So far, so good: one year of blogging

Three hundred and sixty five days ago, I posted my first ever blog post (it was absolutely terrible, in case you’re wondering). I’d never had a blog before, had never written a blog post in my life before, and had no idea how to set up a blog, but I muddled through and Sophar So Good was quietly born one Saturday afternoon.

Forgive me for doing something so tremendously self-involved as dedicating a whole post to that tiny and in many ways insignificant fact, but I tend to get very reflective about this sort of thing and as it’s drawn closer I’ve naturally been thinking about my experience so far.

On the one hand, it has flown; perhaps its something to do with the fact that this time last year it was summer-dresses-and-bare-legs weather and yesterday it rained, so it doesn’t quite feel like we’ve come full circle yet. And on the other, it feels like I’ve been doing this forever, in an oh my god I don’t remember the last time I didn’t have blogging in the back of my mind while doing any other thing way.

Blogging is so, so much harder than I imagined. My second and third posts were on a cruelty free shampoo and conditioner, and a trip to Marseille, and I had planned them in my head before hitting publish on the first one. Imagine my surprise when I’d published those, and then realised that I’d need to write another, and another, and another, forever and ever or until my brain explodes. The fact that your work is never done came as quite a shock and it’s still something I struggle with now.

It’s also more rewarding than I imagined. Being able to write all the nonsense I think about down somewhere has been a joy, as has been the fact that some people even seem to read the things I write. It’s so strange and so wonderful. I am completely in love with it.

It’s brought me a handful of very lovely friends and a great deal more who I intend to make be my friends one day. It’s brought me the chance to work with lovely new brands I’d never previously heard of, and ones I already loved. And I put all the money from my first sponsored post towards a basic af ‘blogger’ camera which I now love unconditionally and barely know how to use, so there’s that.

Sometimes, I think about the fact that a lot of people seem to have had other blogs before the one they currently have. I do wonder from time to time if this is my ‘practise run’ – I have no idea what I’m doing, after all, and I feel like I could do it a lot better now – so I have thought several times over the past couple of months of saying goodbye to this space and starting again with what I know now. At the same time I know I couldn’t bear to see the hours of work disappear by starting a whole new one, so I guess we’re all stuck with this.

What will the next year hold? We’ll see. I’d like to find my style and voice a little more, as although I doubt I’ll be narrowing down my topics I’d like things to be a little less haphazard than they have been on that front. I’d like to write more travel posts, since those have been lacking a little so far this year compared to last, and more personal essays and commentary pieces. I’d like to improve my photography, and get that redesign I’ve been talking about for the past nine months. I’d just like to get better, basically, at all of it. Oh, and I’d like to stop stressing. I work full time and I can’t do everything.

So thank you, so very much, if you are reading this, especially if you’ve managed to get to the end without vomiting. I truly appreciate you paying my little internet baby a visit, and I hope you stick around for whatever comes next. Here’s an outfit – I dressed as though I was a child attending a birthday party for the occasion.

Oh, and yes, I’ve been waiting months to be able to use this blog post title. I’m going on my first ‘bloggers’ trip this evening as a result of this thing so I guess it’s so far so good, indeed.

What I’m wearing

Dress – H&M | Denim jacket – C/O Rokit Vintage | Trainers – H&M | Bag – Zara | Watch – C/O Ice Watch

C/O denotes an item which has been gifted to me. All thoughts, styling, images and words are my own.

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