.png)
Like many people, I'd been toying with the idea of starting a blog for years before I finally took the leap and did it. I didn't know if I wanted it to be about life in college, about public relations, a generic lifestyle blog... but I knew something deep down inside of me always wanted to write and tell stories. It was just a matter of time until I heard God say 'That's it. That's what I want you to write about'.
So basically, I started this blog after placing first runner up at four pageants in a row. I spent a little bit of time feeling devastated - and you don't need to be a pageant girl to understand this kind of devastation. Whether you're an athlete who just barely missed first place, or maybe you made it through several rounds of interviews for your dream job just to get turned down... we've all experienced the pain of being almost.
This 'First runner up curse' as I called it certainly didn't boost my ego. It wasn't something that I wanted to post on social media. It didn't make me look good, and it certainly wasn't impressive in my eyes. This was disappointing and embarrassing.
But I knew that I was learning a lot through the disappointment and the struggle. Even in the middle of the mess, God was still good. One of my favorite sayings in the pageant world is that you learn so much more from failure than you do from winning. And the number one thing I've learned and re-learned is that God is so good even when I am so not.
So I decided to put my confusion, my disappointment, and my failures on full display for a world that only encourages us to share what makes us look 'better than others'.
So long story short, I started a blog for the same reason that I started competing in pageants.
God told me to!
He didn't say much else, though. So if that answer isn't satisfying to you, I'd take that up with Him.
All I know is this:
Humanity is messy. We're all human, and we all go through hard things - whether we have a sparkly crown on our head or not.
God gave me a gift and a passion for writing.
I wanted to be held accountable to my goals and my passions. I'm dwelling a lot on the 'messy' parts of pageantry right now, but in reality, my time in the Miss America Organization has been beyond rewarding, and has given me some of my best memories. And I know that there are still so many happy memories to be had, growth to be found, and very high heels to be worn.
The Lord has been so good to me and has taught me so much in the last seven years that I've been competing, and He's showing me that these are stories that need to be shared. The lessons I learn and the struggles I face feel meaningless if I don't share them.
The older I get, the more I realize that we live in a world where we're encouraged to only share our 'highlight reel' and to hide the parts of our lives that we think people won't like (or literally won't get likes). This feeds an unhealthy cycle where we only see the highlight reels of others, leading us to believe that they are better, prettier, skinnier, more wealthy, more successful, etc. than us.
But Sarah Dudinetz is messy. She's imperfect, she makes mistakes, she gets sad. And she often wonders: What's the use pretending we're all perfect? I most certainly am far from perfect.
And I wanted to create the space for other people to feel ok with the parts of their lives that they wouldn't normally feel ok with.
So, if you're new, WELCOME! I'm Sarah and I'm glad you're here. I'm a recent college graduate who drives a minivan and is terrified of butterflies. Meal prepping on Sunday nights is my favorite part of the week, and singing show tunes on my way to work every day is a close second.
They say pictures are worth a thousand words, so here's a quick run down of the real Sarah, just so you know who you're chatting with:
Buckle in, folks.
If you'd like, you can keep in touch by subscribing to my blog here, or finding me on Insta @sarah_dudinetz. I'd love to hear your stories and be your friend.