Lifestyle | I'm getting excited by blogging again!

There I said it! After my last post I was a little unsure as to whether I'd be back, grazing my presence on this little slice of Internet. But here I am. How long for, I'm not sure. But as of right now, I'm regaining my blogging mojo!

I've always had quite an addictive personality. If I'm into something, I'm really into it... All for about a month or so before it usually fizzes out, but blogging has been a somewhat constant of mine for the last three years. That was unfortunately up until November last year when that all came to a halt. It was inevitable & I could see it happening months before it eventually did, but I'd fallen out of love with blogging. My time was, and still is, very precious to me, and at that point I couldn't 100% commit to clairemac, I had so much going on, work wise & personally that unfortunately, and I hate to say it, my blog got put on the back burner.

I've spent the last few months evaluating what's important to me, and to cut a long story short... I'm creeping back into the blogging world.

I'm going back to basics. Old school readers of mine will now this blog started life as xclaireabella, where I'd post as and when I liked, nothing was scheduled, i didn't have any form of action plan and the bigger picture was never a thing for me. Blogging was a hobby, something I'd do for fun in my spare time, something I enjoyed doing & something I'm hopefully going to continue doing. During the previous three years my knowledge of the internet & bloggersphere has grown tenfold, I'm so much less naive about what goes on behind the scenes, how influencers grow, the powers of social media and how to achieve the 'perfect aesthetic'. However unfortunately with this knowledge comes pressure. 

And at the time this pressure wasn't something I was dealing with. I think it's the increase of pressure work wise that's put even more strain on my blog & it made me feel of clairemac as a bit of a chore. I was coming home after working a full day, being up at 5:30am, and sitting down to my laptop was the last thing I wanted to do. I'd find myself pooped after getting in, walking the dog, cooking tea & cleaning the house, I just wanted to slump in front of the TV with a bag of salt & vinegar crisps and recuperate before doing it all again the next day. Don't get me wrong, this is a totally okay thing to do, but for me & my blog it started to frustrate me & I'd almost be resenting clairemac.

So how did I regain my blogging mojo?

Self Care. Now I know these words have been thrown around a lot lately, but for me it's something that's massively helped. Self care for me will mean something different to what it means to you & for Tom, Dick & Harry down the street, and I think figuring out what works best for you can be as difficult as it is worthwhile. For me it's reading, taking even an hour out of the day to sit in the comfy armchair under the lamp, curled up under a duvet with a good book, a cup of tea and a digestive biscuit of seven. Taking the time to be transported to another reality through reading has been a Godsend to me

Letting Go. I often find myself slipping and prioritising the meaningless over the more important tasks in life, just because it'll benefit somebody else. I've given up feeling pressured when it comes to silly little tasks & although I've found it difficult, and it's one of those 'easier said than done' things, I think I'm on the road to success. I'm forever championing others and saying 'you do you gal', but it's now time to take my own advice and let go of the things that are dragging me down.

Eating & Drinking properly. Writing this sounds absolutely ridiuculous. Even in my head I'm thinking how can this one simple thing make you fall back in love with blogging, but it's all to do with having the energy to do so. I'm never going to get 8 hours of sleep, but one way I can give my body energy is but putting the right amount and the right types of fuel in. I'm no longer surviving off coffee, I have one on a morning (lord I could never give it up) and then I'm drinking water & fueling my body with a balanced diet throughout the day & I can 1000000% feel the difference. It's crazy how much of a difference it's made.

So here I am... I'm just a girl standing in front of a blog asking it to love her. I don't know when I'm going to post next, I don't know what I'm going to be posting about. I don't have any pressures when it comes to clairemac & that's the way I'd like to keep it!

There's so much I don't know for 2018, but what I do know, is it's going to be my best year yet!

Claire. X

PS. Happy new year everyone! I hope this is going to be your year too!