The Versatile Blogger Award.
Big thank you to my lovely new friend, Lily, from LearningLily.com for nominating me! She is so thoughtful and kind, and it amazes me how beautifully professional her blog is even though she’s only had it for a few months. You can read her Versatile Blogger Award post here and i recommend also reading her reflection on her first month as a blogger because, whether you’re a brand new blogger or have had your blog for a long while, it’s a good reminder to be fair to yourself as you grow!
(I used to be really into photography…When i actually still went outside! I miss those days.)
So, what is the Versatile Blogger Award?
Blogger awards are a fun way for bloggers to show appreciation for other bloggers and their content. Blogging is harder work than it may look like from the outside, so it means the world when we are shown in any way that we are appreciated! The Versatile Blogger Award celebrates high quality, unique, and loving content. When nominated, the blogger can choose to accept the nomination and pass it on to 15 bloggers that they believe deserve a nomination as well.
The rules to accept this award are simple:
- Thank the person who nominated you, and link their blog. There are millions of blogs out there, and somebody chose yours!
- Nominate 15 bloggers to keep spreading the appreciation.
- Share 7 facts about yourself.
Thank you for being you, and for shining so beautifully through your blog! It’s an honor to know you.?
Seven Facts About Alissa from Story Behind The Cloth:
- I wish i could be a hippie. I would love to have a more simple life and just happily live on the road. So easily, i get sick of mundane routine and desperately want to be free to just up and travel when i please.
- Over the past couple years, my anxiety has gotten really bad. Even fun and simple things to do (Like accepting this nomination!…which has taken me about a week to respond.) take a ton of effort that i often struggle to muster up when i’m having a panic attack. Those happen much more frequently than i’d like to accept. But i’m slowly learning to be more kind to myself, allow myself the breaks i need to be mentally healthy, and be willing to pamper myself when i’m having an anxiety attack…Doesn’t always help right away, and sometimes the panic attack still lasts for days, but i find myself more capable in the end and it feels less severe when i give myself what i need.
- I love anime. My current favorites are Steins Gate, Attack on Titan, One Punch Man, and Hunter x Hunter.
- I’m obsessed with cheesecake, pasta, coffee, and chocolate.
- I used to hate fashion trends because of the belief that the act of obsessively following them squelches creativity. Now i love studying them because i think they give a fascinating look into where society is currently at. They unite the fashion community in a way that visually sheds light on the current strengths, struggles, and hopes of humanity. I may not follow them all myself (and still think that obsession with them is an unhealthy trap), but i strongly admire them, think they are fun, and love seeing a person honestly embrace a trend as one that they can relate with.
- I’m re-learning who i am, after going from being a passionate Christian to becoming Agnostic. It’s really hard to make sense of your identity when the beliefs which you were certain made you who you are, disappear. I’m still me, but a lot of the time i don’t know why, or what that really means.
- My favorite kind of book is a textbook. And yes, i know how weird that is! But they are so informative and to the point…And the especially well-written ones can even be entertaining in the examples they give. My favorites are any subject having to do with humanities and social sciences. Especially anthropology!
Nominations:
I want to nominate some of my Twitter friends this time around! I’ve met so many of you, especially in the last couple months, and you’ve been such a pleasure and encouragement in my blogging journey… I love and admire you all and don’t feel i could possibly be more grateful to have such an amazing new group of friends!
- @LenaDeexo: Lena, Lena Dee XO.
- @AllLadyA: Alix, All Lady A.
- @GwenBielicki: Gwen, Reckless Resale.
- @SavanaRae098: Savana, Official Savana Rae.
- @D_LuckyLoveLife: Deanna, Lucky.Love.Life.
- @ASouthernGirl_L: Lia, A Southern Girl, Lia.
- @findmyway37: Matt, Finding My Way.
- @_alicesusandee_: Alice, A Lot on Your Mind.
- @ivyroseknows: Ivy, Ivy Rose Knows.
- @lipsoverlattes: Donna, Lipstick Over Lattes.
- @HavClothWilTrav: Lindsey, Have Clothes, Will Travel.
- @aliceinwlust: Alice, Alice in Wonderlust.
- @sophie_sierra: Sophie, Soinspo.
- @hellobexa: Bexa, Hello Bexa.
- @CheyenneMGales: Cheyenne, Not So Faux.
I can’t wait to read your 7 facts!
Thanks for the nomination. My post with my noms will be going live on Jan 1. I was challenged and excited. Some ways it was difficult to narrow it down to 15 but in other ways it was a good evaluation of what blogs I put time into reading etc. Thank you so much for spreading some blogger support!
Wonderful! I’m looking forward to reading it, and checking out each of the bloggers you nominate (The extra thought you put into it makes me even more excited to start discovering more bloggers)!
Girlie, I am also obsessed with everything you listed! (cheesecake, pasta, coffee, & chocolate) So delicious, and now I’m hungry!! 🙂 You deserve the acknowledgement on your blog because it can be so easy to become discouraged. Never give up on something you enjoy doing, and always keep the fun in it by creating what you love!! Good luck !! 🙂
Oh and btw, I am curious as to how you became agnostic? As a Christian myself, I can definitely relate to the doubt at times and I’m just simply curious as to what led you to becoming agnostic? 🙂
I dealt with a healthy amount of doubt in my time as a Christian…I had a tendency to really welcome that questioning that came from it, because figuring out answers to my doubts gave me more faith.
What led me to becoming agnostic is a complicated mess of many different things.
But to summarize: within the last couple years i’ve had more doubts than ever, and each one stayed without reasonable answers until i couldn’t even remember the questions they caused me to have anymore. I really just got to the place where none of Christianity made any sense to me any longer.
I can’t tell you how afraid i am of the human mind and it’s ability to make sense of whatever it wants, based off of limited information. Just as certain as i had found myself as a Christian finding answers that upheld Christianity, i’m still experiencing that same sort of thing except that it’s now against Christianity. I’m convinced that it’s impossible to be completely certain of anything…So now i just want to be open minded as i try to follow the facts the best i can… Whether that leads me back to Christianity, or religion in general, or not. I don’t know which it will be…But at this time, it’s pretty far from the former.
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question ? I understand where the uncertainty comes from, I know it is something that so many people go through. I think it is so incredibly hard to maintain a faith when there is so much stacked against it. Just want to share with you something I have learned within these past few years, and that is that sometimes it’s not about religion at all. I don’t think God really cares what people are. It’s about the relationship you have with Him that matters. There are so many people who claim to be a certain religion, and yet they have no relationship with God or have ever even opened the Bible. I know I can’t persuade you or anything but I just figured I would share any advice I could. I have so many things that have happened in my life that have led me to the faith I have today, but I won’t share unless you’re curious because I don’t want to be annoying lol ? I just advice you pray for the guidance you are looking for and I am sure you will find your answers. Thanks again girly, wish you the best ?
Thank you… I like to believe that and do hope it’s the case… I’ve prayed and prayed for answers since the questioning began, until the relationship aspect fell flat and i didn’t fell like He was speaking to me anymore. And then when i kinda did feel that way again, i didn’t trust it anymore.
I’d love to have that relationship back… But at the same time, i’m so far from believing right now, and don’t feel like i’m really missing anything like i would have expected i would…other than this struggle with knowing myself and who i am without faith, and what i believe about the world, because that was all i knew, and now it’s gone.
I’d love to hear your story sometime.
I understand where you’re coming from because that’s a struggle that I think everyone goes through. Faith is I hard thing because sometimes you have to trust and trust without seeing. I would definitely love to share so much with you if you like. Message me anytime you like! ?
Thank you for sharing those deeply personal facts about yourself with us!
I love that you want to be a hippy, my uncle is practically a hippy in a house and as Pagan’s, it’s almost our genetic makeup to be a hippy ? My friends and I had a dream of starting a hippy commune one day where we live off the land and spend the days communally educating the children and dreadlocking eachother’s hair, you’ll be invited!
I love that you’re rediscovering who you are and it sounds like religion plays an important part in that… I went through a similar journey of self discovery and I couldn’t be happier. There is so much importance in the power of questioning everything!
Despite your anxiety struggles, you seem so passionate and excited about your fashion passion ? love it!
Shevy
http//moonsomnia.com
Hi Shevy,
Thank you for stopping by and commenting!
Haha, i love that so much… ? I’m so stoked to be invited to your hippy commune!
And i agree completely! Questioning is so important…Ideas are powerful, so i think it’s crucial to always remain open-minded and willing to realize we might be wrong…Because ideas can shape our whole life, if we cling too tightly to ones that might be wrong that has the power to do a lot of damage. And on the flip-side, realizing new things is so freeing!
Thank you so much!?
Brilliant post Alissa! ? I love these kinda posts – so interesting! Being a hippie sounds like such a cool way of life! As long as I could take my cats with me I would jump at the chance! ? I loved it where you said you were learning to be kind to yourself. I think that’s so important ❤️. Thank you so much for the tag! Looking forward to read more of your posts! ? xx
Bexa | http://www.hellobexa.com
Glad you enjoyed it!
And definitely! That adventurous spirit is so appealing. But…Cats are a necessity. My sister left her cat with me to take care of until she’s settled into a place of her own–He’s become one of my besties! I adore him. Keeps me smiling while i’m at my desk all day!…Whether he’s being friendly, cuddling up and sitting next to my computer, or doing something ridiculous that makes me laugh!
And kindness and self-care are definitely important… It’s insane how hard on ourselves we can be. It does no good. And really realizing that has been a hard lesson for me–I’ve long thought that i had to be extremely critical of myself to grow.
I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts as well! What’s next for your blogging plan? 🙂