Life Update & the Future of the Blog
Well, yes. I have been awfully quiet here. It’s been mostly for a very specific and I think understandable reason: I started a new job three weeks ago and you know me and work – it can get out of hand. The good news is that I am extremely happy with the job: it is still in communication and still in the same institution in Brussels, but the topic is different and very exciting.
It is not just the job change, however. There have been periods when I’ve worked harder and managed to find time to blog: if I REALLY want to do it, there’s always a way (although it’s not necessarily healthy). There are several things that have conspired against me: on the practical front, I had to cancel my trip to Estonia and my year-end style posts with it. I am seriously trying to sleep more, which means that working until 3am and getting up before 7am to blog is no longer an option – if I’m cutting my sleep short these days, it’s for the gym, not the blog.
And then there’re the doubts. I find it increasingly harder to have a lifestyle blog when I feel that my own consumption habits need an overhaul. How much of the stuff I buy can be justified with wanting to inform or inspire others? I used to delight in abundance, but it feels less and less fun as the planet burns. I’m not saying there’s no place for lifestyle blogs in today’s world, but the blog motivates me to make (purchasing) decisions I wouldn’t otherwise necessarily want to make.
Finally, there are other things I want to write apart from the blog and I have – after years of procrastination – gotten started, with not-entirely-depressing results. If I’m going to be serious about it, now is the time to push forward. This of course also takes away time and energy I used to dedicate to the blog. Try as I might, there is no way to fit EVERYTHING I’d like to do into my days – there are limits to how fast and productive people can be.
So I feel that some serious thinking about the future of this blog is in order. I’m not sure I’m ready to abandon it completely. Then again, posting twice a month or only when inspiration strikes is probably not what the readers expect. And even if some of you would be willing to stick around, I need to consider what type of posts would work with a calmer schedule. I’m currently in Greece for two weeks and there are a couple of things I would like to share during this time.* After that, we’ll see.
If you have any thoughts about what you have found useful or interesting about my blog or what you’d like me to keep writing about (if anything), please let me know in the comments or message me on Instagram or Facebooks. Help me figure things out.
*I definitely want to post about my favaourite reads of 2019, but that may have to wait until I’m back home.
These pictures are extras from my Max Mara shoot – I wasn’t supposed to shoot these, but I couldn’t resist an all cream ensemble and I thought I’d post it during the darkest time of the year. Images, again, by Laura Nestor and MUAH by Erle
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Love your blog so much! I always go here to remind myself in a way what type of woman I want to be – succesful, educated, avid reader, disciplined and with great taste any style 😀 i love general recommendation/what i am loving right now posts about anything that preoccupies you at the moment – you write it in very natural and authentic way. also love your general thoughts on anything that’s on your mind (like this post) – you write in a very comprehensible and genuine way. I very much admire your work ethic and love to know more about what keeps you structured and organized but yet balanced. hope this feedback helps a little, greetings from croatia 🙂
Dear B, thank you for weighing in from Croatia with these kind words and helpful feedback. It is such a joy for me to have readers from different places – it really is half the fun. I think there might be quite a few posts in the future with me rambling and figuring things out, so I’m glad there’s an audience for them🙂
Also, I’m trying to educate myself about the Balkans, so if you have book or travel recommendations to share, feel free!
Love your blog, especially posts on beauty, food and books. It doesn’t matter for me how often you post. If something is posted, I will read 🙂
Thank you for this lovely, sweet comment! I will do my best to provide something to read🙂
I think your blog is a fine counter point of overconsumption and the superfluous constant self exposure of IG. I may be speaking about myself, but I think you strike a chord here with people who share and are inspired by your particular sensibility towards what surrounds us. So whether it is books, fitness or cafés in Tallinn I am delighted to read your witty, insightful and funny « attempts at life » 🙂 Sometimes one has to change to stay the same. Hopefully you’ll take us with you on that journey – no matter the frequency of publications or the topic.
Dear Asya, you always express everything so eloquently – and very flatteringly for me! I really do feel it’s very much the case of ‘changing to remain the same’. Which I guess is always happening, but in my case is more intense at the moment than usual. Thank you for your constant support.
First of all, I agree with the praise about writing style – I do enjoy it very much. One topic I have liked is books – although I have a pretty different taste, I still like to read the reviews and when I challenge my taste then with something from your suggestions. Secondly, I have always liked the trend reviews – what is still in, what is coming up strong etc – although I personally don’t go along with trends too much so can’t even explain why I enjoy those reviews. But also, I’ve liked styling posts and I personally would appreciate reuse, and I also like travelling, life advice (f.e. the one about busy times) and all kinds of summarizing posts (okay, except beauty which I don’t care about too much). So I hope you keep the blog because it’s so different from others AND it’s the only one I really follow!
Thank you, Kadri – I always get a bit overwhelmed when people say they don’t really follow blogs, but they do read mine. It is such a compliment it makes me teary-eyed. Anyway, thank you for very specific and useful feedback. And regarding the trend posts: I think people often just like to know what’s happening. I have the same not only with fashion trends, but culture as well. I don’t watch TV, but I like to be aware of the more popular series, so that I understand the conversations around me. Plus trends are fascinating in themselves, even if you have no intention of wearing ugly sneakers or pearl barrettes.
I just like to hear about you occasionally. I think your thoughts are inspirational and healthy and you are my people😍
Thank you, Evelin. You are my people, too!😘
You have done a wonderful job with this blog by showing your path towards more sustainable thinking. Where to take it from here? It depends what you feel most passionate about.
What I’d like to tell you is that you do have readers who are going through, or have already been through the same process. I used to get joy from abundance but now I get it from simplicity. It’s good for environment (and my wallet). It goes beyond /a thing I don’t need/ and also covers not needing to buy new cupboards as abundance accumulates, or getting one more bedroom to store those cupboards full of stuff. And, hopefully, inspiring others around me when they are ready for this change.
Whatever you will choose to write about, people will read because of your unique and (in my view) addictive writing style. I’ve read some of your blog posts only because I really enjoy the flow of your writing.
This is all to say that your reader base might be more diverse than expected. People change their minds, habits and consumption patterns, and what you write may actually play a role in that process.
Hear, hear! My thoughts exactly! Also, if fashion is shifting from fast to slow (slower, at least, hopefully), why shouldn’t blogging? 😉
Hah, indeed! I will keep that in mind. And thank you, Heidi.
Thank you, E! This was very insightful and helpful. And you are right, very few people come here just for an orgy of products or pretty clothes – there are much better places on the Internet for that. I think my worry is that there are also many better places for a more sustainable lifestyle. Then again, as you say, I should just focus on what moves me and write about that and hope it is relevant for my readers. It is very true that if I’m having all these thoughts and transformations, probably others are as well.
Hallo , to put it very simply, from you I’d probably like to read anything. That might not be helpful, so I try to be a bit more specific, and of course that has mostly to do with myself. I personally feel utterly European, having lived in several European countries( and overseas). But these days I live in a small, rather conservative, rural town, far, far away from any currant politics, discussion, literature etc. I’m not unhappy, but this is why I love your blog (and instagram so much), as you’re a bit there where I’m very excited to hear about. Life in a city, with lots of stimulant, everything very well edited down. So coming back to my initial sentence: anything that crosses your mind and that you find worth writing about, I’m looking forward to reading.
Dear Gudrun, thank you so much for this lovely comment. You actually mentioned one thing I might do to make things work for me – I could keep the blog for longer posts that are less frequent and try to diversify my Instagram and update it more often. IG is less of a time investment and that might help.
If you don’t mind me asking – where do you live?
I live in Germany. Looking forward to hearing from you, be it via IG or via Blog.
B and Asya say it all so absolutely perfect. I would dearly miss your blog. Please keep it going and allow us to follow you and your thoughts and ideas on the next leg of your journey.
It is so rare to find a blog with such cleverness AND variety for grown up women.
Dear Josefine, thank you. It has been a very helpful exercise for me to write this post and read the comments. What has become clear is that I do want to continue, but maybe in a pared-back way and with a somewhat changed focus. I will come back to this topic in the new year. Thank you again for your support and kind words!
I totally agree with all the above – there’s no other place quite like your blog on the internet in terms of elegance and range of subjects – I’d be devastated to see you go! SO many of my perfume and beauty purchases, as well as the books I’ve read, have been influenced by you over the past three years. In terms of frequency, posting if and when the urge strikes (as opposed to buying stuff with a view of creating content) would be much better and more realistic.
Dear Tess, thank you – this honestly means so much. It is a weird feeling to have this sort of impact (however small) on someone else’s life. We of course all have it on our family and friends and acquaintances, it just feels different with people who you don’t actually know. It is an amazing bond, I think, but also a responsibility. In relation to this, I wanted to explain that I hardly ever buy things specifically for the blog (if it happens, it’s usually for a photo shoot). But what happens is that I feel extremely responsible for my recommendations and believe that I cannot properly recommend anything unless I have tested everything and know what’s happening on the market. And this creates the (subconscious) pressure to buy all 10 latest foundation launches, because how else can I have informed views? I exaggerate, but only slightly. And paradoxically, this often holds me back from posting, because I think I don’t yet have a full picture of whatever I want to write about… Sometimes I really do make myself despair🙂
Dear Ykkinna, I love your blog for the reasons above mentioned so well. You are truly unique. Everything changes, you and…your blog, as a reflection of it. You will find the way. I wanted to tell that I am grateful for everything you have shared with us. Merry Christmas from Spain!
Oh, Spain! What a wonderful place to be from. Thank you for your lovely comment and slightly belated Merry Christmas to you, too!
Books! skincare! Don’t disappear! I am totally ok with reduced frequency, please keep writing.
Thank you, May! This is so good to know.
I agree with all the commenters: your writing is elegant and thoughtful, and has a presence that is different from other platforms. More specifically, I think it does something that is rare: offers a space to pause and think, instead of driving polarization or encouraging endless scrolling, and I think that is particularly important today. Personally, I most like your book posts (I think that’s how I found your blog in the first place), and I always turn to these for inspiration, certain that your choices are thought out and considered. I also like the trend and clothes posts. I understand your concern that promoting more shopping today feels wrong; I think many of us share your unease and are (re)considering our own behaviors – and are recognizing that the answer may not be as straightforward as simply shopping less (though that certainly helps). I think it’s an important conversation, and I for one would welcome your thoughts on this topic to help navigate its complexity.
Selfishly, I hope you find a way to continue writing, I would certainly miss your voice, but I understand the need to find a way forward. In any event, thank you for your blog until now, it has been important to me. I hope you have a very happy Christmas!
Dear Anna, your comment reminds me again that I surely have some of the most intelligent and eloquent readers of any blog (or of anything, really). It is so interesting to read your reflections and insights and it is of course immensely helpful as well. Thank you for taking the time to comment and very happy holidays from Greece.
I am very much with you in the need to spend less. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of your readers are or have been in similar periods of change. Maybe you could write about this process, how do you use and enjoy what you have, changing lifestyles. Your blog has introduced me to quite some things that made my life easier and more pleasant, skincare, books, smoked salt and a cashmere jogging suit…I also loved your perfume writing, no need for new perfumes just new perceptions about them. Life in a changing climate.
Hah, that’s a perfect slogan right there! It’s also a good point that of course one does not need new stuff to write about (not to mention that I have a huge backlog of things anyway), one just needs to have something to say. In fact, this round of feedback has been very inspiring. Also – good to see you🙂
This is so not my thing, I read a grand total of three blogs intermittently. But I did find myself coming back to this one, and while I have not loved the consumerism part, I have loved: the love of colour; the unabashed self-confidence that includes changing your mind in public; the impeccable literary taste, as much as I’ll never willingly touch anything fantasy; the tiara theory; the perfumes; the thoughtful ellipsis of private life over a generous sharing of private thought…. And yes, the thorough European-ness of thinking is very refreshing. I come from a warm climate and now live in a different planet altogether. Will try to follow your thread still.
I read very few blogs myself these days, so I often find it almost incomprehensible- and very flattering – that some people follow mine. Thank you! And thank you for the list of things you’ve enjoyed, you make me sound very sophisticated. Where is your planet, if it’s OK to ask?
I live in Planet Tokyo, somewhere between Pattern Recognition and The Pillow Book 🙂
This must be extremely exciting, what a place to live! I loved my trip to Japan, but I’m not sure I would be able to live there…
Less is more. Yes. Great idea toning down the consumerism. Can’t wait to read the stuff you really wanna write. Go for it, lady!
Thank you! I don’t think there’s going to be any massive change, just a slow shift in focus (which has been going on for a while) and frequency. It’s not like I was writing stuff I didn’t want to write until now! I will not become a minimalist overnight. It’s more about balancing my sensibilities with the new (or newly acknowledged) realities. And also about juggling the blog and other responsibilities.
I actually prefer reading thoroughly thought through quality content to reading about more or less mindless consumption, and I also like reading your thoughts about literature and perfume, two of my absolute favourite subjects. So my vote obviously goes to keeping on writing, but maybe you could switch the content a bit in the direction that you’re naturally heading?