A Pirate’s life for me…..ish.

Today’s post is a slightly odd one, but don’t be put off it’s a pretty amusing story. I have a skin condition called Vitiligo. Vitiligo is caused by the lack of skin pigment melanin and apparently if you have vitiligo you don’t have enough working melanocytes, so not enough melanin is produced causing white patches to develop on the skin or hair. Simple, but if you want to learn more here’s a useful NHS link. 

The reason for this post is that over the past year, more patches have appeared. Apparently stress can cause patches to grow or multiply which might be why I’ve seen three on my tummy in the last six months (#muststaycalm,) but only one of the patches really causes a little concern. My right eyebrow is turning a rather sexy white colour, and in turn the last year I’ve kind of noticed an eye patch appearing. I’m not insecure about my Vitiligo, not at all but I’ve always been terrified of patches appearing on my face and now there is one.

SO, I’ve decided it’s a Pirate patch. A baddass pirate patch, which made me think I should go read treasure Island again, and yes you can all cheer “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest, yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum,” but I really wish I had gone back to this book sooner. I read a children’s version back when I was ten, along with Dracula (not sure how recommended that is,) and I adored it and eventually went back and read the real tale all over again. There’s something so blisteringly exciting about this beautiful book. The classic adventure story, with Admiral Benbow Inn, who the young, courageous and I assume handsome (Oo Laa Laa,) Jim Hawkins overhears telling terrible tales of hangings, rum, walking the plank, storms, boats and the treacherous Skeleton Island. Meeting the mutinous crew of Long John Silver and the Hispaniola, this is a terrible tale of secrets, killings, dabloons and “PIECES OF EIGHT.” A beautifully swashbuckling tale and one that’s given me a little confidence this week.

Many times I’ve relied on books for inspiration, for comfort, for support in the darkest of times, but never for appearance based confidence. I guess I never thought that a pirates tale would give me a little boost. I’ve attached a photo so you can all have a little giggle (and I know I see it worse than everyone else does,) but my question this week is, which books have given you confidence? A little pick me up and let’s share a little happiness on this fiddly Friday.

 

 

6 things I learnt on my blogging break!

Hello readers, it’s FriYAY and it’s time for a bookish post from yours truly. I wanted to talk about blogging and the bookish break I took. When I started this blog I never thought I would take time off and if I did I assumed it would be for work or for holiday but it ended up being grief that really took me away from this platform and I wanted to talk about all the things I’ve learnt.

It’s okay to step back

When I saw bloggers taking blogging breaks I never really understood why but, I now understand. Whatever pressures there are, even if they seem insignificant, sometimes we just need some breathing space. #amIright.

It’s okay to STOP and then think

We live in a world of notifications, of buzzes, and bleeps. During my blogging break I stepped back completely; only today did I even open my blogging email to survey the damage and I didn’t pick up a book for over two weeks. It’s okay to take time to repair. 

It’s okay to switch off

One of the things I spent a lot of time doing was thinking of ways I could freshen up my content and make it more, interesting and exciting. When you’re blogging 24/7 it’s difficult to find time to step back and look at what you’re putting out there. I spent evenings doodling things down, making new imagery, and started to take photographs of new books.

It’s okay to change how you’ve ALWAYS done things

For at least the past year I’ve posted three reviews a week and the pressure of that has been so destructive. I love reading, I love reviewing but it doesn’t mean it all has to go on the blog, or be written about. Stepping back has shown me I want to write more posts about products, about things that I use to run my blog, and things like that. It’s okay to change your goals.

 It’s a good idea to lay out clear goals for the future

Do you have clear direction for next month? Or for 2017? Okay, maybe don’t be too crazy with planning WAAAAAY into 2017 but I realised I didn’t have any goals and that is silly as a blogger. I mean I work in digital marketing and IT’S ALL ABOUT GOALS.

It’s a good time to get hella reading done

I used the month or so to reallllllly get my butt back into reading for fun, rather than for writing a blog post. Blogging was always a space where I read and then reviewed, not created a plan that said there must be a blog post, today, Wednesday and Friday. Reading should be fun not a chore and stepping back helped me remember this.

I guess that’s it – six things I learnt. I mean these aren’t the craziest, or most shocking things I’ve learnt but I felt pressured to not take a break and it’s okay. If you need it, if you want to, if you’re tired of blogging, take some time to mentally and physically step back. It could just do the world of good.