I took a break from blogging this month. It was all getting too much. Work is very full-on at the moment; there were a couple of US trips not too far apart, and the inevitable cold that follows from all the germs on the plane.
A brother-in-law died unexpectedly in December, in India, and one of the lovely sisters who runs my gym died, both in their 50s. It makes you think how precious life is, and how we need to embrace it and do what we want to do.
I was seriously thinking about not blogging anymore because it takes a lot of time, time which I am constantly nagging myself should be spent doing housework / yoga / walking or gardening, whichever task I'm feeling guilty about neglecting.
I'm also conscious that we shouldn't be buying so much "stuff," and people are quite judgmental now about women (and bloggers) buying clothes. While I agree we should be more thoughtful about what we buy, and where from, let's not forget the fashion industry in the UK is worth 26 billion pounds with 800,000 people employed.
A lot of people who don't get blogging and think it a worthless vanity pursuit think that we do it because we must be very narcissistic. I'm quite introverted and I enjoy blogging as a way to show my "other" side, as well as making me feel less like a ghost, someone who glides through life without being noticed.
I also like flying the flag for women over 50 who are marginalized by society and either pigeon holed as grannies or "mutton dressed as lamb" should we dare to wear anything short, clingy or low cut.
And I love the community of like-minded women that support each other, in the blogosphere and on Instagram.
Reviewing The Situation
So after Reviewing the Situation, as Fagin would say in Oliver!, I decided to carry on blogging, but more on my terms. Working with brands is wonderful but I put a huge amount of effort into researching and creating the posts, so as a hobby blogger I'm going to stop working with brands unless it's one of my regulars or a clothes/beauty brand I really adore.
I'm going to do fewer "shoots" as I call them, with several pictures of one outfit. I want to be a bit more relaxed about it all. Instead, more posts about what I've been wearing day-to-day, which are more popular, and my "Five for FriYay" type posts where I write about five things that I'm liking. I'll also carry on with Sentence a Day - next one is published on 7 January - as it's a good forcing function to make me do things and get out and about. My Christmas will be covered in that post which will feature December.
If your New Year's Eve involves a party, a pub or fireworks, enjoy! I will be glad to see the back of 2019 and look forward to putting up my new David Bowie calendar for 2020. I suspect New Year's Eve will be spent with Henry Cavill and The Witcher, with maybe a cheeky glass of champagne. Until then my friends, bye for now!
Sharing this post with Claire Justine, #sharealllinkup at Not Dressed as Lamb, Turning Heads Tuesday at Elegantly Dressed and Stylish, Top of the World Style at High Latitude Style, Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style, Style with a smile at Stylesplash, Chic & Stylish at Mummabstylish, Linkup on the Edge at Shelbee on the Edge, Red Carpet Link Up at Glamadventure, Muttonstyle, Fancy Friday at Nancy's Fashion Style and #BloggerClubUk or #AnythingGoes at My Random Musings.
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