Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It

Hey everyone!

My name is Meredith and I’m a 22 year old blogger from Vancouver, British Columbia. My mission in life is to show everyone how it’s okay to fail, and there are many different definitions of success. My hope is that through my blog, I’ll be able to show people that sometimes it’s okay to be a little bit of a mess — and that just because the path your on isn’t the one you planned for, doesn’t mean it’s the wrong path.

When I first moved from Toronto to Vancouver at the age of 17, it wasn’t what I had planned at all. At the time, I was an aspiring film maker and actor, who had spent my entire high school career planning my move to Los Angeles to pursue my dreams. When it came time to put my plan into action, however, I stumbled. My mental health issues got the better of me. I spent the entirety of my Senior year seldom sleeping more than 3 hours a night, chronically avoiding University applications, and generally succumbing to my anxiety.

When the rejection letters arrived from all of my top-choice Universities, I was crushed, but not surprised. I hadn’t done any of the work to prove that I had belonged there. However, my entire (rather meticulous) life plan had hinged on me moving to LA for school before starting my career. I was lost, for a while, before accepting my offer to UBC.

My five years at UBC were marked with all sorts of revelations. That it was okay to fail, coming to terms with and working on managing my anxiety disorders and depression, figuring out who I was (which is not who I had previously thought). While I feel that I am constantly on a journey of bettering myself, those years were monumental in terms of learning for me. I began my time at UBC anxious, cripplingly shy, hell-bent on a career in film, and, worst of all — a huge pushover.

Five years later, I’m a new girl. I discovered that clinging onto a past identity that once defined you to others is not the best way to define yourself. I gave up film, years after I really should have, due to the levels of anxiety it caused me. I joined my sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and found a community that helped me out of my shell. I joined the UBC AMS’s event team, which showed me a love of event planning which would lead to my decision to pursue wedding planning. I ended up majoring in psychology, simply because it was the courses I found most compelling. It was a crazy, messy five years filled with ups, downs, times where I felt completely lost but through all of it I found myself.

All that being said, I still stayed true to many of my passions, which this blog has helped me to pursue. My love of art and makeup, an enthusiasm for writing (which I ended up minoring in), and a call to explore the world.

If you’d asked me how I would’ve pictured my life now while I was in high school, my plan would have bore no resemblance to the person today, which ultimately was for the best. I want to use my platform to show others that “failing” can change your life for the better, and always pushing forward to your next success, whatever it may be, is the most powerful way to live your life.

At risk of sounding a little preachy, I believe that the best way to live your life is in the moment and always moving forward. I consider myself to be a constant work-in-progress, which has helped shape me into a person I am already proud of, and can’t wait to see where it takes me next. I’ve found my current self-improvement journey through travel, skincare, makeup, and creating a lifestyle that makes me feel like the best version of myself, and I hope to inspire others to find their own journey–whatever works best for you. We all have obstacles in life and things that may hold us back (for myself, personally, it is my struggle with mental illness) but you just have to do your best to cope, overcome or completely demolish whatever it is that is that is limiting you.

I hope my blog helps you find the inspiration you are looking for, whether large or small. Here’s to you finding your way! The best way in life is to just go for it, and keep moving forward. Find what you love, leave what you don’t, and try to constantly create yourself into the person you want to be.

Much love,

Meredith