chrysalis.

I’ve been sitting in bed, wondering how to start this post. It’s an important one, and perhaps because of that, I’m struggling to find exactly the right words…

I’m feeling a bit like I’m in the midst of some kind of metamorphosis. I’ve set everything up the last couple of months so that I could get to this point, and now that I’m here I’m overcome with emotion. It feels a bit like I’m on the edge, about to jump.

Back in October, I made the silent decision that come 2019 I would no longer be using my @wildandfree.corina Instagram account.  I’ve known in my heart that this has needed to happen for a long time, but in true workaholic fashion I tried to juggle living an “influencer/blogger” life with running Wild & Free Jewelry full time.

In the beginning this didn’t feel so difficult, as both my brand and my blog evolved alongside each other in the early days and some of you may remember I hosted both of facets of my life under one Instagram. It wasn’t until I split these roles into two accounts that it fully hit me how much work it entailed to sustain both jobs.

For the last two years I’ve been aware of this obstacle and it dawned on me that eventually I would have to pick one or the other. It had to be – pursue a life as an influencer or, give my art all of my attention and make the leap into fully embracing Wild & Free Jewelry. When I asked myself which I would choose, without hesitation, I knew I would leave my account with a large following in order to nurture my brand from the ground up once again.

There are so many things I’ve learned over the years running my own business, and perhaps one of the biggest lessons is to ALWAYS listen to that first intuition – the one that answers without hesitation.

Since coming to this conclusion, I’ve had an overwhelming amount of emotion. Many times I started to wonder how my life will be different in 2019. Nearly all of my traveling the last five years occurred as a result of the modeling/influencer side of my life, and to imagine giving that up made me feel uneasy. Yet, as soon as my mind wandered into the realm of doubt, I was met with a firm realization that I didn’t want the kind of life that tied me to a screen when I did travel. I want to feel free and engulfed in the moment, released of the obligation of having to translate real life moments into virtual ones.

Every time I started to doubt my decision to leave the influencer side of my life, a internal surge of reassurance rose up. At that point I was continuously reminded of what truly fuels my spirit.

From the very beginning it’s always been my art with Wild & Free Jewelry that makes me feel alive and centered. Creating with my hands and publishing that work into the virtual realm via photography has been a consistent, heartfelt passion of mine ever since I discovered how to use a camera. To think that all this time I still haven’t been able to fully focus all my energy into that vision made me come to terms with the reality that I HAVE to let everything else go.

chapter eight.

So here I am, on the brink of a new year and a new chapter. In just shy of two weeks Wild & Free Jewelry will turn eight years old and for the first time I’m going to channel all of my energy into design, photography and modeling for my own brand. For the first time, Wild & Free Jewelry will have my undivided attention.

For those of you who want to continue following along on social media, you can now find me via @wildandfreejewelry. I’ll still be using this blog from time to time to share new work I’m designing and anything else that begins to spark inspiration as I embark on this new journey.

Sending love & light into the New Year ♡ xx Corina