By 'this', I mean create my own little corner of the internet that I can fill with all the favourite things in my life. I don't know why it's taken me so long to feel comfortable and confident enough to be able to go full steam ahead with running a blog, but better late than never eh?
Over the past five years I've started and then quickly stopped blogging roughly around six times. Every time before, I've eventually stopped regular blogging and deleted posts and templates after the 'fear' has crept its way in. In the past, this fear has led me to believe that my blog looks terrible, the photos are rubbish, and that the content isn't worthwhile enough as I wasn't blogging about high end products or exotic destinations.
So what's different now? I haven't suddenly come into a heap of cash that will allow me to buy and talk about amazing, exciting products. I still don't have the DSLR and iMac of my dreams, I still don't own a video camera, lightbox or tripod.
The difference this time isn't anything tangible at all.
The difference this time is self belief, and a dash of serendipity.
I'm a big believer that things happen for a reason and on Tuesday last week three things happened that led to the eventual writing of this 'cards on the table' post.
The first ingredient of the confidence-boosting cocktail of coincidence, was the fact that I faced my fear of public speaking and represented the travel brand that I work for at the Travel Technology Europe Conference at Earls Court in London. I was part of a discussion panel debating whether Social Media was a force for 'Good or Evil' in the world of travel. The conference floor was full of forty-something men in suits so for little me at the ripe old age of 25 to be able to speak with conviction and offer advice on implementing good social strategy, was a huge milestone for my career. I was so nervous before the panel that by the time it was over and I hadn't messed up, I felt like I could achieve anything.
The next dash of encouragement came that evening when I met up with my friend and former colleague Jess, who has just moved back to London from York to start an amazing new job, and who also runs a blog that was nominated for a Cosmo Blog Award earlier this year, The Travelista. After filling each other in on the gossip from old jobs and new, I plucked up the courage to come clean to Jess about something I'd been meaning to tell her for ages. That I was really, really tempted to get back into blogging. I told her all about starting and deleting blogs, and that I have draft posts and tons of photographs sat waiting to be published on my laptop. I think the wine may have helped somewhat, but she gave a damn good speech about me not being silly and just getting on with it. As always with Jess, her passion was really infectious, so I promised her I'd make a start soon.
Back in my hotel room that evening, I snuggled down into my single-serving single bed for the night and once I'd managed to get the Wi-Fi to work, checked my Instagram for my then overdue fix of scrolling and double-tapping. To my delight, there sat a notification telling me to go and check the latest video on xameliax's YouTube page. Genuinely beaming, I watched her reveal the winners to her #xaxphotoaday Instagram challenge, of which I was one. It was such a surreal moment to watch one of my favourite YouTubers holding up my face! She said some lovely things about my Instagram page and as I sat and watched the rest of the video, I couldn't help but feel a strange sense of coincidence that I'd found out I'd won after such a huge day followed by Jess's words of encouragement. It was the final push I needed to make the decision to take the plunge back into creating and writing a blog of my own.
So here I am.
And here's my new look blog!
I'm not going to stress myself out with what type of things I should and shouldn't blog about at this stage. I'm just going to take each post as it comes and finally get round to sharing all the things I've been saving up on my laptop. I've got some travel and foodie blogs mixed in with a few beauty bits that I'll try to get up soon and then in a few weeks time I'd love to start a YouTube channel too, if i'm feeling brave enough!
Hope you come back soon to see what I've been hiding :)
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