A Little Life Update

 

Last week I finished my last ever university exam. Halle-freaking-lujah! It’s felt a long time coming and the last two months have been a bit of a minefield as I’ve tried to spin all of the plates; balancing passing my finals with continuing to run a business, wash my hair three times a week and eat something other than chicken flavoured super noodles (so bad but so good). Fortunately the rather questionable way in which my uni allocates degree classifications worked in my favour, and as my three law finals loomed (I finished Anthropology earlier in the year) I was forever comforting myself with the fact that – based on past performance – I only needed to pass to earn a 2.1 overall. Unfortunately, EU Law is no walk in the park. I accepted that, throughout April and May, my blog would have to take a bit of a back seat, but it’s been really difficult accepting that – for a period at least – it wasn’t my number one baby. As I sit here finally putting fingers to keyboard again I feel incredibly excited that this is *actually* my life now. Being a full-time blogger was not something I ever set out to be and when I first started writing it wasn’t even really with the intention of it being read. I feel so privileged to be able to wake up every morning and make a living from something that I actually have a real passion for, which just about masks the ‘oh holy fuck I am actually a real life adult now’ butterflies.

 

 

It’s been less than a week since I left uni, and I haven’t even officially graduated yet, but I have been asked approximately 68 million times what it is I’ll be doing with my degree. My answers tend to range from a very pragmatic “well, I have actually been running a full-time self-employed business since September and I haven’t yet had to resort to eating my own foot…” to “YES BLOGGING IS A REAL JOB LEAVE ME ALONE.” The reality is that I don’t know where this industry is headed anymore than the next person, but I’m sure as hell that I’m going to eek every last ounce out of a career that currently allows me to earn a living doing what I love. On Friday night I took home the Blogosphere ‘Lifestyle Blogger of the Year’ award and I’m still so overwhelmed, and so incredibly grateful. I get a little pang every time I walk past that shiny bad boy sitting pride of place on my shelves and I’m definitely going to go all Rachel Green ‘soapies’ every time I’m home alone. Not that I needed the validation as such, but such a huge physical reminder that people are vested in what I’m doing enough to nominate and vote for me is incredibly humbling. I am by all accounts still a very little fish in a very big ocean, but such loving recognition makes my heart so happy.

Which brings me on to content and my plans for the future. My intention is to publish new blog posts three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays for you to sink your pearly gnashers in to. I’ve got an ultra professional looking (sense the sarcasm) note on my phone that I’ve been furiously tapping ideas into over the last few months, but if there’s anything you want to hear from me then drop it in the comments or send me a DM on the ol’ gram. I’m toying with the idea of YouTube and though the thought of attempting to ‘make it’ on a new platform terrifies the bejesus out of me, I love Instagram storying and quite like the idea of being able to natter away in an extended form. I’d like to think that if I do start creating video content, it’ll feel like sitting down and having a cuppa with my lovely followers chatting everything from periods to boob sweat to make up brushes.

 

 

I’ve started to care less and less about stressing over the unknown intricacies of Instagram – the algorithm, reach, the ugly green comparison monster – and just truly enjoy what I’m doing and the faces I get to engage with on a day to day basis through those little squares. Blogging is a numbers game, just like any industry and undermining the importance of those figures is pointless because fundamentally they determine a monetary worth, but they do not determine your worth as a human being. In my Blogosphere acceptance speech (let me have my diva moment) I touched upon the fact that when I first started blogging I was not a particularly happy gal; I didn’t fit in at uni, my life was lacking the creativity I’ve always thrived upon, I was on strong anti-depressants and I turned to my keyboard as a form of catharsis. Fast-forward just over eighteen months and I have made some of the most gorgeous friends that I simply would never have crossed paths with had it not been for the internet, and further to that I feel as though I know thousands of people all round the world. There’s something pretty magical about that.

 

 

Later in the year I’ve got dreams of some rather large travel plans, so for now my feet are firmly on home soil whilst I save my pennies and Pinterest the shit out of Sydney, Bali and India hot spots. What else is new? I’ve started running – which is pretty fucking miraculous from the girl who used to bunk sports day to go shopping in Oxford – using the Couch to 10K app and I’m really enjoying the challenge, boob sweat aside. There may or may not be bright pink trainer bribery involved…In other news, I’ve recently come off of the contraceptive pill and am genuinely relishing noticing the changes in my body and mood, and it’s definitely something that I’ll be talking openly about very soon. I’ve just finished rewatching all ten seasons of Friends (best use of revision time) and have started Suits and The Crown which is very much pleasing my inner-eighty year old on a Friday night in my dressing gown. I made a promise to myself at the beginning of the year that I’d start reading much more but I’ve slacked recently. I’ve got a stack of Summer reads ready and raring to go and I really enjoyed sharing mini-reviews on my Instagram stories earlier in the year so will definitely try and focus on less screen time and more books.

That aside, and the fact that I’ve discovered that ‘sugar free’ Fanta Fruit Twist tastes just as good (winning!), corn cakes and better than rice cakes and Method Eucalyptus and Mint bathroom cleaner is the bomb, I’m just bobbing along rather contentedly at the moment. Summer is by far my favourite season and I feel comforted knowing that the next few months bring lighter and lighter evenings, balmy weather and an excuse to drink Rosé at virtually any time of day. Cheers, saucepots.