Why We're Done Comparing Ourselves to Others
Y’all, it’s hard out here for a blogger these days. Building a following, posting regularly, updating social media, monetizing (yeah, in our dreams!), and actually getting people to click on your content – shit is tough! In fact, if you’re here reading this right now, we can’t thank you enough. You the real MVP.
Knowing all this, it amazes us how many beauty bloggers out there manage to do it full-time, have the most expensive products in their oh-so-perfect #shelfies, get tens of thousands of followers, snag sponsored content, and on top of that have enough time and income to be on a seemingly lifelong vacation.
Are we jealous? Yeah, kinda! We all feel a little jealous sometimes. But here’s the thing – deep down, we know better. We know that success doesn’t happen overnight. We know how much time and effort it takes for #instababes to pull off that “constant vacation” look. (It takes a lot of work to look like you don’t work, okay?!) We know not everybody has the same resources. We know about smoke, mirrors & filters, because we use them, too. Most importantly, we know who we are. And that, dear friends, is what really matters.
A reminder: We’re Hannah and Kat. Our pronouns are both she/her and we both have wavy, frizzy hair. We live in New York and we love it here. We support ourselves with full-time jobs, and meet every Sunday to come up with dope ways to share what we know about beauty on this blog. That includes everything from our fav products we’ve been using for years, to interviews with inspiring people we just met. Often, we buy products just to blog about them, then return them because we need grocery money. Intersectional feminism is a nonnegotiable part of our worldview. We love color, cartoons, animals, videogames, Rihanna, weird haircuts, the 80s, 90s and today. We’d say we DGAF, but we actually do. Because like everyone else, we’re human.
We bet, like us, you’ve spent a few hours this week scrolling through instagram, wishing your lips were bigger, that you worked out more, had more followers, made more money like those other girls. How did that make you feel? Better? More motivated? It does the opposite for us, every single time.
So we’ve decided to fuck all that noise! From now on, we’re only competing with ourselves. And even then it’s friendly competition, like Whose Line Is It Anyway, where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter! We’re beautiful, we’re smart, we work hard and we deserve. Every second we waste hating on ourselves is a second that could have been used to make something amazing. Or to stop, admire our rough edges, and live in the moment for once. If we got hit by an asteroid tomorrow, we damn sure wouldn’t want our last thought to be “ugh, we suck! Why didn’t our post get more engagement?!!” Nah, man. Life is far too precious for all of that.
So from now on, we’re doing our thing, being ourselves, and staying the *FUCK* off other people's profiles except to build them up, appreciate them and show support. We have so much to be proud of, and so do you! Try it. You’ll see. Things are pretty amazing when you chill the fuck out.