Social Media Break

Hi darling friends,

As you might have noticed, I have not been very active on Instagram, actually I haven’t been at all! The trigger started last year around the Christmas period. Little did I know that when I decided to do it to balance my personal life, work and being a beauty blogger, I did not foresee for it to be so long.

It’s about time I get back, don’t you think? But before I do that, I decided to write a blog post about it, to give you an insight as to why and share what I have gained from having been in such prolonged absence. A summary on an Instagram post or story will not be sufficient to tell it all.

Why did I take the break? A combination of several things which led to a longer and longer period.

Let’s start with mentioning time. Yes, it does take time: preparing each post of the line-up of each of my routines, the shooting, the lighting (always looking for natural sunlight), the time of the day, the text, etc. Mostly my photos are taken at the moment. I know I should switch to the mode of taking several photos to last me a week or two, but in that way I kind of miss the inspiration of the moment. Let’s not forget there is my beloved Green Diva who is always involved and watching over my shoulder or getting down to play with the goodies! A reason why I don’t do texture shots because she will want to taste it, I guess it can be considered a good sign.

Most of you know what it takes to create the posts, followed by the lovely reactions from my beloved followers, and brand owners. Thank you always so much for your support. Sometimes I fell behind on engaging with each of you, simply because of my job – long hours and by the time I got back home, I had little to zero energy. I tried my best but at some point I started feeling pressured, like it had to be a must. In the meantime I was also missing out on moments in my life. Missing out on living and experiencing the small events that are priceless! Here is an example: cooking while responding to comments, instead of enjoying a conversation with Frank as my attention was diverted. Or not fully reading a book because I had the mobile next to me. Also taking public transport and not looking out the window at what was happening around because my head was into my phone, just like many other people like me stuck in their mobile screens. Sit down and observe how many people are not paying attention to what it’s happening in their surroundings: forgetting to grant a smile to a stranger or a simple hello, the bird on the tree singing, the beautiful flowers displaying their colourful beauty.

Since this is my hobby and not a living, I have certainly invested on my beauty products, but sometimes I was exceeding my budget because of the new launches, always so exciting! Can you blame me? There is only so much product you can be using or testing at the same time, and in order to see results you must stick to at least a month or more to see results. I love organic products which also means a shorter shelf life as well after opening date. (Spoiler: next blog post will be my journey into green/clean/organic beauty and my views). That investment is money which I don’t want it to go to waste. What’s the point of organic sourcing and small batches production, so that we consumers end up wasting what nature has given us in the first place? Consumerism… Food for thought here…

While I do test products and gather well my thoughts about it before posting a review, it means I take quite some time to do so. That lead me to feel slightly bad towards brand owners because I am not one to share my opinion about a product until I am truly able to see results or not. I feel very honoured and grateful when a brand or store owner reaches out to me to ask if I want to try products. Since each formulation is so well thought of, I want to be respectful in sharing my experience and give as much information as I possibly can. Just as much as the formulation has been trialed, tested and sourced with the best possible ingredients. At the end of the day a product might work wonderfully for me, but not for you or vice versa – our skin is so unique to each of us.

During this break period, a particular project I was working on had to be delayed because a few weeks back a personal situation came up that took me off guard. Just when I was ready to come back! Murphy’s Law but it’s life, always full of surprises, good and bad ones, isn’t it? My focus turned into dealing with it (still) and transforming the frustrated energy into something positive.

Along the way I was not feeling inspired, posting for the sake of posting, no; I had lost my mojo!

Here I am, got my groove back with a fresh look and renewed energy; excited for things to come but above all because this long break has enabled me to put down the phone and enjoy the simplest things in life, save money instead of spending it and the healthy balance that I was looking for.

To all of you, thank you so much for being there and being so supportive. My apologies if my silence caused you to feel that I left you; I never have, I never intended to. It was simply a period to refocus on myself.

Sending you all much love, missed you!

Groovy baby!

Adri Xxx