On Blogging & “Never Switching Off”

Hello beaurriful people. I have just come back from an amazing birthday weekend in the city of Madrid. To be honest – it was cold, colder than I would’ve liked, but we still got a little bit of sunshine and even better, I avoided the negative degree weather here in England. I miss it already! This year I’ve been able to travel to 4 countries in 3 months of the year, with two of these trips unplanned, which has been fab (and a blessing) as I always find travelling to be the absolute best way to get a breather from the realities of London. What’s next on my list is to book a holiday to Greece this summer – I’m bouncing back and forth between Mykonos and Santorini and although I may not go until July or so, I am already extremely excited.

In total in Madrid Levi and I spend two nights and three days (a full holiday travel post will be coming this Saturday!); on the second night we went to check out one of the bars in the city. As soon as I got my cocktail, I obviously made us do the mandatory “cheers” Boomerang for my Instagram story. Then, I asked him if he could Boomerang me taking the first sip of my cocktail. Not to mention, I had to give some Insta-boyfriend-tips during the trip to ensure I was coming back with a portfolio full of Instagram and blog snaps (but as Levi takes just as many photos I do – the 50 options to get that 1 snap is never too much of a chore!), I also tried to Instagram at least two times a day on the three days I was there because… well – people love some good travel posts! Once I had asked Levi to take the second Boomerang, he told me that my mind was stuck that evening in social media land, and then it sort of hit me that with regards to blogging (and social media, which go hand in hand) I never really switch off.

Shop The Look
Cape: Missguided (similar)
Boots: LOTD* (similar)
Crop: Jekkah
Photography: Hansthetrapper

Now, that said, I tend to go one of two ways – today work was super quiet so I was very active across social media and generally spent a lot of my day scrolling through my phone. However, sometimes work is just so busy that my social media accounts are more like a ghost town with perhaps a few scheduled posts popping up here and there to keep things alive. When the situation is the latter, I tend to get quite down on myself, start pumping myself up with cheesy quotes along the lines of “how do you expect things to grow if you’re not working hard enough?”, and start to revert back to the former – I kill ’em with content. I’d like to think I’ve spent the majority of my year so far in the former, which all spirals back to the “never turning off”.

The truth is – it’d be great if blogging was to just type up a piece, click “publish” and go, but these days social media has become such an integral part of the industry that it’s all intertwined. It’s a great way to keep your followers up to date if you don’t have the time to churn out blog content, it’s a way to be discovered more easily by various people globally, and if you play your cards right, it can provide a source of income. I’m fairly sure a lot of the PR e-mails I get are from people that have found me via Instagram. It’s a well oiled machine with thousands of people in your niche playing in the same game and often what helps is to be consistent and that will sometimes mean churching out new content every. single. day.

Struggling to switch off?

First of all, I think if you find yourself in the “never switching off” queue (hi!), it’s not entirely a bad thing. I’ve just turned 23 – I’m young, and I really want to work hard to make life as sweet as can be when I get older. If this means maximising all income streams, this also means maximising what I do here on my blog, and supplementing that very well with my social media presence which is so very important now to every blogger out there. Be prepared to grind, and as Gary Vee says – “eat sh*t” – in order to build the foundations for the future (in all aspects of your life – at the desk, in your spare time and in your social life).

However – sometimes don’t be afraid to switch off. I think social media can be very toxic if you don’t always see things for what they are – and the truth is that more often than not, social media is everyone’s highlight reel. My platforms most definitely are, so please do not be fooled. If you’re not careful you’ll be thinking as a blogger you need to i) own a collection of designer handbags and ii) be jetsetting away at least every 2 months, all for validation. Numbers can also bounce around so often – there are times my follower numbers fly, times where things are stagnant and times where things seem to be dropping. It can drive you crazy and lead to an obsession with more trivial matters and taking all this into account – sometimes there’s nothing better you can do for yourself and your sanity than to just switch off. So whilst my mind wandered often to social media on my recent trip, I’d say 80-85% of the time my focus was on Madrid, having a good time, relaxing and seeing the sights. B a l a n c e.