My Blogger New Year’s Resolutions

I have to hold my hands up; I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. The concept of declaring ‘new year, new me’ on a set date and trying to overhaul your entire life in one go on a day dictated by a calendar just seems a little silly.  As far as I’m concerned, every day is a good day to make a positive change. In the last year I have adopted some great new habits without the aid of a specific calendar date. Nothing major, just little things like having a green smoothie for breakfast everyday, meditating as much as possible and never using make up remover wipes. Just small, easy tweaks slowly introduced across the year to make me healthier and happier.

That being said, there is something about having a fresh start. A new year feels like a fresh page. It’s inevitable to reflect on the passing of a year and think about what went well and what you can learn from, as I did in my previous post on New Year’s Eve. As well as learning about self-care and the art of letting go, I also rediscovered my love of blogging. I’ve been candid about my struggle with blogging as it’s evolved over the years and how disingenuous it’s become. From outlandish demands and inflated figures to navigating the politics of blogger cliques, the industry has changed a lot in the eight years since I set up Fashion Daydreams.
This year, I stripped away any niggles and doubts, instead choosing to start writing again for me, after all that’s how I started. Rather than being a slave to PRs and an overflowing inbox, I started writing about things I love and that resonate with me. Instead of going to 5 events a night and laughing about being on the champagne and canape diet, I only went to ones which piqued my interest. And more crucially, instead of pressuring myself to write a new post every day, I aimed to write twice a week. Blogging now feels brand new and I’m creating content I’m proud of and I’m so motivated to keep improving and getting better. Not for anyone or due to fierce competition, for myself.

And although I’m not a fan of resolutions, I couldn’t help but think of a few resolutions or goals I want to achieve with my blog. I’m proud of what I achieved in 2016 and can’t wait to achieve more. I wanted to share some of my blogging resolutions and I’ve asked some of the bloggers that inspire me what they want to achieve in 2017, I can’t resist getting a sneak peek into what my faves have in store for this year. Here are our blogger’s new year’s resolutions:

Play to your strengthsOne of the lessons I’ve learnt this year is to focus on my strengths. Blogging has become such a diverse industry, with engaged communities across every sector from music and fitness to food and of course fashion. I love the idea of vlogging about beauty, particularly as a women of colour but it’s just not my forte. I get super nervous talking in public and don’t feel qualified to give beauty or make up advice; I can’t do a smoky eye to save my life! I do, however, know fashion. I’ve worked in the industry for 8 years and currently have a great job working with luxury brands so this really is my strength and what I should focus on. That’s not to say beauty, travel and lifestyle won’t sneak onto Fashion Daydreams though..!

More outfit postsThis is something I have wanted to do for a long, long time. Fashion Daydreams started life as a creative outlet for my outfits – back when it was acceptable to post pictures taken in your bedroom with your head cut off. Thankfully things have moved on a lot since then! The best part of being a blogger is being able to share your personal view and taste and this is something I’d love to do more of. I’ve been scoping out photographers for the last couple of months, so watch this space!

More personal posts This is such a great resolution, the reason bloggers are thriving is because we have a unique voice and perspective. This is something that my favourite menswear blogger, Jaime of Boy Meets Fashion, wants to share more this year, stating “My new year’s resolution is to start producing some personal posts.  It’s something I have been wanting to do for quite some time because I love connecting with people to discuss experiences, and have always been fascinated by the human psychology. There is perhaps nothing more human than to write about this beautiful existence we call life! “

Travel moreSharing travel adventures goes hand-in-hand with more personal posts. I travel fairly frequently and love sharing my journey and travel tips with everyone. Travel, especially to developing countries is a real passion of mine and I get so much engagement on the blog and social when I’m travelling. This is something Kirsty from the fab Fashion for Lunch blog wants to do more of this year, “it would be great to travel a little more in 2017, in 2016 I was at home a lot as I was busy renovating my house, so I’m hoping to get out a little more this year! My readers always love my travel posts as I tend to find the colourful corners of my locations and the slightly more off-the-beaten track shops and cafes.”

Stop comparing yourself to othersI think it’s human nature to compare yourself to others, especially in blogging. It can be really distracting and stop you from focusing on your own unique voice and perspective. Kirsty also wants to stop comparing herself to others this year, “I know it’s terrible, but I am always comparing myself to others and feeling not good enough as a result! Which is just silly as we all have different strengths and weaknesses, but I’m quite hard on myself and it’s very easy to not feel good enough! So that’s something I’m really going to be working on!”

Don’t be afraid to createFor many bloggers, blogging started as a creative outlet. I think it’s important to remember this and keep pushing the creative envelope. This is something that the brilliant Ashanti from Adorn Girl knows all too well, “2017 is really about mixing it up creatively. My 2017 resolution is to blog less. I ideally want to take on more photography commissions, and the blog will be used as the space to experiment and showcase my product photography.”

And there you have it. There it is in black and white, the things I would like to focus on for the next year. I’d love to hear what your resolutions are for 2017 in the comments!