Where did you go, blogging mojo?

Could I BE any more self-indulgent today? Please forgive me, I’ve been really struggling for a few weeks and I finally feel like I can start writing again, so I’m going with it and I hope that normal activity will resume shortly! I’m sure you’ve read plenty of posts recently moaning about blogging and the down sides…so here’s another one.

I’ve always believed that blogging needs to come from love and passion, so whenever anyone writes to me asking for advice, I always say that you need to pick a topic that you can really, really write about, endlessly, passionately, constructively and critically, without getting bored.  This might sound simple, but it really isn’t, especially when blogging politics interfere.  I think I’m pretty good at rising above it, especially since blogging, specifically beauty blogging, is fickle and cut-throat which I think a lot of people struggle with, particularly when they first start.  You can be so chummy with a PR that you see yourself as friends, before they move to another company and you never hear from them again.  Or you can be on great terms with someone who arranges press events, before you one day log on to Instagram and see everyone was invited to a party but you weren’t.  What’s both reassuring and depressing in equal measures is that it happens to literally all of us – I’ve been blogging a while now and have made some great friends, some of whom are massive bloggers who experience the exact same thing as all of us; the weird, inexplicable brand rejection that comes from nowhere.

All this is generally quite easy to move on from, and at the end of the day it’s not the most important aspect of blogging, plus there are so many amazing brands that unless you’re doing something very wrong, you’ll likely be on good terms with most of them.  However, if you’re going through a tricky phase where the shiny new lipsticks that land on your doorstep are looking a little dull, or the exciting new perfume, to you, smells like everything else, then a little nudge from an experience like the one above can snowball and leave you feeling confused, insecure and very uncertain; you start looking for things that aren’t there, like little signs that confirm your fears.  Being a blogger is autonomous and isolating, leaving you to run with paranoia in a very unhealthy fashion.

I’ve always counted myself as quite lucky as I’ve never really lost my blogging mojo majorly before (that I recall), having had a few days here or there that been impacted by other ‘real life’ events, but this time around has been pretty major, and at times I’ve even thought about giving it up – weirdly, so have a lot of other bloggers recently too, has something been added to our facial sprays? In a strange way, last week’s events where I was in hospital with Teddy have given me a full week off that I needed.  I think most bloggers will agree that when you take time off, you’re rarely completely off, as you’re always keeping an eye on Social Media, checking e-mails and eyeing stats.  However, last week I really was completely switched off (okay so I checked e-mails, SO SUE ME) and I had to completely submit to the fact that I couldn’t really work at all; I couldn’t answer e-mail, blog or attend events, and it was definitely a positive thing.  I wouldn’t say I’m back, raring to go and excited again, but I’m definitely feeling the urge to blog (rather than the pressure) and I hope that things will slowly start feeling normal again soon.

It’s so easy to continually compare yourself to other bloggers, worrying that you’re being overtaken and left behind, that you’re no longer relevant to brands and that you’ve lost “it” whatever “it” is, but I think the best thing to do when you feel like this is to focus on what really matters; the joy, the passion, the excitement, and most importantly, the readers.