ofmarbleandbone-blog

[ofmarbleandbone-blog]

#1 THE AWKWARD BEGINNING

I have decided that there is no cool, casual way to start a blog. For two days, I’ve been racking my brain for a concise, fun way to introduce myself and explain why I started m+b, what I want to get out of it and what I want you to get out of it. I eventually googled 'How To Write Your First Blog Post'* (just one search in a series of decidedly uncool, non-casual searches) for help. A man named Rob Powell came to the rescue, reminding me that « If this is your first blog post, you don’t have an audience. The brutal truth is that no one is going to be reading your first blog post, except your mom or your girlfriend (or boyfriend). » Unfortunate and true, but suddenly I am less concerned with ALL of you guys’ opinions! Thanks Rob! 

 Rob went on to talk about how, since no one is reading yet, there’s no reason to try to write a certain way or entertain a certain person—that you should just be yourself. To be clear, I never had any intentions of NOT being myself, I think I had just been subconsciously expecting myself to be able to rise above the first blog post awkwardness and somehow launch something that was right off the bat as simultaneously beautiful, interesting and professional as my favorite blogs (hi Man Repeller, Atelier Doré and Darling Mag). Picture me trying to figure out how to get 10k followers on a blank m+b Instagram to promote the also blank m+b blog so that I might appear legitimate enough to warrant interviews with people readers might be attracted to so that I might connect with and empower a community of like minded women to eventually make a difference. Googling whether I’m allowed to repost other people’s photos, how and when to use affiliate links, if I should record interviews or just send them via email, whether I need a mailbox specific to m+b…

Now, picture me, letting go of these concerns because Rob Powell says no one’s going to read this one. I’m writing my first post and it going to be long-winded and messy but ALREADY it feels. really. good.

m+b was born as the result of 2 conversations with my boyfriend and 26 days of quarantine-induced overthinking. The first conversation revolved around my excitement when I discovered an Instagram influencer whose body looked similar to mine. I’m 5’5/size 4 (usually?)/athletic in the sense I run just enough to have lost the boobs I genetically deserve. I don’t like the word average for any body type, but I do land physically somewhere in the middle of the spectrum and that makes it crazy to me how little of myself I see represented in any sort of media. Seeing someone that looks similar to me and also very cool on Instagram—something I usually have to look up under some extension of the #bodypositive hashtag, which is great but tends to yield more celebration of cellulite than I personally relate to (do I have to LOVE my cellulite to love myself?)—was a welcome reminder that your appearance doesn’t have to define your experience. It’s obviously affected mine a bit, or I wouldn’t be looking for other people to help normalize my body for me. But hey, I don’t think I’m the only one! And this is part of the motive behind m+b, a desire to inspire confidence and self-acceptance in others by sharing stories of quietly beautiful, unapologetically genuine women that have helped me feel not only more normal, but more extraordinary. 

 The second conversation had to do with the photographer #Purienne, but I might save it for another day because there’s a lot to unpack. 

 For now, just know that m+b is a space I hope you might like to visit in the future for your morning coffee (or your afternoon coffee, or, you know, you really should cut down on that evening coffee but it would work for that as well) with trust that your day will be better for it. I’m hoping to carve out a little corner of the internet that feels familiar and reassuring to you, a place you can go to meet women who inspire you to own your authenticity.

Thanks for stopping by!

Lauren

*'How To Write Your First Blog Post'

https://robpowellbizblog.com/how-to-write-your-first-blog-post/