I love what I do. I love creating content and writing about topics I'm passionate about. I started my very first blog when I was 15 years old, I started my first blog called "Not Your Average Teenager." When I was 15 years old, it was the year 2014, being a "blogger" wasn't considered an occupation nor was it considered "cool." The kids in my high school were mean, most of them anyway. When word got out that I liked to write about random stuff and I posted pictures of myself on Instagram–sometimes twice in one day - omg how embarrassing ;) . I was bullied. There were Instagram/Facebook accounts that were made for the soul purpose of making fun of me.
I was a joke.
You know the feeling when you walk by a group of people and they all turn to look at you– you know they were talking about you. That feeling was sickening at my age; I was a 15 year old girl, I cared too much about what everyone thought of me. I created a separate Instagram account for my blog specifically because I didn't want it to take over my personal life; I wanted to keep my personal life separate so I can share things with my close family and friends. So this other Instagram account with pictures of me on it, made it as a great piece of gossip through my High School halls. I was looked at as a self absorbed weirdo that loved to post pictures of herself out to her 150 followers who probably didn't care. So I gave in.
I quit.
I stopped my Not Your Average Teenager blog and I stopped posting on Instagram, I stopped everything.
I felt embarrassed.
A year later passed, everything changed. I grew up a little, I figured out who my true friends were and I was ready to do what made me happy, regardless of what people thought of me.
And THE BABE ABROAD WAS BORN! And she was confident as heck. I began to write more about topics revolving travel and fashion and I kept going. Was I still made fun of? Yes. Did I care? Of course not! It was my senior year in high school and I did what made me happy. My Instagram account began growing slowly but surely and my blog started to gain more and more traffic.
The Babe Abroad was growing.
Five thousand, Ten thousand, Twenty thousand, now at 27.6 thousand people that all want to follow my adventures and read my blog. Suddenly, people were listening. I felt heard. But it wasn't just me, some amazing other bloggers started growing as well, so much so that blogging actually became an occupation. One of those bloggers who started growing during that time was my amazing mother who was my very first inspiration into blogging. If you haven't already checked her out, you can go see her Instagram @Cupcakes_and_life and visit her blog as well CupcakesAndLife.com. She got into blogging two years before I did!
So now, the term "blogger" is an actual thing and a very popular thing now. The people who bullied me in high school probably feel very silly now that they see I'm succeeding, and that feeling made it all worth it.
And I also wanted to give a HUGE SHOUTOUT to all the bloggers who started out blogging before being a blogger was a thing! It wasn't easy, but we did it and keep on doing your thang!
Thanks for reading! I'll be back with more travel, fashion and stories soon, I promise!
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Alexis
Instagram: @TheBabeAbroad
Facebook: @TheBabeAbroad
Blog: TheBabeAbroad.com