On April 15th, 2017 at 6:15 pm I launched my first blog. When I posted my first blog sitting at my desk in my bedroom, I had no idea what would happen, who would read it – or even if anyone wanted to read it. I posted thinking, ‘wow, this is the first step, I’ll see what happens’. 400 blogs later, I’m marking my 5th year of blogging. The Cheyenne sitting at the desk in 2017 was a different Cheyenne entirly. I remember taking photos outside my house the same day in one of my favorite floral rompers in front of my fence, thinking I was “Pinterest Goals”. I didn’t know how to get where I wanted to go, all I knew is I had to try and see what the blogging world was all about.
I kept a Vera Bradley notebook in the retired pattern Cambridge, filled with business ideas, adventures I wanted to take, and ideas I had for myself one day when I got my degree. It was notebook filled with ideas from starting my own business with my crafts or owning an event planning company to creating my own blog. I always had looked at the blogging idea as something that may be attainable one day.
It wasn’t until my first year at the University of Tampa when I took my first management class, that taught me about wordpress. I knew I wanted to start a blog, and going through the class and understanding wordpress made it a lot eaiser to start.
When I first launched my blog, I had no clue what I would be talking about. The only thing I knew was I wanted to share my fashion and share my story, but I wasn’t ready to open up fully yet. I remember what it was all like when I was growing up and having no self-confidence and I knew I could help someone one day. Any day. I knew it was possible, so a blog is where it all began.
Now that I have been blogging for 5 years, this year was different than any other year. It was the year of SELF-CONFIDENCE in ways I didn’t even know I needed to be. From posing differently, trying new things with fashion and truly living my best life! Any idea was possible. Anything I wanted to make happen, I made it happen. I didn’t want to hold myself back at all this year and that’s exactly what I did. For example, for years I always wanted to do a tea party themed photoshoot. The idea was inspired by my drive to make what visions I have in my head a reality. My blog is my outlet to be creative and do the things I have always dreamt of doing. That is why you see a tea party as my blog anniversary photoshoot!
Year 5 was reminding myself why I started this blog and where it all came from. What I do it for and where I want to go with this. I started this blog because I wanted to share my outfits, but I soon had realized I was given the platform and it had been in my ideas book for a reason. The reason was to share and inspire girls like me who had been through the same thing I had gone through. It wasn’t until college when I realized what I actually had been through, putting a name to the pain of being called names and hatng myself for so long. This blog has meant so much to me to share the story of bullying and my confidence journey. A journey that is always going to grow and continue on.
I’ll never forget the first message I ever recieved was from someone talking about buying a swimsuit and because of me, they were going to buy it. This year, the amount of messages I’ve recieved saying that I’ve impacted their lives, or made them try out something new with their fashion that they never knew they could do is the reason why I started this. I wanted to connect with people all across the internet and change someones life the way I changed mine.
Remembering how this blog began is a simple reminder that you can start anything you want to. You can make it anything you want it to be. You can have an idea and create something from nothing. I had no clue what was going on until I let my story guide the way.
I love to say the “Girl Boss State of Mind”. It’s true, this blog would not be possible if it wasn’t for the passion and persistance I had when I first started to now. Within my 5th year of blogging I reached more people than I have ever reached before, worked with brands I love, and posted what I wanted to post. I was determind to post, but only what I truly loved and I put it out there! I know from here there is so much growth to still happen, but I am proud of the content creator and plus size blogger I am today. I am proud to be here posting my 5th blog anniversary post remembering how it all started with a dream and a notebook. I look back a lot wondering if I never got my education, I wouldn’t be typing this blog. I had a dream for this to happen and now it’s a 5 year reality.
Why Did I Start My Blog
When I was younger I wanted to be a singer, singing on American Idol or making my own album. I wanted to have a CD with all my music on it that I made when I was being bullied. Being able to sing was my outlet. When I didn’t have anyone, singing was always there for me. It was somehting I could listen to or sing back to without anyone telling me I was fat or ugly. It was my chance to let go of what I was feeling and put it into a song. There were days when I was bullied that I didn’t even speak. I only listened to what everyone else said to me. I believe every word they said about me. I would come home from school crying at the foot of my bed wondering why me. Why did I have to go through this. Music was there to always comfort me. I was there to make the pain go away. I had a big blue and green binder filled with sheet protectors, protectign all my music I had ever written. It was a binder filled with heartbreak, bullying stories, the pain I felt from being alone, and reasons why I knew I wasn’t enough. I wrote a song called Treated Me saying, “they treated me like I was invisible, they treated me like I wasn’t there, all of my days, I wanted to say, I was treated so wrong”. There were so many songs like that in my binder. The music helped me heal what my words couldn’t say in person. I would put everything into a song. Writing songs and singing helped me and I know is the reason I am here today.
When I was clearing out my desk in high school, I stumbled across that binder again. I threw the whole thing away. It’s something I regret as a blogger now, but I don’t regret also because I needed to let go. Let go of all the pain I had ever been through because it was time to move on.
Instead of a microphone, I have a keyboard. I didn’t realized I needed this blog more than it needed me. I knew my voice was meant for something, but I never knew I could share my story with a keyboard instead of a microphone. Do I still love to sing and will always audition for American Idol – of course, but I know that I am able to use my voice and my keyboard for more than just a song. It’s a story I know is worth telling.
I want to continue to share my story, my insecurities and my flaws. I want to help those who need the confidence to love themselves. I want to help those that are being bullied or who have been bullied. Healing from the bullies takes time, but it’s possible. There are things that may happen that remind us of those times, but we can neber let them bring us down and the progress that we’ve made. Those scars on or minds and hearts do not go away easily, but they will with time.
To this day I still cry. I cry for the girl that couldn’t stand up for herself. I cry for the girl that didn’t feel good enough, who hated herself and didn’t love who she was. Overtime, I’ve learned confidence isn’t something that happens overnight. It’s something that takes time. Confidence is something you have to learn. The first step is believing in yourself and your half way there. Self-love is a long journey, and for me it took over 10 years, but it’s one worth taking.
Goals For A Girl Boss
I want to keep sharing my story. There are part of it I still have never shared and I want to open up more than I ever have before. I know there are people out there that have been inspired by my story and there are people that still need to hear it. I have always wanted to start doing workshops and I finally got the chance to last year in November of 2021. I want to do more not only on social media, but my story and where it all began. I know my goals are small and some big, but everything starts with an idea. Just as I started this blog, it was a goal that became a reality and anythign I set my mind to I know I can do. It all can happen with the girl boss state of mind.
Last year I had posted a blog called Bullied to Beautiful. It was my favorite blog last year and to this date is my favorite. If you have the chance and want to read more on my story, that blog is the perfect read.
A huge THANK YOU to YOU for reading this blog and every blog i’ve posted. Your support from Day 1 to Day 1,825 has ment the absolute most to me. I am so thankful that you take the time out of your day to spend a little time reading my story and content. It truly means so so much and it has made my dream come true.
Cheers to blogging for 5 years! Cheers to being confident and loving yourself! Cheers to having an idea and taking a leap of faith! Cheers to making a dream come true! Sending all the love, confidence, and girl boss vibes your way – always.
