There is a reason they call it the 7-year itch. It is just about long enough for a person to want to start exploring new things, but yet not long enough to decide if it’s time to up sticks and move on.
My Women Stuff turns 7 in 2 days and believe you me, that itch set in well and good some time last year. So I have this draft post where I say good bye and thank you for all the fish, but I haven’t yet hit publish on it. The simple reason is that I couldn’t bring myself to. It was like cutting off an appendage and I realised I’d really miss my arm.
So I talked to a couple of friends away from the blogging scene and they helped me put things in perspective. Incidentally, I received an email recently, asking me how I kept up my passion for blogging and it made me stop and think.
And you know what? I don’t know how I’ve kept it up for 7 years! 😀
In an effort to understand how I’ve lasted this long and why I still keep at it, I thought about how I’ve kept at this for the past 7 years, and I believe it’s a combination of a few different factors, that I’m sure those of you who blog will recognise:-
- Interest in the fast moving world of makeup trends – 4 seasons in a year mean 4 seasons of makeup to look at, not to mention the different smaller innovations, releases and re-releases of various beauty items. My interests come and go depending on the different trends I see emerge and some attract me, and others don’t. But it’s always interesting to see what’s new out there even if it all feels a bit same-same after a while.
- Interest in skincare – I’ve developed a greater interest in skincare and it means I’m now a lot more discerning in what I dabble with, but it also means I’m more open to trying new routines and products and documenting them, because I’ve realised just how helpful they are to others who may experience the same or similar skin issues, or who have a similar skin type and want to have an idea of the efficacy of a particular product. If I find it useful, I’m sure I could help someone too.
- Honing my writing skills – I write a lot and I write long rambly posts but I’ve worked out it’s just how my brain is wired. Summary isn’t my strong suit and I’m more of the essay type so I’m not about to change myself. And writing (for fun) allows me to practice turns of phrases and figures of speech I might never have the chance to use otherwise 🙂
- Reassessing priorities – I love what I do here on MWS but I have also realised that I don’t want to do this full time. Talking to friends helped me understand that I could keep a work-life-blog balance, but it also meant that I’d have to reassess my priorities. Could I give up a day of blogging and photography to live life, if I had to? Could I take a day off if I wanted? Can I break out of the rigid schedule I’d put myself into? My answer was yes I could, and I have. I’ve started to let go, and take days off randomly and I’ve taken back my weekends for myself. I have a huge project coming up that’ll take up a lot of my time and I want to make that a success so that is my priority for now 🙂 Reassessing my priorities and managing expectations has made me enjoy blogging again because I now do it for myself, knowing I can stop whenever I want.
- Do what you love – Enough about pleasing others, please yourself. If you love what you do how you do it, then just go on doing it. If it pleases you to mix in lifestyle snippets into your blog, do it. If you want to talk about food, do it. Who’s to say it’s not right? Doing what I love, sharing what I want, even if it isn’t always about beauty keeps things interesting for me and that keeps me going. Restrict myself and I get bored quickly and turns a fun activity into a chore done to please someone else instead of myself.
- Learning to say no – Knowing my limits and being aware of my personal interest levels in things have helped me say no. People are rude, I say no. Something doesn’t interest me, I say no. I’ve said no so much, that saying Yes is now the exception rather than the norm but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The most important reason however, for me to keep at this is all the readers and friends I’ve made. Could I have kept on at this without the support of the readers i.e. YOU! ? No, I’d have given up because it’s no fun talking to yourself or shouting into the wind 😀
So as MWS turns 7, I take this opportunity to thank every single one of you reading this for spending those few precious minutes each day with me to read my ramblings, to contribute to the comments and ask questions and help answer others. I don’t think your boss appreciates it, but believe you me, you have my everlasting gratitude!
If I didn’t have your support, we wouldn’t be here celebrating 7 years on this home of mine on the internet. I’d like to think of blog years like dog’s years so yes, it does sort of feel like I’ve been doing this for 49 years! LOL 😀
Thank you, you and of course, YOU for giving me the passion to keep going 🙂
xoxo
Paris B
Congratulations, Paris! I love reading your blog posts on reviews of beauty related items cause it’s always so informative, and honest 🙂 Please don’t ever stop blogging!
Thank you so much Maple! I’m honoured that you enjoy reading my blog and I thank you too for the support. I hope to keep this up as best I can for as long as I can 🙂 x
I discovered your blog back in 2008 and since then I’ve followed you (silently for the most part though :p) regularly up to now!
Even after all these years, your blog is the one beauty blog I visit almost daily!
Well done for making it this far!
Oh my Houdini, I was just out of diapers back then! Thank you for sticking by through those early bumpier days and for all the support through the years – can’t believe it’s been so long 😀 x
aww Paris. Your blog has really helped me choose makeup and skincare wisely. I’m not from Malaysia, but I follow your blog more than our local bloggers here. Cheers to your 7th year 🙂
Aww ceej, thank you so much for being so kind! I love what an international community we are and I thank you for the support all through the years 😀 x
Well written post! I love every single thing u hv mentioned here, and yes, life is too short and impermanent to please others, and that is the exact reason why I finally begin to write after so many years. Keep doing what you do, Paris. You are doing great.
Thank you Liyeun and it’s great that you finally took the plunge to write – it’s quite cathartic, I feel, whether to rant or rave at something as innocuous as beauty 😀 Thank you for the support and all the best to you too on your blogging journey! 😀 x
Hey Paris, wow, 7 years! You have always been an inspiration! I hope you’ll have enough motivation to keep going for another 7! xx
Hey Sunny! I know, 7 years makes me almost ancient in blogging years! 😀 Thank you for your kind words and I’m happy to have “met” you along the journey! x
What you are doing here is amazing. This is my favourite blog that I’m still following after years. Still, you are the most important person in your life. No worries if you have to take a break here and there….Do take good care of yourself first more than anything. At the end of the day, to be able to go on and walk the distance, only ourselves matters.
Happy “49th” Anniversary. 🙂
Thank you so much Lisa! Like a few others, I feel like I’ve known you for ages too simply through our “conversations” in the comments. I think it’d be fun to meet up some day and talk about how great and underrated Guerlain shadows are 😀 Thank you for all the support and input through the years x
Happy 7th Anniversary Paris! I think I started to follow you about 2 years back and how time flew! You know, I have had a series of bad week, like experiencing 5 terrible Mondays in a week, 2 weeks in a row. Today was a marathon of bad news…
My heart skipped when I read this…
“My Women Stuff turns 7 in 2 days and believe you me, that itch set in well and good some time last year. So I have this draft post where I say good bye and thank you for all the fish, but I haven’t yet hit publish on it.”
Good bye?!
Thank God. It was not the case. Anyways, I am amazed and admire your blogging journey. It takes a lot to let the blog grow and mature. Imagine if it was a child, this year the child would be in Standard 1 learning more than just ABC, dancing, piano, iPad and what not 🙂 But this child of yours grew into the lives of many wonderful and beautiful ladies! Thank you for the gem that you are. Even if one day you decide to pull the plug on MWS, we’d still friends 🙂 xoxo!
Thank you Jennifer and you’re right, time really really flies! I’m glad I’ve had the chance to meet you and again, you’re right about the blog maturing. It’s like cheese you know. hehe… But I suppose that period of curing has helped me understand that even if left alone for a bit, it’s ok 🙂 Thanks again for sharing pieces of you with me through the comments – it means a lot to me that so many of you communicate with me through the comments and it also feels great to see so many people “grow up” through the years, some through college to university and now into the working world. I hope your weeks get better Jennifer – you sure do deserve it! x
Congratulations! Lovely to have had the pleasure of meeting you. I enjoy reading your posts but very bad for my purse.
Thank you Romana 😀 I’m glad we’ve had the chance to meet too, and we have to again soon! 😉
Dear Paris, i first came across your blog when I was searching randomly for eyebrow pencil review, and your Shu Uemura brow atelier post caught my eyes, back in 2010. Since then this blog has been one of my bookmark-page-to-read-everyday. Its like breakfast to me. Thank you for all the effort and time spent in making all the posts lively, fun, and honest. Congratulations and hope you enjoy blogging and sharing as long as possible =)
Aww thank you so much Patrick! Since 2010! Gosh, it’s been so long – thank you for sticking by all this time and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed your time here even as I’ve enjoyed hosting everyone – gosh wouldn’t it be fun to have a little party eh? 😀 Thank you again! x
Congratulations Paris! Here’s to many more, hopefully!
Thank you so much Gio and here’s to your successful blog too! x
I totally admire and respect you for keeping at it for 7 years. You are an inspiration to me and I definitely hope for more years to come 🙂
Thank you Lyn and I’m glad that through our respective blogs, we’ve ended up being friends – that’s been the best part about blogging! 😀
LOL @ Lily up there! Congrats on keeping it up for 7 years and still being as engaging as ever 😀
49 years is pretty dramatic isn’t it? 😀 Thank you MM and I’m glad we’ve “met” across the oceans thanks to blogging! 😉
we wanna THANK u too for keeping the posts up and giving us honest reviews and makeup tips thruout all these years. Your blog is simply amazing! my daily religious read:) Lets all hope that there willl be many 7 more years to come!
Aww thank YOU too Anne for sticking by and reading the reviews and tips and telling me where I go right or wrong 😀 Thank you for all the support – it means a lot to me! x
Congrats for coming this far Paris! I truly admire the way you’ve kept up all this time, you’re a real inspiration. x
Thank you S! I’m glad we managed to “bump” into each other across the oceans and miles 😀 You have a great blog too – all the best on your journey! x
Congratulations!
Thank you! 🙂
Happy 7 years anniversary! Yours is one of my favorite blogs, because I love the essay nature of writing — it feels so much like being invited into a discussion about beauty. Our skin are quite not very similar, but I’ve learned a lot from all of your skincare posts. 🙂
Aww thank you so much Emy! It’s always nice to know that despite my ramblings and essays, there are people who actually read what I’m blabbing on about which I truly truly appreciate! And I love the contributions from you and everyone to the discussions too – we learn so much from each other, don’t we? 😀 I’m happy you enjoy the skincare posts even though our skins aren’t alike nor do we live in the same climate. Thank you for always contributing to the comments – it helps make my “job” easier and more fun too! x
Happy birthday MWS and congratulation Paris! It’s interesting to read this post as it shows how blogging on MWS can teach both you and your readers how to deal with other aspects of life. That’s one of the main reasons I’ve followed your blog. Apart from the usual stuff about make up and skin care, there are also golden nuggets of thoughts regarding life and how we can deal with the many problems that we may face daily. That is what sets MWS apart and it can feel more like reading letters from a friend about various issues rather than just beauty issues alone.
XXIsabel
I also wanted to just add that I barely ever comment on other blogs that I follow and at first I wasn’t sure why I was only inspired to respond on MWS. Now, I’m guessing it’s precisely because of what I mentioned above – that it feels like reading letters from a friend and therefore, there is a sense of the need to respond so that there is a two way communication.
I’m both honoured and touched, Isabel 🙂 I love the communication – and if I do pull the plug some day, this is what I’ll miss the most – all our “conversations” 🙂 x
Thank you so much Isabel and I love your observation because in many ways, I do try to broaden the scope of MWS to not just be about beauty on the surface although a lot of it is about it, but also life. I think we all have something to share and I learn from everyone who shares their comments and input as much as I hope to share some of my experiences. Thank you for likening MWS to reading letters from a friend. It is what I’ve always hoped for it to be – a friendly cafe open for mature discourse – and I’m so happy that so many people feel the same way about it. Thank you 🙂 x
I started reading your blog when you are featured in The Star. Don’t know how long that was.. but, congrats! Don’t stop writing!
Thank you Shannen and goodness, that must have been ages ago! I don’t even remember when I was featured haha 😀 Thank you for spending your time with us and I’m glad I’ve had the chance to meet you! 😉 x
Congratulations Paris!!! =D
If I start blogging, will you be my friend too? ^_^ hehe~
Thank you so much Angela and of course, if you want to start blogging, just do it! We’re all friends here 😀
Happy 7th Anniversay *cheers*
Cheers, Mrs Rance! 😀 Thank you!