I used to hate having pictures of me taken. Although, this was when I had braces and hadn’t quite made it through puberty yet. Still, I prefer to take pictures of other people, but since starting this blog I’ve had to get used to having pictures taken of me.

Taking pictures for my blog is not always fun, enjoyable or easy. I mess around a lot, making for some weird pictures. Not every shot looks how you want it or imagined it to be. Posing for pictures in public places gets strange looks sometimes, and sharing your posts multiple times on Facebook can start to feel repetitive.

So many bloggers get too hung up on perfection, and making sure all their pictures are flawless and flow together. I’m an overachiever, so I understand the feeling of wanting everything to look and be its best.

We overlook the awkwardness that comes with putting yourself out there and the very public learning process that comes with blogging and writing. No one becomes “big” overnight, like it may seem. It takes a lot of uncomfortable moments first.

For this blog post, I threw in a couple of pictures that were taken in times where I wasn’t trying to pose or photos that didn’t quite turn out like how I was hoping they would. Perfection is impossible, and that’s a good thing.

Trying to appear like you have everything together is exhausting – trust me, I know. It’s much more fun to not take everything so seriously, to be messy and complicated. Sometimes you just have to embrace life and remember that nothing lasts forever – both bad and good moments.

So here it is, a mix of good and awkward and all the in between shots.

Shorts and top from J. Crew Factory, gold bracelet from The Peach Box, sneakers from Converse.