I sat down and opened up my MWS dashboard for the first time in many months, and the first thing I noticed was – “Oh hello! I’ve published 3999 posts!”
That’s 3999 posts written over 17 years – That’s an average of 1 post written every other day.
This one makes the 4000th, and I couldn’t ‘waste’ it on another product review 😀
It’s been about 2 months since I published my last post, which hasn’t been the most regular in a long list of irregular posting schedules. There’s been so much going on in life, that I just haven’t had time nor energy to write, which is a pity because this has always been my outlet.
Evolution
Interestingly, at this time, while I tried (and failed multiple times) to open up and start writing, I stumbled upon 2 OG (original) beauty bloggers, who were at the top 3 of beauty blogging worldwide, back in the day – Karen of makeupandbeautyblog.com and Christine of temptalia.com. Both these websites would be no strangers to beauty afficionados who used beauty blogs as a trusted resource in the early-mid 2000s.
What I found was that Karen now still writes, but in a more relaxed fashion with more focus on her life (and her new dog! I was never a cat lady, but I loved her photoshop photos of her former cat Tabs) and a side of beauty. Christine however, seems to have left the building. The latter came as a huge surprise to me, because Christine was the top beauty blog and beauty resource for so many! I regarded her site as an encyclopedia (do those even still exist?) of makeup swatches and her foundation index was very helpful for finding a shade match. While I never really followed her blog for beauty content (it was very helpful for swatches but not much of a read IMO), I now follow her on Instagram because she now fosters rescue dogs!
It looks like I have have far more in common with these 2 ladies today than we did back in our heyday – our love for dogs! 😀
I went looking around at other beauty blogs and found that most of the active ones aren’t updated frequently, and those that are didn’t particularly interest me anymore. Perhaps it’s me moving on from the scene, or perhaps it just feels so pointless now that I no longer am fixated on the latest and the newest. Let’s not even talk about what’s happening on social media or Instagram/TikTok because aunty here can’t keep up LOL
I therefore understand when people choose to unfollow from my content, because I recognise that we grow and our interests change over time. I don’t ‘work’ with many brands anymore, and while I appreciate those who still keep me in the loop, I appreciate why most won’t – MWS isn’t exactly relevant anymore.
And I get it 🙂
It’s a dog’s life
In the past 2 months, I’ve had to split my time in so many ways. I’m an unabashed full time dog mum, and I spent 1.5 months sending him to the vet daily when he was recently bitten (again!) by a larger dog. It was a hard and traumatising time for all of us, as the wound was worse than anticipated and surgery was mentioned more than once. But we have overcome it, and he’s back to his beagly self, much to all our relief.
No nose can ever rival that of a beagle!
I also run my natural pet treats business full time now, and it’s been so fulfilling to watch it grow and expand. We still do all of it ourselves, and some days, when we are swamped, orders are backed-up, the ovens are going at full capacity, and it’s almost midnight, while we continue to butcher raw meat and clip nails off chicken and duck feet, we wonder why we do it. And then, we see the happy faces of the dogs we meet (a perk of the job!), and the kind appreciative feedback and comments from customers, and we remember why we do it – for the love of all dogs! <3
Among all this, I’ve found a little time to study for and obtain a certificate in canine nutrition, which has been an interest of mine ever since I got my pup. It is also the reason behind me making my own treats, and turning it into a business that I’m more proud of, than what I used to do for over 20 years before 😀 While having the certificate does not make me an expert in canine nutrition, it offers me a base from which to work from, and a good starting point from which to expand my knowledge. My focus is on fresh/whole food feeding, as that’s what I feed my pup daily, and what I would love for dedicated pet parents to feed their pups.
As you might imagine, doing all of this has not left me much time to delve into and indulge in a lot of beauty products and news. I am unfortunately behind on any new innovations, new brands and new products.
Losing out or just lost?
Do I feel like I’m losing out?
Yes, sometimes. I never made it a habit to follow brands on social media, only people, and some of those whom I follow are still actively out there in the beauty world. I learn about what’s new from their sharing, and I’d be lying if I didn’t feel a little twinge of envy now and again, when I see them at media events, glitzed and glammed from head to toe with their bags of swag.
Then, I take a second look at myself, and I realise that I don’t fit into many of my fancier clothes anymore, and I can no longer walk in heels, and my one pair of fancier flats no longer fit LOL! 😀 My daily outfits call for comfort and casual, something I can go all day in the kitchen in, or give the dog an impromptu walk. If I were invited for an event, I would really struggle to find something to wear 😛
I also realise that I’m not able to produce the type of content that brands want these days – quick, snappy, attention-grabbing videos, and I don’t want to either because it just takes too much out of me.
So then no, I don’t feel like I’m losing out at that point.
But I am still using beauty products daily, except that I stick more to the tried and true these days. Yet, I have occasionally tried something new that blows me away, and I tell myself I need to share! But there’s so little time in a day to do everything else AND write a blog post – so I tell myself, next time. And then it’s many many next times later, and many products later, and I forget, or lose interest.
So that’s the struggle I’m facing now. Finding the time and inclination to sit here, and write. As it is, this post has taken me 3 different days to write and some days, I feel like just giving it all up.
But the day I opened up the dashboard after 2 months, and saw I had published 3999 posts over the years, I knew I wasn’t about to just give it up. Not for vanity, for my sanity. Writing is what anchored me when I was adrift, and now that I have put down the foundations for something more stable, I will likely need a creative outlet more than ever.
So as I pen my 4000th post, I make no promises about my presence, except to say that I will publish when I publish, and that would hopefully be more regularly instead of sporadically. If you still read, thank you, I appreciate you! And if you think I’m no longer relevant, thank you for ever finding me so 🙂
xoxo
PB
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