I learned to cope better, first off. When I started blogging, I felt lost, drifting around in a sea of darkness and I didn't know how to be strong. Through blogging I learned to cope somehow, and I found a comfortableness in myself that I never knew about before. I've never felt more strong or happy, and I owe that all to my decision to open a blogger account! Best decision I've made in a very long time...
Second, I feel like I belong somewhere, truly and unerringly. I never fit in as a kid, I mean, I always had friends and I love them to bits, but I always felt wrong somehow. I never felt like my weirdness was completely accepted, I couldn't say the random things I thought, and I have to say that blogging about random stuff has given me an outlet for my very strange, eclectic persona. I can be thoughtful, funny, say silly things an somehow it's always understood here.
Blogging has also educated me majorly, and by that I mean almost exclusively in regards to beauty! My makeup collection used to consist of one eye palette, a mascara, an eyeliner, one or two lipsticks, and a blush. I have now got more products than I ever need but I know how to use every one of them properly. I can contour and highlight, rock a bold lip, create a smoky eye, and most of all, I can make myself feel amazing, rather than just doing makeup to "fit in".
Friendships are something I never thought I would garner from blogging, let me tell you. I thought it was a "write for a reader" effort, not a community where people bounce off each other creatively and socially. I am beyond honoured to be counted among the Irish Beauty Blogger community. It's made me feel all warm and fuzzy, and I am so grateful to count people I used to admire from afar among my blogging peers. It's surreal but amazing.
Blogging has been an intensely positive, educational experience for me and I have been able not only to help myself, but also others. I have been able to review products for those of you interested in that side of my writing, and I have opened up in a deeply personal level for those of you who struggle with the same things I dealt with.
I love blogging, and once I have one person who likes what I do, be it Beauty or Mental Health related, that will always be enough.
Amy
Xx