Dear Diary: Award Finalist & Being Called ‘An Inspiration’

So January has already been a bit of a weird one. And we’re less than 2 weeks in and already I’ve become a finalist for a blogging award and a few of my lovely followers on Instagram called me ‘one of their inspirations’. And to be perfectly honest, it got me in a bit of a flap.

So last week I found out – literally by chance – that I’m a finalist in the UK Blog Awards 2019 in the fashion category. I didn’t even know I was nominated let alone a finalist. I had seen that the finalist had been announced and being the nosey lil swine I am decided I’d see if I knew anyone in the announced categories.

When I saw my name on the list, amongst some amazing bloggers like Emily Becca and She Goes Wear it felt like one of those moments in a film. Y’know where all you can hear is a heartbeat as it flicks from shot to shot in slow motion? That.

I couldn’t and quite honestly still can’t believe it isn’t some horrible mix up. I was frantically trying to text Ben and my mum from my desk to squeal a little, whilst obviously pretending I was hard at work if my manager looked over. Especially shocked seeing as my interest in fashion has only really started to manifest since early summer of last year. A.K.A. the 3 months I exclusively wore culottes and leopard print. When the heatwave struck and I decided to explore my outfit choices by doing #ootd for 10 days and that as they say, was that.

So this was all wonderful and I posted my news to my Instagram, cos y’know, is anything real if it’s not on Insta? And pretty quickly I got an influx of DM’s from a few of my followers saying how deserved it is, that I’m one of their favourite accounts on Instagram and that I’m an inspiration to them. And if I’m being truthful? I didn’t know how to respond initially. Others inspire me, but when I essentially mindlessly post photos and blog posts I never assume anyone sees them. Let alone takes inspiration from them.

Since those messages it’s really got me thinking about what I put out onto my socials. That whilst I’m constantly striving for my follower count to go up, and my readership to grow, that there’s actually someone on the other end. It isn’t just a number, it’s someone consuming the content I’m putting out.

And I only ever want that to be positive. I only ever want someone to think positively about my content. And while I know that’s pretty impossible, as I’m never going to float everyone’s boat and not everyone will like what I do. I can at least try to make everyone’s encounter with me and my content as pleasant as possible.

So yeah, we’ll see how that goes but to even get to this point I’m feeling pretty soppy about my little corner of the internet and to anyone who happens to read my ramblings.

You’re all A++ – not entirely sure how you’re all still here, but v happy you are. Thank you.