Alice Catherine

I wanted to write about something that’s been on my mind a lot lately – especially since I started blogging full time and have seen first hand how much the blogging world is growing and changing. I often find myself plagued with this idea that I’m not doing enough with what I’m being offered, and sometimes it makes me feel as though there’s a part of this industry that doesn’t quite connect with the way I want to participate in it…

Let me try and make some form of sense here. Blogging in 2019 is very much to do with networking and seemingly being everywhere all at once. It’s extravagant trips, it’s event appearances, and all the fancy panels in-between…

I guess what I’m trying to say is that sometimes just creating blog posts from your desk doesn’t feel like it cuts the mustard anymore. The blogging world demands more and more, and it’s hard to know where to draw the line. I even started a YouTube channel because I thought that’s what the next logical step was for someone who was ‘serious about blogging’ – I never really stopped and considered whether it was something I was passionate about doing. Photography and writing – yes. Youtube content – not so much. A dozen videos later and I just felt like my interest in making videos completely fizzled out. That’s not to say I won’t make any in the future, but the idea of having this strict posting schedule in order to stay on top of it all just felt suffocating and forced. I’d just never seen myself as YouTuber despite enjoying lots of other content creators on the same platform…

About a year into blogging, I started getting invited to events that made me pinch myself. Being in Manchester, I very much have to cherry pick the things that I go to – trains to London aren’t cheap for events that seem so short. I’m currently saving for a house, and I guess there’s a huge part of me that is content with my life in Manchester, and doesn’t feel as though I need to be in London every week. However, there’s always that niggling ten percent that feels as though by being in Manchester a lot, I’m not pushing myself enough. It’s a tough one, but I truly believe that there shouldn’t be one set mould for all of us when it comes to being a blogger. Of course I want to cease opportunity, but I also don’t want to make myself unhappy in the process… 

Freelancing should be about constructing a lifestyle that suits you. It’s the joy of working for yourself and managing your own time that I find so appealing, so I definitely don’t want to start living my life for other people. I wrote about this recently in my Letting Go & Living Differently blog post, and it’s something I’m determined to live by. As someone who suffers with anxiety, I often find working in London to be overwhelming – I find myself mentally exhausted and just itching to get home and switch off for a bit.

For me, blogging is typing my thoughts on here in the early hours of the morning. It’s connecting with likeminded people, exploring with my film camera, and creating a lifestyle that makes me feel proud. I want to travel the world and share as much with you guys as possible along the way, but I don’t have a burning desire to be everywhere all at once, and I don’t want to say yes to things that don’t feel like the right fit. For now, images and words feel like enough for me – my blog feels like my safe space, and I’m looking forward to working on it harder than ever before this year…

There might be times where I feel like I don’t quite come up to scratch – I’ll probably never be a great public speaker, and I’ll probably always be just a little bit awkward and anxious. I accept that along with all the other things that make me who I am. I feel as though there’s a big pressure in a lot of industries to be this bold and powerful version of yourself that’s always confident and striving for greatness.

I happen to think that there isn’t just one set recipe for being successful. Sometimes it’s not shouting from the rooftops or running around a big city – It’s whispering softly into your voice notes on an empty train carriage. It’s scribbling down ideas into your notepad late at night. It’s sharing ideas you aren’t sure about over breakfast with the people you love most…

Feeling pressure can sometimes be a healthy source of focusing ourselves, but other times it only exists because we see a consistent pattern of what others are doing laid out before us. I’m not sure if this blog post makes any coherent sense. Often, I’ll just experience a thought or a mood for a couple of days – I’ll then open my laptop,  stare at the screen in front of me for a while, and try and make sense of it all.

That’s what blogging means to me. Making sense of it all in my own way. Sometimes following trends, but not the crowds. Reminding myself that there’s room for everyone to do their own thing at their own pace, and we don’t all need to be heading in the same direction in order for things to work out. Less keeping up appearances and more keeping in line with why I carved out this little corner of the internet to begin with…

Photographs taken by Catherine Booty. The Hoxton Hotel, Paris 

Jumpsuit – Mango, Beret – vintage (similar here)

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