Let’s Have a Catchup: A Welcome Back Post

Trigger Warning: This post contains some sensitive topics that some may find triggering. 

I wrote this post in October 2023, so that I could start posting again in December/ January. However life got in the way and all of a sudden this post is about to get a whole lot longer. I didn’t think that, that much could happen in a year, but life comes at you fast. So where have I been? Let’s start at the beginning…

Having a Baby

My 2023 started in the best way possible. I gave birth to my gorgeous son Noah, and had a relatively positive experience. By that I mean we were told that we could complain about my treatment, but everything was ok with Noah and I had no complications with the c-section. However, you can read all about that in: ‘My Birth Story‘, so I won’t go into anymore detail here.

Blogging is a very time consuming hobby, it was why I enjoyed it. There was always something that needed doing, and I loved every second of it. However, having a baby put an end to all of my free time; hence the radio silence. It also didn’t help that for the first three months, Noah would only sleep on me during the day. I dread to think how many hours I clocked up watching TV. This meant that one arm was always around Noah and I couldn’t type very well on my phone, never mind my laptop.

So blogging went out of the window, but it also didn’t help that I didn’t know what to post anymore.

Being Stuck in a Niche

When I started blogging, I never wanted to be tied down to a niche. The idea was to be a typical; beauty, fashion and lifestyle blogger. However, the fashion content never came and the lifestyle content slowly dwindled into nothing. Which left beauty, and don’t get me wrong; I LOVED it. I loved everything about it, makeup became something I collected. I mean why have one eyeshadow palette when you can have 25? Seriously, it became a problem.

I started my low buy, and after a while the desire to buy new makeup just never came back. Releases were coming thick and fast and I just wasn’t interested anymore. I think a lot of it is to do with the price increases, as makeup is so expensive these days and I can’t justify buying a lot of it; like what do you mean a Naked palette costs £49?!

I knew I wanted to try other styles of content, but I didn’t know how to do it. Posting lifestyle content seemed impossible when all I could do all day was sit on the sofa, so Noah would sleep.

Spiralling Out of Control

At the end of April things were looking good, I was recovering well and Noah finally slept somewhere that wasn’t me.

So why was I feeling so down?

The funny thing is that I didn’t even realise it. I knew I wasn’t feeling right, but it wasn’t until Jake mentioned postnatal depression that it all started to make sense. It was such a gradual thing, that I didn’t realise just how down I was until it was pointed out to me.

I started to look into the symptoms and a lot of them resonated with me. It was such an awful time, especially being able to look back now.

Pulling Myself Out of the Hole

As soon as I knew what it was, I was determined to get better. It was incredibly hard, but I started making changes and reaching out for help. It turns out that people weren’t lying when they said talking helps; who knew? I phoned the doctors as I wasn’t sure who to turn to medically, and the NHS website said to phone the GP.

Let’s just say it was the worst decision, as he told me that I should have gone elsewhere. Which was obviously what I needed to hear….  All in all, I think I left that appointment worse than I went in.

I didn’t let it stop me though, it just meant I had to work a little bit harder.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

So that’s what I did, I put the work in. I made time for myself and started to practice wellness, and make plans to get out more. I never thought I’d be a wellness girly, but here we are.

Amazingly, the clouds started clearing, so I kept going. I was nervous to take Noah out by myself, but the more I did it, the easier it became and now I love being able to go out just the two of us. I still have a way to go, but I’m proud of the progress I’ve made.

So, What Now?

I’m sat here feeling good. I still have ups and downs of course, but nothing like before. It feels like it took Noah to give me a reality check. I couldn’t carry on as I was, and I was wanting to make changes to my life, but I didn’t have the motivation to do it. Now, I want to be the best version of me; for him.

Content wise, I’ll be posting what I want to. I don’t want to be tied to a niche. I’m much more than just a beauty, mummy or lifestyle blogger. I’m all of those things, so I don’t want to pick just one. Things are about to get more personal around here, and I hope you’ll stick around on this journey with me.

I love blogging, and I’m not ready to give it up. It’s my favourite hobby, and I’ve loved getting back into it over the past few months.

There’s More?

That is where this post should’ve ended, but 2024 had other ideas. Bad news just kept coming and in February our family lost two of its largest characters. I still don’t think I’ve been able to process it properly, as it all happened very fast. So I’m not going to push it any further and I’ll probably touch upon it further at a different time.

Luckily there is light at the end of the tunnel, as we have a very exciting life update. You’ll have to wait for that one though, as it deserves its own post.

So there we have it, that is whats been going on. Now that’s out of the way I’m excited to get stuck back into creating content here and for Instagram.

Thank you for reading.