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Stress is not for the weak. When I say I am so burnt out physically, mentally, and emotionally, I mean it wholeheartedly. And to think, I'm only 23. How am I supposed to survive? With a year left in college, a full-time job, and a part-time internship, I struggle to make time for the things and people I love. I can't help but think to myself that we as human beings were never built to push ourselves this hard for this long. I envy the caveman, whose sole purpose was to wake up every day and stay alive. If only that were all I was responsible for, I wouldn't struggle this much to just stop and smell the roses and enjoy my existence. This year, I have gone on a path to find my true self and it has been so rewarding. I have really stopped and looked at this world and my life to assess what I truly need and what I truly don't want. I'm excited to embark on a journey of self-love and acceptance and start to make my life a true reflection of all my hopes and dreams. If only I could win the lottery so that I could actually enjoy the beautiful life I'm building.

It was never a secret growing up that I hated my name. I never wanted to introduce myself to new people and I would mumble my name so quiet nobody could ever understand me, which made it worse. To this day, I couldn't even really tell you why I hated it so much, just that I did. But growing up I was never allowed to have any nicknames or call myself anything different. So I learned to live with it, I mean a name is just a name right? No big deal, right? Fast forward 23 years and a whole lot of therapy later, I came to the realization that it's never too late to start living the way you want. You really can just decide that one day, you're done living your life to others' standards and just do what you want. I started to intensely research different names and experimenting with what sounded best to me, because the only person I care about pleasing anymore is myself. So about a year ago, any time I would go somewhere new I would introduce myself as Devon. And it felt great. I was actually proud to introduce myself, proud to be known. It is without a doubt the most freeing feeling in the world to start to be true to yourself. I know some people probably judge me. Or they question why it is such an important topic to me. But to me, it is important and that is all that matters. Since I have started to be true to myself I have made more authentic connections, I have been able to grow more into my social media presence, and all around I just feel more refreshed. I cannot wait to see what else is in store for me in this life now that I am only making decisions for me.

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like the universe takes immense pleasure in kicking you while you're down? Back in February I left my dead end serving job - I wasn't getting the hours I needed to pay my bills, and even when I did work I was not making nearly enough in tips to make it worth it. Since then, I have applied to at least 100 jobs (no exaggeration whatsoever according to my indeed profile, and that is only one of three job sites I have been using in the past four months), and of those 100 jobs I have yet to find somewhere to call my work home. Now, that's not to say that I haven't tried. Oh, I've tried. In fact, I have made so many efforts to land a job that I love that I have lowered my standards more than once. I was made countless empty promises, falsely lead into believing I was landing my dream job, and promised a position that I am pretty sure to this day still does not actually exist. I do not know if Coronavirus or the state of the world for the past two years has anything to do with it, but it just does not seem like people care anymore. For the most part, I have not seen a single person actually passionate about what they do in I cannot even tell you how long. Now I know what you're thinking. The restaurant industry is not somewhere any person should expect to find passion, but in my first few years in the industry I was at least surrounded by people that have pride in themselves and their work enough to put a little damn effort in here and there. But in the past few months I have found none of that. Instead I have been to countless places where almost every employee half-asses everything they do, and it makes me sad. Being close to graduating college (YAY!), I have been hoping to land a position in an office setting or something similar where I can start to get closer to finally starting my career, but I have not had any luck yet and it makes me wonder why in 2022 there's still a stigma around servers and the restaurant industry in general when it comes to professionalism. Then I remember my recent experiences and I think to myself, "yeah, I wouldn't hire half of these assholes either."

Influencing these days seems to be "the thing" to do for work. In general, people think that it just comes down to taking good photos and using hashtags. But in reality, that has little impact on an influencers success, if it impacts it at all. The most important aspects of becoming an influencer are to have a strong marketing strategy, to be consistent (with posting and content), and to be AUTHENTIC. Quite literally anyone, including my two year old brother, can pick up a camera and take a picture and post it. But to truly capture an engaged audience in 2022, you have to be 100% original and true to yourself. Considering how saturated social websites are with people who are trying to be influencers, to truly stand out from the crowd you have to set yourself apart. One thing about me is that I don't fit into any particular "box". I love makeup and fashion, but I also love cars and getting dirty. I dress in mostly black, but my playlist ranges from heavy metal, to electronic music, to the High School Musical soundtrack ( Troy Bolton will always have my heart). I love art and being creative, but I also am a huge math nerd and was part of the 30+ club when it came to college testing. Any time I read about influencing the most common form of advice I have read is to "find your niche." How am I supposed to do that when I don't closely relate with any one niche, but instead somewhat fit into a plethora of different niches? I want my blog to be the safe haven for other weirdos like me that love life so much they can't just pick one thing to love, they just have to love it all. Because that is the perfect description of me, and I wouldn't want to have it any other way. Everywhere I go, in every walk of life, I meet wonderful people who spark a fire in me that I didn't even know was there. If I didn't have such versatile interests, I never would have met or gotten close to so many great people in this life. Whether we talk still or not, every person I have had the pleasure to get to know holds a special place in my heart. All of my favorite songs, foods, and places are inspired by experiences I've had with people I love.

Does anyone else feel like they are still emotionally in the tumblr era? I vaguely remember in high school how I would obsess over the grunge looks that seemed to completely inundate my tumblr dashboard, and I told myself that one day I would be one of those fashion icons that could inspire other people that never felt comfortable wearing other mainstream clothes and styles. My peers were obsessed with Ugg boots and North Face jackets, while I had a pair of Doc Marten's on my wishlist for what felt like forever. While my classmates were rushing to Hollister to buy the latest logo tee, I was cutting up an old Fall Out Boy shirt and sewing it onto the back of a thrifted denim jacket. Dressing differently from the crowd and choosing to stray from fashion trends at the time gave me the confidence to continue to stand out and wear whatever I wanted. Now that my high school years are close to being a decade behind me (scary!), the grunge looks that I so desperately wanted to create are now a part of my every day wardrobe, and the style that I have carefully curated over the years has finally reached a point where I want to share it with the world. While most of my wardrobe is indeed inspired by grunge looks from tumblr circa 2014, I put my own fruity flare on it with pops of color and you'll almost never see me wearing any outfit that is solely neutral colors. My closet gives off "pastel rainbow" vibes and I would not have it any other way. However my wardrobe is still growing every day, as am I, and I cannot wait to see how my personal style continues to evolve and change. I have always had a passion for photography. I bought my own camera with allowance I saved up for weeks when I was 11 years old, and I really started to fixate on it a few years ago when I decided I wanted to become an influencer. Being camera shy for as long as I can remember, it took me a while to loosen up and finally get comfortable posing and practicing different angles. After buying a tripod and other tools to make my self-portraits more natural and provide me with more opportunities and ideas, I have finally started to build a strong portfolio. As of right now, my Instagram is at 350 followers (EEEPP!!!) and counting, and I am beyond ecstatic to grow and share my journey here.

To create and manage your own content, open the Blog Manager by hovering over your blog feed and clicking Manage. Here you can create, edit and delete posts and manage categories. You can also update your post settings and SEO, duplicate or draft posts, turn off commenting, or delete a post altogether by clicking Edit on each blog post. To delete or edit an existing image or video in each post, click on the media to reveal a toolbar, which also allows you to customize the size and layout of your visuals. Add more elements to your post by clicking on each of the symbols at the bottom of your post. Insert an image or gallery, embed HTML, or add a GIF to spice up your content. Add a cover photo to your post before publishing by clicking Settings on the left sidebar. Your cover photo is visible to all users who browse the blog on your site. Edit how your posts show up on search results and make them more discoverable by editing the SEO for each post. Add categories to your posts so users can navigate your blog pages by topic. Once you’re satisfied with your post, go live by clicking Publish.

Edit exactly how your blog looks on your website from the Settings panel. Wix Blogs lets you hide or display the author name and picture, date and reading time, views, comments and likes counter. Toggle between the options and view your changes in real time. If your blog is connected to a Members Area, you’ll want to make sure the Login button is visible to users. To send automatic email notifications to subscribers every time there’s a post, turn on the email notification option on your Settings panel. Start managing your blog posts from your dashboard by clicking on Manage Posts. From the Dashboard, you can create, edit and delete posts and update your SEO settings. You can also duplicate or draft posts, turn off commenting, or delete a post altogether by clicking (...) on each blog post. Once you’re happy with your blog, make sure to publish your posts from the Dashboard and go live with your site by clicking Publish.

To edit the way your blog feed looks on your site, hover over your blog feed and click on Design. Here, you can pick from different layouts. If you add a blog feed section to a different page on your website, you can pick a design that’s different from your main blog page. Edit what info and details your blog feed displays by clicking on Settings (look for the 3 dot icon). From the Settings panel, Wix Blog lets you hide or display the author name and picture, date and reading time, views, comments and likes counter. Toggle between the options and view your changes in real time. If your blog is connected to a Members Area, you’ll want to make sure the Login button is visible to users. To send automatic email notifications to blog subscribers every time there’s a new post, turn on the email notification option on your Settings panel. Start managing your blog posts by clicking on Manage Posts once you’re happy with your blog settings.