Bali, a good place to start
I’ve been meaning to start a blog here on the Keepr website for a few months now. One, because it gives me a place to share a little bit about how this brand came to be, and two because hopefully, it will drive traffic. I’m the kind of person that gets an idea and runs with it, not really giving much thought as to whether or not it's going to be successful - or even what the workload will be to keep it afloat. I suppose this will be a space to share the challenges of starting and sustaining a small business plus an assortment of other random stories that feel appropriate.
Writing isn’t hard for me. I do it all the time - just most often it’s for myself. I’m going to try to do one blog post a week, even if it’s just a few paragraphs or sentences.
Keeprwear wouldn’t have been possible if not for at least two specific people and one very special place - Bali. I’ll start there. I came to Bali right before the pandemic for one month. It had been on my radar for a while but I think the hype actually turned me off to the place. I’m not a chaser of Instagram locations and usually try to avoid them. An influencer flood washes away the authenticity of a place and turns it into something different - something artificial.
A friend I used to teach yoga with convinced me though. She had been living there for a few months and had nothing but great things to say about it. I don’t know if I would call her an influencer - I’m not even sure if I want to call myself that even though I do have a large-ish following. Social media talk is something for another time. I do believe it’s a great tool but I also believe it needs to evolve if humans are going to evolve. Right now it feels more like a distraction than anything.
Bali was the opposite of that - it was a magical place, welcoming visitors from all over the world - while still holding firm to its values and beliefs. Never have I visited a place that has assimilated nature and spirituality into everyday life with such devotion. In hindsight, I’m actually very grateful that I didn’t come to Bali sooner. I have explored South East Asia pretty extensively and if I had come to Bali earlier, I might not have ever left. It’s all the best things about South East Asia mushed together into a unique culture contained on one small, sweet island.
I miss it now as I talk about it. I also miss what it was like during the pandemic when the only foreigners there were the ones that either had the connections or the desire to jump through the necessary hoops to stay. It’s still a magical place - literally - I’ve experienced both light and dark magic there - but it’s become so popular that the magic gets suppressed. That’s something I’m working on - letting go of what Bali was and what I think Bali should be. It did feel like a second home to me, and it still does in certain ways, but ultimately - it is not my home. The Balinese people get to decide what is right for them and I have to respect that. I just really miss the place. I’m also just feeling a little funky today but decided to write anyway.
That’s a big part of any business - showing up even when you feel funky. Sales have been but I trust they will pick up as long as I continue to do the work. I’m going to go make breakfast now. Thanks for reading. Next time I’ll dive further into how Bali itself was the catalyst for starting a sustainable, organic clothing brand - something I’ve been considering ever since starting up a modeling career over a decade ago.