang intoxicating to follow because of how REAL they are. Or are they? I guess both sides really boil down to trust and/or a fine line that could be a facade.

It is so interesting to me to think of all of this when yes, there are still big chunks of society who either are not aware of this influencer corner of the internet, or they simply do not care. The angle that I have is by being a consumer and user of social media myself as well as working on a brand end of things and working with influencers for the business. These influencers are hustlers, let me tell you. It is their job and they treat it like so, and I say that with extremely high levels of respect. I’ve seen some influencers work harder than past coworkers in jobs of mine, and be more open and honest than many. And with both angles, I have been able to see an inkling of the incredible impact, influence, and responsibility that comes with the word – influencer. So I really can only imagine what the full scope must look like for them!

Now in this past year of, for a lack of better words, serious humbling, we have seen MANY changes globally, politically, socially, medically, technologically, and the list could go on. So when I think of the scale of social media, where it is going, and who will be actively participating, my hope is for influencers to stay real with who they are, what they promote, and be intentional on utilizing the platform that they have. I think that the “realness” of influencers has just recently begun to shine through, and I am really excited to see more. It is such a new concept to the digital world, and I think that by seeing how it has grown in the past 7+ years – by being intentional, amazing things can come with it. Though there will always be different types of people and different ways that people use these tools, we are all human. And the more we get on a level of simply understanding and accept just that, we are then able to see these social media platforms as simply just that – social media platforms. They can be highlight reels and/OR they can be so much more – they can be real.

What are your thoughts on influencers? Do you have a favorite influencer that you like to follow? Let me know in the comments below!

Some of my favorite influencers to follow on Instagram lately are listed below. I have so many reasons to support these accounts, and what I love most about following them, is the way that they are unapologetically themselves and the messages and creativity that they share!

@kalynnicholson13

@desiperkins

@laurynbosstick

@hellotefi

@jessimalay

@georgiestevenson

@chocolateismyvice

23 Things I Learned At 23

As I completed another year around the sun, I feel very nostalgic looking back on the year of 23 and all that it encompassed. From the lessons, mistakes, opportunities, growth, great times, bad times, and everything in between. For me 23 was a very special year for me in terms of self-growth, so I have a very heavy heart saying goodbye to it. Through this growth I feel more myself that I have ever felt while simultaneously feeling so confused! I guess this may be how many of us early-twenty-something’s feel going through this interesting phase of life.

As a way of honoring 23, I wrote down 23 things that I have learned this past year. I had so much fun reflecting on all that this year has brought to me in terms of lessons! These lessons are reminders of what I went through then to now have these lessons as I step into 24.

So here is to 24, another year, and a beautiful life! If you resonated with one of these lessons, drop a comment below. I would love to hear about it!

Doing little things that will add up to the bigger picture tends to be more helpful that focusing on the bigger picture and getting overwhelmed
Self-care comes in many, many different forms
Investing in a good dry shampoo will change your god damn life
Investing in good skincare will ALSO change your god damn life and your skin, too
The relationship that you have with yourself will set the blueprints for the relationships that you have with others
Love is all around you, whether you can see it or not all depends on what you choose to focus on
Life will slap you in the face with the same situation until you learn the lesson (yikes, SO true)
Sex is awesome and shouldn’t be this whole taboo topic
Families comes in all different shapes and forms, and family can be non-blood related
Being adventurous in the place you call home opens up a new form of love towards that place
There is SO much that we can learn from nature and animals
How you see yourself is WAY more important that how others view you
Getting your nails done is a beautiful way to
It’s okay to have questioned your faith and take time to reconnect to God in a way that is most genuine to you
Taking social media detoxes is very helpful to reconnect back to your reality, purpose, and overall how you spend your time
It is never too late to try and start something new
Honesty is the best policy – but like, for real!
Stop! Eating! Shit! Your! Body! Doesn’t! Like!
Changing habits changes the way you live your life, and it’s easier said than done but it is SO worth it
Getting to know your sense of expression/creativity through fashion is so much fun! (And fast fashion can take a hike)
The world is here for you, and you are never alone
You don’t always have to be liked
Lastly – you are exactly where you are meant to be in this moment in time.

Thank you for reading!

Xo, Jen

Work in Progress

Long time no see, or no talk? Either, or works I suppose. I am still trying to figure out how to write with knowing that someone will be reading my words, as writing always been something that I kept fairly private. (So bear with me here, plz and thnx!) I wanted to write some thoughts before I get into posting different topics, so here we go.

I guess I will take it back to when I originally started this blog, Now And Then With Jen. It was the summer of 2016 and I got very inspired by many bloggers on WordPress and Instagram. I loved that they felt so free and open to share their different passions. As a fairly introverted person with many different types interests, seeing them be so vulnerable really helped me step outside of the box that I was mentally stuck in. I connected with these people in a way that I never knew was possible. And by this I mean, on the internet connecting with like-minded people through a screen. (I mean really, how weird is that when you think about it. Yet it is totally the norm in this day and age- hi!!)

I originally wanted to create this outlet to share passions and interests of mine including fashion, music, traveling, food, experiences, etc. I did maybe about 8 different posts total within a span of 5 months, and then stopped. I couldn’t quite figure out how or what to write, because internally I was going through a lot that I didn’t understand how to deal with at the time. Looking back, I know this is because I didn’t fully know or love myself. So although writing about styling my new favorite sweater made me feel happy and that maybe someone could pull some inspiration from that post (um, because I freaking loved that sweater), it also felt extremely shallow (because, um, I was writing about a sweater while internally feeling like I didn’t know myself.)

Then in early 2017 I moved to Los Angeles. And everything changed. The entertainment capital of the world, and I was just barely trying to start up my personal blog. I felt small, confused, and imposter syndrome was at an all-time high. Although I wanted to keep up with writing and sharing my passions, I could cut my self-doubt with a knife.

Common thoughts of mine during this time: who TF do I think I am starting a blog and sharing things that I’m not even an expert at? People will go somewhere else and find experts.

In other words: I closed my laptop and did not dare to write a word on my blog for upwards of a year.

Looking back from early 2017 to now, this chunk of time has been such an incredibly painful yet rewarding time in my life where I have learned so much about myself and the world, where I feel comfortable to simply be myself. I am starting up this blog again because I reflected on the main reason/passion why I ever wanted to create one in the first place – to help someone in the ways that I know how: through sharing, connecting, and loving. Even if that is one person, whoever that may be and however that may be. (From favorite sweater posts, serious talks about social media, incredible make up products to cover-up skin imperfections, and to silly stories of mine – we got it all, baby.)

What I have learned is that we are always changing, and that is where great progress and learning can come about. And sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself again. And if it happens more than once, guess what? That’s okay. No one wakes up with all of the answers, that’s what experiencing life is for!

Life is heavy. It’s messy. It’s scary. It’s so god damn sad that you feel lost. And recently there has been so many devastating situations happening, that make you feel hopeless. But the thing is – it is not only that. It is simultaneously beautiful, caring, loving, colorful, abundant and joyful. And THAT is life. Life is a cocktail of chaos with ingredients of the good, the bad, and everything in between.

In the midst of all of the chaos happening in this world recently, I choose love. I choose hope. I choose niceness. I choose strength. I chose vulnerability. I choose connection. And I choose happiness. And to whoever is reading this, whoever you are, whatever you are going through, I hope that if there is anything that you pull from this.. I hope that you remember just how special you are, how loved you are, and that it is more than okay to be a work in progress.

Be kind to yourself. And like Ellen Degeneres says, be kind to one another.

xo,

Jen

The Start of Something New…

First and foremost I would like to say thank you for dropping by! Welcome to the start of something new, blog edition. This has been a long time coming, and similar to the image above, (taken at the Philadelphia Magic Gardens in Philadelphia, PA) slowly but surely… Which may or may not have to become my life motto.

Blogging has always been very intriguing to me, and so to me it’s no surprise that I would give it a whirl. If anyone knows me personally, you would know that I did have a previous blog on tumblr which was dedicated to my Rotary youth exchange year in Ecuador during 2014-2015. There I shared my experiences, thoughts, and travels during my year as a foreign exchange student. My intension to make that blog was to easily be able to keep my loved ones from the USA updated with my new exchange life. Every now and then I look back on it and it brings me back to so many great memories/feelings. As much as I loved writing there, it really makes no sense for me to continue with it after almost two years.

Growing up I always loved writing, but it was mainly when it was just for me, voicing my opinion, or helping someone else. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me, and for a while I was putting it on the back burner as I tried to focus on other things. So after many encouraging words from friends and family, here I am, creating this blog to be whole-heartedly, me.

I would say that the biggest struggle with creating and constructing this blog was not trying to figure out how to design it. That was quite interesting and fun after A LOT of trial and error. (I thought I was pretty tech savvy but this site was actually very challenging for me to understand.) My biggest struggle was trying to come up with a guide line of where my content would fall. I have many interests, so how could I just choose one? It’s very hard to just limit myself to focus on one topic. My other blog was fairly easy because it was strictly about my exchange year. But there is much more to my life, and life in general. My conclusion is to have my blog be mainly centered around “lifestyle.”

With that being said, this is what you will find here: my life. My experiences, stories, opinions, travels, interests, advice, and much much more. Comments, suggestions, and questions are always welcome. All I ask for is respect and an open mind.

NowAndThenWithJen means exactly what it says. Everything from back then, to right now, from the inside and out. I thought it would be very fitting for this new creation. Thank you for stopping by and here’s to what is still to come!

"Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow's reality." -Malala Yousafzai