Happy New Year 2015

Happy New Year lovelies!

With the dawn of a new day and a new year, this is probably the most opportune time for me to crawl out of my hidey hole where I’ve been hibernating for the past 2 months and squint into the sun and say “I’m back!” Or maybe I’m not. Where are my sunglasses again? *squint*

Either way, dithering and rambling aside, I’m here to tell you that MWS is for the most part, back on your reading list. While this is a rather insipid post to kick off the new year and to make that slambang comeback (I feel more like a fizzled out firework than the glorious pinwheel spinning across the night sky) that really wasn’t my intention. I’d have loved to spring into your mailbox and feed reader with a huge grin and theatrical flair, all glitter and glitz and fireworks, and then proceed to tell you just how I was going to kick ass now that I’m back, refreshed from being a bear all the winter of my discontent.

But instead, I’m going to invite you come sit down on this comfy couch, sip some tea and slow down a little. I’m not going to make a big announcement about how “things are going to change” or what I’m going to do to make that change because the truth is that I don’t know. So often, what looks like change ends up being just the same old thing so I’m not falling down that rabbit hole again.

My 2 month break wasn’t all about blogging, but it was also a time out for me to sort out a lot of things so I have to say that the direction I’m going with MWS wasn’t quite at the forefront of my mind all the time, hence my reluctance or rather, uncertainty with where I’m going.

What I will say is that I enjoy blogging and I enjoy sharing my thoughts and stories on products and how well (or badly) they perform. I’m going to start rebalancing that with the attendant obligations that come with the territory but I will safely say that I’m not interested in shiny newness anymore. So much that is new is ephemeral (and crap). If I’m interested, you’ll hear what I think. If it doesn’t interest me (whitening, mascara, primers, pretty and fleeting limited edition stuff… pbfft!) you won’t.

I like working WITH brands and certain (very few and very selected) PR people but I don’t work FOR them so everyone’s just going to have to swallow that and take their chances. I know, it’s my blog, I do what I want, yadda yadda…. but I just have to remind myself of that, and that No is also an answer because not everything has to be a Yes. As bloggers, we like to think we blog for you the reader, or for many, they blog for the PR hand that feeds their freebie addiction; but if you really have been blogging long enough, you’ll realise that you blog not for anyone but for yourself. And when you lose that focus and drive, you might as well pull down the shutters.

So, I’m sorry folks, the truth is out. When I blog here in MWS, I blog for myself because I love writing stories, and I’m opinionated and sometimes caustic, and I’m beholden to no one. I blog for me because I like my voice. That I’ve found like-minded people to come along with me for the ride thrills me to no end because how often does that happen, I ask you? 😀

I also spent the past 2 months hibernating and dwelling on various aspects of life where basically I went speeding down the highway of life only to fall down a sinkhole. Someone really should patch those potholes eh? But sinkholes and potholes aside, I learned something about myself. I learned that as much as I could love, I could hate with as much fervour and passion. But I had a choice whether to nurse and channel that hatred and anger into an incandescent flame that would consume me and destroy; or I could take hold of that most basic of feelings, mould it, lance that boil and watch it subside. The scar remains and it should, to serve as a reminder. But I realised that erupting like Mount Vesuvius all the time was not only self-defeating, the fall out, like that of an erupting volcano, would have far reaching consequences. It could be stupidity, setting myself up for more disappointment to come, but I’d like to think it is maturity. If others choose to behave in a childish and oft-times unfit manner, it is their prerogative. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be drawn down to their level, which is a lesson I learned the slow, painful and hard way.

On this introspective note, both on the blogging and personal front, I bid you welcome this 1 January 2015, to an enlightened and perhaps even a more mellow (but not necessarily less caustic) PB and MWS. The road is winding as I navigate this wilderness, it will be bumpy (damn potholes!) and this wagon has square wheels, but you know what? It’s all mine 🙂

On another note, due to numerous requests, I’ve quietly launched an email newsletter, the MWS Companion which will go out fortnightly or monthly as I see fit to update you on new posts and the like. There’s no need to subscribe if you don’t want to. The blog will still be here, and while daily updates aren’t on the menu for now, it will be updated fairly frequently. But if you’d like to be a Companion then click on the image below to get to the sign up form.

Happy New Year, my lovelies and I hope you all kick ass this 2015. I plan to 😉

xoxo

Paris B