10 REASONS WHY BEING A BLOGGER IS AMAZING!

So, something pretty damn awesome is happening over the next couple of weeks. If you saw my Instagram last night, you’ll see that I currently have a little competition/giveaway going for 5 mega babe’in readers/viewers/followers (I have no idea what to call you because all I really know you as is friends) to come and chill with me and my gal Hannah Gale on the 27th September in London. We’ll be eating amazing food, drinking pimped up proseccos and just having a right old girly laugh and it got me thinking to how lucky I am that this is even a thing.

(P.S you can still enter up until thursday 15th – today – at 8pm tonight, I would absolutely love to see you so please don’t be shy to enter if you can make it. Link here).

But I do, I thank my lucky stars that this all happened. That blogging came into my life as a hobby, and now it’s a full time job and I get to do these kind of amazing evenings as work. That I get to live my dream, meet the biggest babes and challenge myself everyday and it made me realise that there are so many incredible reasons why blogging is amazing, but yet I’ve never once written it down on this little corner of the internet before.

How mental is that?

So here I am, writing it all down – well, as much as I can possibly think of whilst trying to keep a post short and concise and simultaneously downing breakfast before heading off for a meeting – to let those of you thinking of starting a blog know, that starting one is the best thing to do. And for those that already have one… sometimes we all reach a bit of a blogging block and this is just me saying that you just gotta push through boo, it’ll be so, so worth it once you do.

Being Creative – One of the things that I am most grateful for is that I get to be creative for a job. Whether blogging is your job or not though, the fact that we all have the freedom to do and say whatever we want, be as creative as we possibly can, or just have a good ole word vomit – this post is a case in point – our blogs are ours, and we can write whatever we want to. One of my favourite things about a lot of sponsored collaborations that I’ve worked on is that they push me to be more creative, to think outside the box and be unique with my content and I absolutely love that.

Finding inspiration everywhere – Just how I have pushed myself to make better content, so have so many other inspirational ladies which means that our little community is jam packed with inspiration. Every day I read a blog and learn something new, or find something that I need in my life (generally a new ASOS dress but sometimes it’s a little more intellectual. Lol) and I think that quite frankly, that’s a little bit incredible.

Knowing that you’re part of something big – OK, I feel a little bit of a knob saying that phrase but I do wholeheartedly believe it. I was recently talking to my cousins about blogging; one had a friend who wants to be a blogger, one repeated the statistic that the most common job school kids say that they want to do when they’re older is be a youtuber/blogger, and the other said herself that it’s the next big thing and I think we only have to look at all of the amazing opportunities bloggers are being offered to realise that this is so true. Back in the day, it was purely journalists invited on press trips. Now? More and more brands are doing blogger only trips because they know where the influence is at. More and more brands are having Bloggers or youtubers front their campaigns, their magazines… it feels a little bit like we’re taking over and I would have been really dying af/cringing to high heaven to say this previously, but now I’m so proud of it! #TeamInternet and all that.

Broadens your horizons – This kinda follows on from the previous point but never in my life did I think that I would be sent around the world for my job. Or talk at conferences about Instagram and social media. Or work with brands that I’ve idolised since I was a teen… this all sounds a bit “me, me, me, look at me” but I genuinely for a second don’t mean it like this. I am nowhere near a “big blogger” but so many of us are now getting these life changing opportunities and it really makes me want to put love heart and hand clapping emojis all over this post, but for your sake, I’ll calm the fuck down now.

Finding friends – This is without a doubt the most amazing and surprising thing that has come from blogging. I knew that there were lots of bloggers, and it seems weird that this would be surprising but as lovely as blogging is, it’s also competitive and sometimes really bitchy… so finding true, genuine, “I’d actually like you if we didn’t both have the same job” friends has been such a god send. There are too many to mention which in itself is so damn dreamy, but Hannah really is a mega babe that just gets me (there really are so many so please don’t be offended if I didn’t mention you, know that I love you boo).

Personal diary – I love that in years to come, I can look back and see exactly what I was doing and exactly how I was feeling at any point over the last 4 years. This blog has seen me through really high highs and the lowest of lows, and even though I’m not a massive oversharer and kept a lot of that to myself, I can still tell even in my tone of voice how I felt that day. Happy or sad. I love that!

It makes you a girlboss – Now, obviously this is more relevant to full time bloggers or those earning money from it but blogging has turned me into a little bit of a sassy girlboss. (Lol, I’m as sassy as a cucumber, but I am my own boss). I negotiate paid posts, I take care of my own finances/do my taxes, run my own schedule etc. etc. All of these things are all things that I would never have possibly imagined would be possible but I am so grateful that they are.

It builds confidence – It may be hard to imagine because I “put myself out there on the internet” but I actually have little to no confidence. I was a complete tom boy growing up, not to mention the funny, but ugly, girl of my little group of 3 so I always always lacked confidence and self esteem. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that I can write (just) and I love photography, but I will forever be comparing myself to others at the same time. The beauty of blogging is that whilst yes, you will absolutely compare yourself to all of the amazing, talented “how she so perfect tho” bloggers out there, there will also be people comparing themselves to you. There will always be someone there ready to say something lovely when you’re feeling low and I can honestly say, the amount of beautiful, amazing feedback that I get off of readers of this blog has made me the most confident me that I could possibly be. So thank you, endlessly, for the constant support and love.

It helps others – I cried, like, actually did a full on snotty embarrassing soppy cry after posting my post on what it’s really like having coeliac disease because the response took my breath away. I had countless emails and comments, all asking for advice and saying that I’d helped them etc. and I just can’t believe that I can sit tapping away in my bedroom – where I currently am now because so hot and so tired, please help – and reach people all over the world. That will never not blow my mind.

Meeting readers – Meeting you guys is without a doubt the most overwhelming thing ever. Firstly, I am well aware that I’m not big time and that there aren’t people queuing up to meet me, but if I’m at an event and someone comes up to tell me they like my blog, please please know that you have 100% made my life. I actually just had the most hilarious encounter with my postman who just told me that his girlfriend loves my channel, how flipping insane is that? I know that this is just life for Zoella and the like but for little ole me, it’s a bit bloody amazing! So if you do enjoy my blog and fancy hanging out, it would make my day if you entered the comp 🙂

So that brings me to the end of this post. I really hope you enjoyed it and felt all the happy, positive vibes that the blogging community quite often needs these days.