WELCOME! A More In-Depth Introduction.

Hi there!

So, I've never really written a blog post before and I don't know exactly what I'm doing. I should note that I am awful when it comes to grammar so if this doesn't flow great or there are grammatical errors please ignore them lol. With that being said, I thought I'd give a more in depth introduction to myself and what this site is for.

A little bit about me - My name is Madelyn but most people call me Madie or Mads. I am 21 years old. Just turned 21 actually. I've always struggled with feeling my age and this one is no different. In some ways I feel as though I'm 65, while at the same time feeling no different than I did at 14. In my 21 short years on earth I have experienced more things than many other people my age. I have lived in 3 different countries, travelled to 9 countries, and cannot sit still. For a bit more context, when I was a senior in high school I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was watching everyone around me commit to colleges that they were so excited to attend with majors that would set them up for their dream careers. Meanwhile, I had no dream career and no dream college. As you can probably guess this made things very stressful for me. A lot of people around me thought that I lacked purpose and drive but what they didn't understand was that I had huge aspirations, they just weren't 'traditional'. I ultimately decided that I would attend a university in Prague, Czech Republic. After news spread of me leaving for a foreign country, of which I did not speak the language, there was a lot of backlash from friends and people in my community. I ignored their opinions the best I could and packed up my life into 2 suitcases. I should also note that the only time I had ever left the country at this point was to go to Canada. I was leaving everything I had ever known and creating a new life for myself. Prague was a dream in many ways and I'm sure I'll dedicate an entire post to my time there because there's just way too much for me to explain here. Ultimately though I did decide to drop out after my first semester. After coming home and doing a lot of 'self-exploration' I realised that I still had no clue what I was doing with my life. People that I had gone to school with were surpassing me and I felt behind in life. In January of 2023 I once again packed up my life into 2 suitcases and moved to Scotland for university. I am still a student in Scotland but who knows how long I'll be here for. I am still as confused as ever.

If you've been able to pick up on anything about me it's probably that I have no clue what I am doing in life. While you may be correct, I do know some things. I love travelling. Since 2021 I've travelled to 8 countries on my own or with friends. I absolutely love discovering new places and meeting new people. Getting to see how people live around the world is so fascinating to me and I never want to stop exploring. I also love documenting my life and my adventures. I am by no means a professional photographer. The photos that are on this site are ones that have been carefully selected and mean something to me. What else?? I am very passionate about the earth and climate change. If I eventually succumb to a 9-5 job I can only hope that it can benefit the earth. My family and friends are so extremely important to me and that is the one downside to having a nomadic spirit. I constantly miss people no matter where I am in the world. A last minute rapid fire now - I love climbing trees, dogs, the beach, hiking, baking, the colour green, road trips, ice cream, and so many more things. I have big dreams of travelling the world and going on crazy adventures and I am so insanely lucky that I have experienced all of the things I have so far.

The creation of this site comes from a few reasons. I have been struggling with a phone addiction as I am sure many other people are. For the past few years I have been wanting to quit social media and have done so many times but ultimately always end up back on them after a while. Today I was on YouTube watching videos of people discussing the benefits of quitting social media and I stumbled across one video in particular. The video was by @Lrnjulie and she discussed how she had quit social media and made a website instead. I loved her idea, so here we are. I always struggled with quitting social media because I like sharing my work and thoughts but I find social media overwhelming and way too addictive. By creating a website I am able to share my photography, my travels, my experiences, my thoughts. All while staying away from the toxicity of social media. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely perks to social media, but for the time being I think this is my best bet.

I know that this isn't a full introduction to me, but I hope that you are able to get a bit of a better idea of who I am. Oh and here's a picture of me so you can have a face to go with the name. A little fun-fact about me is in 95% of pictures my head is tilted or I'm doing a thumbs-up.

Keep wandering,

Mads <3

Links to the video and Lauren's website-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0RqucKwIcw

https://www.lrnjulie.com