I absolutely loved doing this last month. Sometimes I get in a rut of reading the same blogs all the time and not really expanding who I follow and what I read. But at the end of December I got back into the habit of scrolling through Twitter and Bloglovin’ and started finding TONS of amazing blogs I’ve never read before! It’s always so exciting to find a new blog I love. I click through a bunch of the recent posts and read them all, I follow on all social media and really just get into it. Grab a cup of tea and get ready, it’s a long one.
I’ve been having a lot of fun finding new blogs, commenting a lot more, retweeting posts that sound interesting so I can remember to read them later. It’s all very exciting to me and I’ve noticed that the type of posts I’m reading has changed dramatically since 2017. Rather than immediately looking for the “Beauty” tab on any new blog, I go to the lifestyle page and see what catches my eye. I feel like this way I know more about the bloggers, I know what they care about, who they are, who they want to be. So, here we go with the long list of blog posts I loved reading so far this month!
On Positivity
I posted twice so far about my quest for a more positive mindset and I loved reading this post on Rush & Teal about why positivity works to give you the best chance at a great day everyday and to make things happen! Reading posts like this definitely keeps me motivated to find the silver lining in situations and keep a smile on my face. Charlotte from Colours and Carousels wrote a fantastic post on being herself in the blogosphere and not conforming to all the trends. Recently blogs and YouTube seem to be a sea of similar opinions on the same things, but as more and more bloggers start to return to who they are, the realness I love about blogging is returning. And I am so here for it.
Katie from La Coco Noire wrote a post about everything she’s grateful for this month and her #1 was GIRLS. Reading about her amazing girl group warmed my heart so much and made me appreciate my best friends a little bit more, because they’re awesome too. Helen has been a blogger that I have admired since I started my own blog and I loved her recent post on friendship. I related to it so much as an introvert and I loved reading about all the amazing friends she has met through blogging, it made me appreciate my own girl gang more!
I absolutely loved this post on Beauty and the Bird about a week of no complaining. As you could see from my post on my negativity, I can have a bit of a problem with complaining. This challenge seems like such a good way to see what I really find myself complaining about and try to change my mindset a little more.
I love Thirteen Thoughts and her post on finding joy in everyday life was great to read because I felt reassurance in my whole positivity journey that I was finally on the right track. She mentioned being grateful and learning new things, and I try to do both of those things. With my gratitude posts and striving to learn new things constantly, I feel like I’m getting somewhere in becoming more positive.
A Post That Got Me Thinking
This one from Chloe Alice Lily about not apologizing for certain things this year got me thinking a lot about what I over-apologize for. Last year I started getting on this train a little bit and started thinking about what I didn’t want to have to explain or rationalize or apologize for. After reading this post I realized that I shouldn’t feel bad about doing things that make me happy or making my own choices.
Lifestyle Posts I Loved
There’s an awesome post on Sleek Chic about a social media detox and everything it taught her, I definitely need to schedule one in because I think it’s time I get back to the real world and start enjoying the little things too. This post by Jasmine about reducing stress was a great one and perfectly timed, sometimes I totally forget about doing all the little things that keep me from becoming a ball of stress. I totally agree with her about finding a body of water, going to the lake and listening to the waves and being in such a calm atmosphere is completely my happy place.
And you know I’m working really hard to save money this year, so seeing Rebecca from From Roses write about why she’s barely shopping this year was inspiring. I love seeing other bloggers try to cut down on shopping too, it’s so easy to get caught up in new releases or buying a few new things each month. But we also have so so much already that barely gets used, so it’s time to enjoy what we have!
Rachel from Beauty and the Bird wrote a really important post about why she doesn’t drink and how she’s definitely not boring because of that! This post was so important to read and brought some attention to how our culture either expects people to drink or assumes they don’t have fun if they don’t! Definitely give this one a read, Rachel does the topic much more justice than I ever could.
While this post is called Three Books That Changed my life on Colours and Carousels, her post changed my life. It’s so well written and a super clear layout of which of Sarah Knight’s books you need. For me, it’s all of them. I can see how each and every one of these books could really change my life and I need to make an Amazon order stat.
And A Beauty Post for Good Measure
Pint Sized Beauty is one of my favorite beauty blogs: the photos are dreamy, the layout is gorgeous, and the topics pretty much always interest me. This one is about some beauty habits Lily would like to pick up this year and it totally made me think about how much I neglect my hair and that I need to adopt a proper routine and put some effort into picking the right products!
So many of the masks in this post on Jaye Rockett are also huge favorites of mine. Since we clearly have the same taste in masks, I’ll be picking up the rest to fill in the gaps in my collection. Finding someone with similar skincare needs and taste is the best because all of their recommendations are soon-to-be holy grails.
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