It's almost hard to believe that I have now been blogging for five years. Five long years. I started my blog as a way to battle my depression and social anxiety. Well, five years on I have a successful blog - at least I consider it to be successful - and I am the proud co-founder of an amazing blogging movement, Bloggers United AU.
I thought that rather than simply host a giveaway or do a generic blogiversary post, I would share some of my reflections over the past five years. These reflections can be taken as advice or dismissed, or simply enjoyed by my fellow bloggers - these reflections are mine and mine alone. As bloggers it's inevitable we share experiences, but our own reflections may differ.
Five years on, I have made many friends, travelled across Australia, worked with many brands and tried many new things. Blogging has opened up an entirely new world of people, places and things to see and do. I have had so many amazing experiences, and a few not-so-great ones too.
There is a lot of negativity surrounding the word "blogger." I have found this out the hard way. I constantly get the questions: "Do you get free stuff?" or "So you get paid to play with beauty products?" Sadly, it's not that easy. Very early on, I learnt that even when you're a blogger, nothing is for free. There is also a lot of pressure to look good on social media all the time, lead an interesting life and look amazing at every hour of the day. Yeah, nah. Not for me, sorry. I am proud to say I haven't let my love of all things dark, crazy, spooky and weird die out just because I'm a beauty blogger. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and I'm proud to be me.