Secondly, I went for this Floral embroidered mesh midi

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March this year, will mark my 5th year of blogging. Over these years, my blog has come a long way. Find myself both cringing as I look back at old posts, and proud of how far this little website has come. So I thought I share of some things I've picked up along the way, those things I do differently if I started a blog today.

Photography matters: 

When I began my blog, I used to take one iPhone photo, which little thought went into. The picture would often be poorly composed, out of focus, and basically in the dark  (see old posts here and here for a lol). Over time I've developed my photography style, taught myself to use a camera, and got better at composing images. I fell in love with photography, and my blog saw the benefits - my views went up, my branding improved, and I found myself feeling more confident when telling others about my blog. Improving my photography, meant everything looked more professional, and myself and others began to take me more seriously as a blogger. Improving and learning about photography is made accessible with the right tools. The Panasonic Mirrorless camera is at the top of my wishlist, as it's the perfect tool to keep pushing my photography further, to continue improving and create better imagery than ever.

Make friends and help each other out:

Blogging should be fun, it should be social. Find a local event to go to. Make friends, don't be afraid to reach out to other bloggers. You already know you have plenty in common, and this industry will give you so much to talk about so there is no need to worry about awkward small talk. Not all blogging friends you have will work out (have I ever mentioned the time I got ghosted by a blogger?) but the ones that do, will absolutely be worth it.  Another good thing about having blogger friends is you can help each other out. My friend Madi and I often play photographer for each other. Not only has having a blogging friend been the source of many good days and lots of laughs, but it also offered me support, made attending events less daunting, it's also allowed me to practice my own photography but also get some pretty decent outfit shots myself.

Use Other Social Media Platforms:

Post to your Instagram, tweet etc,  don't be afraid to share your work.  Nobody will know your blog exists if you don't tell them. I've often fallen into the trap of working hard on this little blog and hoping people stumble across it rather than shouting about it. Sure, it can feel a little cringe at first, but everyone starts somewhere and putting your energy in something creative, no matter where you're at with it, it's something to be proud of. I've recently been trying to interact more of my social media channels, commenting on other people's feeds, letting them know when I like their work, with the knowledge that it might just make them feel good, and in turn, I've seen my followings grow. I've also recently decided to start using Pinterest to see if that can drive a bit more traffic to my blog.

Post what you want, not what you think you should post:

Your blog posts won't be as good when you're posting for others, rather than yourself. Good writing tends to come from a place of passion. Sure look elsewhere for inspiration, but post what you're interested in, not what you think others will want to read. There are bound to tonnes of people who like the same things as you, that will want to read your blog.

Be organised, be consistent, be realistic:

Recognise when burn out is coming:

There is, of course, such a thing as too much hard work and we're all prone to burn out once in a while. Catch it before it's too late. If you recognise burn out coming step away and give yourself a break. The likelihood is, you've been working on posts so hard that you deserve one.

Do something creative when you're lacking in inspiration:

Go for a walk with your camera, paint, write in your diary, anything which doesn't require thinking about blogging, when you come back to blogging you'll be feeling refreshed and inspired. Sometimes stepping away from the computer and living in the real world for a bit is all we need to find that spark again.

Be proud.

Where ever you're at with blogging, you should be proud. Whether it's your full-time gig or you're a complete blog newbie. Blogging takes hard work, often being vulnerable online,  and putting yourself out there and that is something you should find pride in.

Outfit Details:

Photography: madeleiinegraceblogs
*The post is a paid partnership with Panasonic.
*Affiliate links are used in this post.

 

I woke up this morning and I felt powerful. I felt positive and motivated. I practically jumped out of bed and decided I need to write a blog post about taking up space because that was exactly what I intended on doing.

I decided to do the photography first. To take on the role of model, stylist and photographer, and get the perfect shots. I used my favourite bright pink eyeshadow, I curled my hair with my chopstick curler. I put on a black jumpsuit which made me feel like a girl boss. I wanted to take up space in the images, with my bright makeup, biggest hair and my most powerful outfit that's exactly what I was going to do.

I ignored the fact, I was dressed for a different season, and the wet grass was making my sliders, well slidey. I didn't matter that I was home alone, I could shoot the photos myself and make them look good in my back garden.



Using a tripod, self-timer and phone remote at the back of your house certainly isn't the more glamour way to shoot photographs, but it was a way which was accessible to me, and I was excited to see what blogger esc images I could take. The visions in my head we're living up to the standards of famous fashion blogger who clearly have photographers they pay for and to die for locations as backdrops.  Rather than being somewhere tropical with someone snap some pictures of me living my best life, I was cold and hyperaware of how awkward I feel in front of a camera. I took pictures, but my camera wasn't playing games. Autofocus took to my mum's plants rather than me, and I found myself tugging on my jumpsuit a lot. After a while of freezing, putting on my best fake smile and placing my hands on my hips, I went to look at the results.

I was disappointed, to say the least. I spent my time taking these photos and I couldn't use any of them. I was out of focus. You could clearly see I've got a belly. I had too much cleavage out.  My hair was too big, I should have let the curls drop. My face looks... weird. I picked out endless flaws in the images. I felt defeated. I was going to scrap the post. I felt gutted I wasted a couple of hours.

And then something came over me. I wanted to write a blog post about taking space, and maybe it's more important I choose to take up this space, even if I do some imperfectly  It's the showing up that counts after all. We're all learning. These weren't the best photos, and I am the most awkward model, but still, I'm putting myself out there, and working to improve.

 Recently I've felt down about my writing, not necessarily the actual words but more that I don't recognise my spelling mistakes and grammar errors. Often I post poetry on Instagram, which is a vulnerable thing to do,  and I feel humiliated when I realise, I can't even get the spellings of the most simple words right, despite the hours I put into proofreading and redrafting. 

However, just because my words aren't always perfect and polished, it doesn't discredit their value. Trying is underrated. Putting time and energy into creating is important. Things don't always turn out how we planned, but that doesn't mean they don't matter, that doesn't mean our time is wasted.
With curated feeds, we often think negatively of imperfect imagery and try to live up to a staged perception of life, but that's not life reality, and sometimes we need to ditch the filters and remind the world of our most authentic self.

I guess the post is my way of saying, you don't have to be perfect take up space. to create, and feel good about yourself. And on looking back, I'm much happier with the images, they aren't perfect, but I'm choosing to share them here because not everything needs to be perfect. I'm entitled to take up space in whatever way I deem worthy.

I often feel inadequate, and I've still got a lot to learn, but that doesn't make me invaluable.

   

   Outfit Details

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I've recently entered a familiar realm of sadness, and while I think it's important to ride it out, allow myself to feel. I also think it's just as important to control it before it spiralling. So here are some little things I'm doing to ensure my sadness is shortlived.

1) Reaching out to friends: I've recognised I've been feeling a sense of loneliness and isolation, so rather than dwell on that, and feeding my paranoia, by mentally listing all the reason I could believe that my friends don't actually like me and are attempting to ghost me, I'm simply texting to ask if they want to hang out.

2) Unfollowing: I'm terrible when it comes to following. I see a picture I like, or one tweet I relate to and immediately hit that follow button. I guess because there's no limit on who you can follow. However recently, I was on a friends twitter and noticed she only follow 80 odd people, and I thought to myself with envy "her twitter must be a nice place to be", and then I realised I follow thousands of people which make my social media feeds just as loud as my brain. So not to be that dick who unfollows but I'm going to be doing some unfollowing, for my own sake.

3) Facemask - My once completely clear skin which would cause me to brag how I never get spots, is cluttered with angry blemishes. I think stress has caused my skin to have a bad time. Rather than dwell on the fact my skin isn't looking great, I'm taking it as an excuse to do some facemask, give it that extra bit of love it's looking for.

4) Eating Healthy - The temptation to binge when I'm feeling down is high, but I'm trying my best to shake my head no to the overload of snack that I want and eat well because it just makes me feel a little nicer

5) Exercise - I mean, I'm yet to put this one into practice if I'm completely honest, but I'm trying my best to incorporate exercise into my life again because I know what good things it does for the mind. I want to try out Yoga, considering I've never met someone less flexible than me, it could be interesting.

6) Meditate - As well as moving your body, I think it's just important to be still, and alone with your thoughts. I'm going to get back into meditating, if you've been reading my blog a while, you'll know used to be obsessed with the Headspace apps, it's time to start using it again.

7) Delete the social media app which I mindlessly scroll on - I recently deleted my Facebook app from my phone, I don't miss it, and I don't waste time scrolling, or meeting with the devil of comparison. Snapchat will be going next.

8) Clean - It's not only therapeutic, but it creates a more inviting environment. I was having a terrible day yesterday, I walked into my bedroom, and was reminded I changed my bedding earlier that day and just one thing was slightly nice, and sometimes the smallest things, really count. I know clean bedding's not going to change the world, but it makes it the tiniest bit brighter.

9) Tweet less, blog more - I find it far too easy to tweet out a few words which poorly describe how I'm feeling which might not always come across how I intend and can make space feel quite negative. I'm going to try to take to blogging more when I've got something to say, so that I can talk about how I'm feeling in a longer form, that way I can hopefully understand it, and explain it better.

10) Write in my Diary - I'm trying to get back into the habit of writing down my thoughts each day, taking the time to explore my thoughts and pour my heart out into words on a page, just for me. I find this helps understand how I'm feeling, and gain a sense of control over it, plus it encourages me to practise my writing for no one other than myself.

Photography: Madeleine Grace

Outfit Details
Dress: ASOS 
Jacket:  H&M (old, similar linked)
Shoes: DMs (similar)
Bag: Zara (old, similar linked)
Lipstick: Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet in 37 L'Exubérante



I hope you found this post useful, I'd love to hear your thoughts!


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I span in my garden one Tuesday because it felt nice.

Don't save your best, for best - you deserve to feel nice every day. 

Make the most out of the things that make you feel wonderful. 

Dress for you. 

Put the things on your body which make you want to spin with happiness. 

Every day can is an occasion if you make it one.

Your life is an occasion, don't forget to dress for it. Given the choice, why would you choose not to feel special?

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