Blogger Burnout
I lost myself chasing the A-list style blogger dream
By Maggie O’Gara
Instagram | Website
One night in the fall of my junior year of college, I decided to start a style blog. So I got onto Blogger (lol, it was 2014) and created my website. My first post was a fall reading list (it’s still up on my blog if you wanna check it out). From there I became a casual blogger. I would post a couple times a month about style, books, spring cleaning, etc. My posts were all over the map, but it was fun and it didn't matter if I had no idea what I was doing. I was a full-time musical theater major after all.
One trend at the time was preppy style; the romanticism of ivy-covered walls and tweed skirts spoke to me as a college student. I wasn’t really that preppy yet, but Lilly Pulitzer was popular at my college in Oklahoma and I loved the bright, animated prints. In the spring, I hosted a Kentucky Derby party with my friend and seized the opportunity to write about it on my blog.
When I fell into my preppy niche even harder (my blog was named Maggie O Prep), I gravitated towards places like J.Crew, but as a broke student I would get the items that were on sale or find them secondhand. To keep up appearances, I tried to play it off like that wasn’t how I shopped, mostly because I wanted to seem like the bloggers who I thought could afford full-price clothing. Yeah, I know, that’s not great but that’s where I was at.
Pictured: Photos from my college days, when I first started cultivating my preppy look. On the left, I’m striking a pose on my college campus wearing burgundy shoes and tights, a plaid pencil skirt, and a black turtleneck. On the right, I’m at the beach wearing a strapless print dress.
The bloggers and influencers I followed were so inspiring to me. It seemed so amazing to be able to do this for a living! Although at the moment I had different priorities, I kept thinking that blogging full time would work well with my future lifestyle as an actor. It meant I could make my own hours and have time to go to auditions, acting classes and shows. The possibility of making a living as a blogger was always in the back of my mind.
Cut to 2016, when I graduated and moved to Chicago. After the move, my style quickly changed from preppy college girl to young woman living in a big city. I was suddenly wearing tailored pants, sweaters, and coats. I must say this was a great look, although it wasn’t me. I'm more of a dress and skirt girl, but the weather in Chicago drives what you wear, so I had to adapt.
Pictured: Photos from my days as a “professional” blogger; the styling and photography is very polished. On the left I am wearing a sage green hooded parka over a red and green Fair Isle sweater. On the right I am wearing plaid pajamas and holding a mug with a matching plaid “M” on it.
This was also when I decided to up my blogging game and try to do it full time like the influencers I admired. As I started to read “how to make money blogging” articles, I convinced myself that it wasn’t out of my reach. But there was a catch: I had to spend money to make money, which basically meant constantly buying and sharing shoppable items on my website.
I tried to put more money into the blog, but I was still broke. What did I do, you ask? Welp, I definitely still shopped sales and thrifted for cute items to generate content, but the rest was full-on DIY. Out of necessity, I learned how to edit, take good photos with the DSLR camera I got for my 21st birthday, and set up my blog. I was posting about three to four times a week on top of all these other things I had going on as a struggling actor working part time jobs. Eventually, I joined some affiliate marketing sites and started to make a little money! I feel like affiliate marketing was becoming a thing when I started and I wasn't aware of the impact it would have on the world of style blogs.
It was cool to make money through sponsored posts, but it was not enough to make a living and it also felt inauthentic and artificial to me.
In the beginning, I accepted brand partnerships in exchange for money and free items that I never personally used. It felt wrong, but from the advice I had read that’s what I had to do. It was cool to make money through sponsored posts, but it was not enough to make a living and it also felt inauthentic and artificial to me.
I kept going at it for the next year and a half, but I burned myself out. Suddenly my blog wasn’t fun anymore because I was always trying to sell my readers whatever new product I was into at the time. I would also buy a ton of items to style, post a link, and then wear them once or twice before getting rid of them. Writing this down makes me sad because that is not who I am or who I was at the time: It was a fast fashion mindset that I adopted to “keep up” with other bloggers when blogs seemed to become just big ads for whatever brands you were, well, advertising.
On top of my guilt over these commercial partnerships, I also kept comparing myself to the big-time bloggers. I was jealous of their seemingly lavish lifestyles and I never felt worthy. I felt like I wasn’t on the same level as these other women I admired and the life I wanted to replicate. I know that behaviour wasn’t healthy or realistic but I wanted to do what they were doing! I worked really hard and got pretty good, but it was taking too much out of me and taking me away from friends, family, and ultimately keeping me from enjoying my life.
It all started to wear on my mental health so I decided to take some time off. As I was falling out of blogging in this way, I also started to take stock of the people I was following. They were constantly selling us things. They were buying and getting gifted new items all the time to share with their audience. I was tired of being bombarded with stuff to buy instead of being shown how to style those items or how to make them work in real life.
Pictured: Photos from my current blog, representing my thrifted and homesewn clothes. On the left I am twirling around in a quilt coat that I made myself. On the right I’m wearing an upcycled sweatshirt dress that I made using fabric scraps.
Eventually I started to blog again, but this time it wasn’t for money and I was only posting when I felt like it. Blogging this way helped me realize where I wanted to take my blog and my life.
In 2019 I started a journey to lower my waste. I learned about climate change and how we adjust our consumption to benefit the planet. My posts that year were focused on taking stock of my shopping and purchasing habits. Through this I understood how we need to change as a society. I went back to my roots and started thrifting again, which I had done most of my life.
It felt good that thrifting and being crafty were things to be celebrated instead of hidden because ultimately that’s who I am and have always been. Now I blog about thrifting, going low waste (particularly with garment shopping), crafting, and sewing. It’s so fulfilling to share my skills and be creative in a way that I enjoy and others do as well!
Sharing my style is also a great way to get creative outside of acting. Sometimes I create outfits based on my favorite characters from TV and movies! So far I’ve done my thrifty DIY interpretation of Elle Woods, Lorelai Gilmore, Lola Step, Lizzie McGuire, and a few of Audrey Hepburn's classic roles.
Pictured: A side-by-side look at where my style was in college and where it is now. Goodbye preppy neutrals; hello bright pink blazer (which I made myself). On the left I’m wearing a brown cardigan, a black shirt, a tan a-line skirt, black tights, and boots. On the right I’m wearing a bubble-gum pink skirt suit with a printed t-shirt and glasses with pink lenses. The styling is a nod to Elle Woods in Legally Blonde and the accessories are secondhand and upcycled.
It’s been so funny to look back at my blog and see where I started and where I am now. My blog feels so much more aligned to my beliefs, goals, and style. Now that I’ve stopped trying to fit into a box, I feel free to wear what I want, which is mostly pinks, purples, skirts, dresses, and pastels.
You must have guessed by now that I don’t follow any of the style bloggers/influencers I used to look up to when I started this journey. I think that in our current social climate being constantly told to buy things is just tiring and wrong, and that most style bloggers haven’t changed their approach much over time. The main goal is still selling junk (“future garbage”) that’ll just end up in the landfill next year. I’m not interested in that. I want to purchase secondhand and vintage, repurpose things I already own, and mend the things that I love. I don’t want to get rid of something because it has a hole or stain.
I'm starting to see changes on the horizon, both for the world and for influencer culture and marketing. Maybe the whole “blogs are just one big ad” approach will turn into something more authentic. Hopefully, in a post-pandemic world we realize that we don’t need to be sold things all the time. I’m personally learning to make do with less. It’s so hard but I’m trying! That’s also why I share how I create with what I already have or what I find secondhand. If I get to inspire others to make things themselves or cut their fast fashion consumption, I know I’m having a positive impact on the world.
Editor: Iris Aguilar | Designer: Emma Geddes | Photographer: Anna O’Gara | Copy Editor: Katie Frankowicz | Communication/Support/Outreach: Meg Chellew
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