May 2019

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Well, May has been a rollercoaster of a month. I took a week off Instagram and to be honest, I still have a bucket load of thoughts surrounding the app but I speak about it so much that I feel like I need a break from speaking about it now! It's been a bit of a weird month so I have lots of thoughts and babbles to share so here's a little recap of my month.

I'm not going to lie, this year has been a really difficult one so far when it comes to my work because truth be told, I haven't been doing very well. At the start of the year I kept putting it down to it being a new year and a new start so things are generally slower but we're now 5 months in to 2019 and things haven't picked up at all for me. It's scary. One of the scariest things about being self-employed is not having a stable flow of income and I'm really noticing that now.

I've had so many days where I wake up and think I should quit (well, not entirely as I'd never leave my little online bubble) to find something else to do that offers a more stable income. My boyfriend is always so supportive and the most positive person I know - which is crazy as I'm the complete opposite to him and draw negatives from absolutely everything - he's always there to offer words of encouragement, reminding me how far I've come but it's still incredibly scary.

You may already know that I took a week off Instagram, I actually signed out for the week, and took a step back. I used the time to think of new ideas and take on board your feedback in the hope to come back with better and varied content but the first week back was so tough. My follower count plummeted which was so disheartening as I tried to bring back new and better content but it must not have been to everyone's taste. I'm trying to not let it affect me so much but it just does. When I check my growth analytics and see a drop of over 1,000.. it's obviously disheartening and ignites a series of doubts in my head.

I tried a few new things this month, as I said I would after my mini hiatus, including:

On Instagram, I'm sharing more daily stories which I'm enjoying (I'm trying to make this the most important factor, if I enjoy it then I'll do it and hopefully likeminded people will join me). I've incorporated some styling videos which I know I'm quite late on board with but it was requested so I've been giving it a go! I'm trying to share varied content which is still an experimental phase as I try to work out what does well and what you enjoy seeing as well as what not to bother with (flatlays for example, still don't do well on my feed so I don't think I'll be focusing on those).

On my blog, I've introduced Friday shopping edits! Very excited about this; I created a few this month including The Best Strappy Sandals on the High Street, From £17.99 and My Current Favourite Gold Jewellery Pieces and a Wishlist and this Friday there will be a payday wishlist which should pop up on the last Friday of every month (hopefully in sync with payday for most people!) I love this as a way of being able to create some curated edits of current trends and pieces I love. Basically, I'm scouring the high street on your behalf to hopefully help you out when you're searching for the perfect piece. Then on Tuesday's I'm sharing a typical blog post focused on either fashion, lifestyle, beauty or blogging which are my favourite pieces to work on.

On my YouTube channel, my uploads have gone down to once a week for now - I mentioned in last month's update (read my blog post: April 2019) that I was struggling with finding a good balance between my blog and YT so I'm hoping to get there soon. I also filmed my first styling video for my channel this month too! I received some great feedback on it so I'm hoping to do more of these.

I'm planning another haul month soon, with summer in mind, which should be good fun to work on as I love seeing what's new and sharing it with you. Now that I've got a new filming set up which I think is working quite well - I'm enjoying filming more outfits/styling/hauls.

So yes, that's a little work-life update for you. I find this outlet so therapeutic so always enjoy babbling on about that. But now onto some more personal updates...

Books! This month I've been desperate to finish Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng but I've really struggled to pick this up and read. I much preferred Celeste's previous book Little Fires Everywhere. I also popped in to Sainsbury's and bought Normal People by Sally Rooney for £3.99! If you ever pop in to a large Sainsbury's supermarket, have a look at the books section, my local one has a top 10 display and the majority of books are usually £3.99 which is a pretty good price.

I've been very excited to listen to some of my favourite podcasts which have come back this month, notably The High Low by Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes. I've listened to some great episodes from a couple of other podcasts too, including Maisie Williams' episode on Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast and of course listening to Louis Theroux on Desert Island Disks.

I'm looking forward to a new month with some travelling on the cards, read my blog post: My 2019 Travel Plans and whatever else June will have in store. Don't forget to check back on Friday for my payday wishlist!