Heart-To-Heart

This post started out as my 5 blogging goals for 2016, but as I began writing I felt as if I needed to explain myself or justify what I'm doing/want to do which wasn't what I had in mind at all, so instead I'm going for a more personal approach with this post and just basically writing, writing my thoughts and feelings towards the year that's been, and what's to come.

I gave myself a little bit of a break, only a couple of days which isn't really anything major but I pride myself in being organised and sticking to some sort of schedule and ever since I decided to start publishing a blog post every weekday any time I miss a day I feel an instant wave of regret, although I don't think anybody else really notices - or cares - but me. 

Creativity

Often I feel I lack creativity in my posts, like something is missing, and despite being happier with my posts in general I know my blog isn't where I would like it to be. I almost feel restricted when it comes to blogging personal style because I'm at a point where anything I write about other than what I'm wearing just isn't as popular which is disheartening and basically stops me from writing about anything else I may like because this fear of falling numbers is always present in my mind. I really want my little space on the internet to expand and allow me to share more of my interests and not just the clothes I'm wearing. A lot of bloggers I love do this through their writing but I'm not a great writer and often struggle with coming up with ideas of what to write in blog posts anyway, I would happily just post my outfit and that's that but there's no personality in that.

Basically, I just want to work on content and being able to produce blog posts I'm proud of in a range of different categories, yes I love clothes and wear them everyday but I also love beauty products, and food, and travelling to different destinations which I don't think is portrayed enough on here and it's something I really want to do more of. But I think in order to make Peexo a more inclusive blog I need to up my creativity which is definitely something I want to work on this year.

I also want to get those creative juices flowing in my videos too, towards the end of the year I finally had the time to go on location again and film a lookbook - my Autumn lookbook - which was one of my favourites! I worked really hard editing and creating something I was proud of and I loved the results; that's what I want to do more of this year, work on putting out content that I'm really proud of and not just uploading every week because of a schedule I've created for myself. There are still other videos I want to upload like chatty hauls which I love watching but although I could sit and talk about what I buy for hours, I don't have two softbox lights, a microphone and a ring light to do this as well as others do (I feel the YouTube game is seriously strong! It's so competitive that anything lower than perfect just won't do).

Time (or lack of)

I think I really over-worked myself over the Christmas break and I don't think I would have realised it if I weren't living abroad. I only had a two week break over the festive period which is very different to university back home where I get a full month to catch up and just be home. So this year it was a bit of shock when I only had two weeks in London and basically those two weeks revolved around my blog and what I needed to get done before Christmas, what I needed to do before NYE and what I needed to plan for the next couple of months whilst I'm away. I'm sure you can imagine it's just so time-consuming. There's so much work that goes on behind the scenes of a blog post which isn't as glamorous as you may think when you first lay eyes on a blogger. I spent my time in London worrying about blogging and getting things done, rather than spending quality time with my friends and family. I'll spend even more time editing videos and photos, writing blog posts, and it's just so much to set yourself when you're balancing full-time education, not to mention living in a completely new country too!

I feel like this is sounding a bit like a rant but that's not my intention, I just feel that often when you see the pretty pictures you don't really think about what goes on in the background or how much work goes into a blog post before you even set eyes on it. And that's not to say I don't love what I'm doing, I absolutely love shooting for my blog, planning outfits and then editing photos which I'm really proud of - it's really gratifying - but also time-consuming, and time is something I have less of now. Basically, I need to prioritise other things. I just need to have a bit of a re-think and set out my priorities straight.

What I want

Last year was a bit of a rocky year I think, I can't quite get my head around it. I definitely wouldn't say 2015 was amazing but I also wouldn't say it was terrible, it was just meh you know? It's been and gone. I'm somewhat pleased to have a fresh start this year although I know I'll probably be the exact same and my bad habits are likely to stick around but you know, positive thinking and all that.

Finally, I'm going to end this rambly post with what I want in 2016. I'm not going to make it about numbers or blogging resolutions or anything like that - I'm sure I'll have some of those sooner or later but for now I want to switch off a bit from the boring side of blogging - instead, I want to focus on the present. So I'll probably be posting a little less, the organisation freak in the back of my mind is saying at least three times a week but no promises; I've deliberately posted this on a random day just for piece of mind really, so I think hey, it's ok to post whenever I want to post. I guess because I set myself the goal of posting every weekday I don't want to see all that hard work I've put in go to waste by slowing down, but I just can't keep up with the pace at the moment as well as having a life outside of blogging...

A huge thank you to you for following along my journey so far, whether it's been for a month or for a year - I really do appreciate it - wishing you all the best in 2016 and hoping you'll stick around to see what happens throughout the year!

P.S. What do you think of my new blog design?!