What Inspires Me??

So, I've joined the Bloggersphere, within the land of "creatives": people doing what they love and sharing it with the world. Now, it's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be but I'm having fun and I'm not alone in this infant stage of being a "creative". Every day on Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram there's someone new launching an MUA business, blog, YouTube channel etc. And I love it!

I hate it when I hear people say things that suggest the industry of people making a living via social media is oversaturated. As if one more person following their dream is annoying or 'basic'. To be honest I think it's inspirational and it encourages me to keep going. If someone else who's 19 and at uni can start a fashion line or a charity or an event management company then, why can't I? The other day on Twitter I saw a girl announce that her blog is launching in January and she included the link where there was a countdown to the blog. So, I had a look, I was so impressed I jumped out of bed (where I had been lounging for too long) and started my day. That led to me creating the bulk of my blog over the weekend while also getting up to date with some lectures. By seeing that she was being proactive even though I didn't know her or follow her, spurred me on to keeping going and investing time and effort.

I think it's the concept of healthy competition, I don't want to be stagnant while my age mates are moving forward and contributing to the world. A few months back my close friend launched her new business and sent all her friends a little vn and link to retweet and post on our socials and I happily obliged. So, when it came to me starting my Instagram I did the same. Now, I've already spoken about the way I struggle asking people for help and I struggled again. But this time I ended up asking for help even though it nearly made me have heart palpations. Most were happy to do so and I gained some followers all because my friend had done the same and nothing completely horrendous happened to her so I had confidence that death would not become eminent if I did the same.

This inspiration/healthy competition wave I'm on is definitely helping with the Instagram challenge I'm currently trying. 

Ok cool. So, I'm naturally not very comfortable in front of a camera even if it's a selfie but having an active Instagram is part and parcel of being a blogger. Initially I was struggling to ask people to take pictures of me for two reason: 

1) it's a favour, which I hate asking people for

2) I didn't know how to pose

So, I'd reached a big block. Then I was scrolling through Twitter (as I seem to be doing more than ever recently) and I saw Alissa Ashely post about how most of her pictures are taken with a tripod. So, I jumped on Amazon and the next day I was ready to go. But I still didn't know how to pose. I followed the formula I follow whenever I'm learning a new skill: research, plan, execute, succeed (hopefully). I watched videos by models (Duckie Thot's was especially good), YouTube videos, Instagram posts and even read articles. Armed with all this knowledge and my tripod I proceeded to take basically a million pictures and found one that was ok, but my face was not. While researching I found out that beheaded pictures are apparently perfectly normal so day 1 of learning how to pose was a headless picture of me.

But oh no, taking Instagram pictures isn't only about the picture, apparently, you have to edit the background, have a theme for your page etc. etc. Now, I don't live under a rock I know about filters etc. but not on this 'professional' Instagram level. So back to research I went. I found out about choosing a theme, planning your posts so your feed looks cohesive and all these other things I didn't even consider. After assurance from my friends that I didn't look like a complete fool I posted it and guess what...I didn't die. Day 2 was easier and so on and so forth. Now, 7 days later I'm kind of getting the hang of it. I'm still not confident enough to try with someone taking a picture of me but I'll get there. Eventually.

Wish me luck

J xx

(Btw: that's officially my sign off thingy, and thanks for all your DMs with suggestions)