Petals Of Perfection Is 3 Years Old!

Where have those 3 years gone?! I started Petals Of Perfection on a quiet Saturday afternoon, in bed on the 28th September 2013! I remember the day so clearly... I was sitting in bed watching endless amounts of YouTube (nothing has changed there haha) and I remember thinking that I really wanted to give YouTube a go. At the time, I was still at school in my last year of GCSEs and didn't have much confidence. The idea of sitting in front of a camera and making videos for the whole world to see, including people at school, scared the absolute crap out of me. I had been watching YouTube since I was about 11/12 years old and I really liked the idea of making content, but due to my low confidence I thought blogging would be the best way to start ... I mean, Zoella started as a blogger, why can't I!? 

I typed into Google "Free Blog" and of course Blogger came up. At the time blogging wasn't that big, it was all about YouTube, so I had no idea how to set up a blog. I tried my best to throw together a template and to set it up as much as possible! I remember my template being SO messy! The background was covered in an ugly floral print and the text was all curved and 'pretty' and the colour of the font was so light, you could barely read it! We've all made those mistakes... these mistakes are like the equivalent of wearing Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse and thinking you were the next makeup up artist for Vogue! 

I had the idea for this blog post just before I went to sleep last night; I thought I could relate my blogging experience/milestones so far to the same milestones that a 3 year old toddler has. Yes, I know... blame the late night thoughts haha! So I googled what milestones do 3 year olds develop in their 3rd year of existence and these are some that came up!

They make more friends as they begin to start nursery ... 

Over the years, I have made SO many friends through blogging, some of which I've met and others who I am hoping to meet in the near future! When I first started my blog back in 2013, I didn't promote it at all... I didn't have any social media for it whatsoever! I think it was in 2014, maybe even 2015, I made a Twitter and Instagram to promote my blog and to interact with other bloggers. A year or so later, I've managed to somehow gain over 5000 'followers'/friends on Twitter and over 1100 on Instagram! My followers are going up in dramatic amounts daily... I've gained nearly 100 followers on Twitter in only a couple of days! It is absolutely mental but I'm so grateful for all of the support I get! 

Toddlers begin to start getting involved in more activities...

Blogging has allowed me to be invited to a number of events such as; the Makeup Revolution Birthday party, the Beauty Blogger Awards (which I'm also a finalist in... crazyyy) and many more! Although I still get quite anxious at events, I'm so so grateful that blogging has allowed me to get involved in more activities... I would never be able to experience these things if it wasn't for my blog! 

Toddlers can also make more choices...

Blogging gives you so much freedom! It's your little place on the big world wide web where you can do purely what YOU want to do and you have no limitations... which is very rare in todays world! You can work with so many brands and make the choice whether you want to work with them or not. This is one main thing I have got out of blogging; I am now able to say that I have worked with some massive brands, to name a few; Microsoft, The Body Shop, Nokia, Tangle Teezer, Hello! Magazine, John Frieda... the list goes on! This is especially good for me as, I want to go into the advertising and marketing/PR career, so to have these companies on my CV is going to open plenty of doors for me... I have blogging to thank for this! 

Toddlers also sleep a lot at this age, after a busy day at nursery...

I had to think hard about how I could relate this to my blog but then I thought... sleeping is sort of like taking a break?! Yay... Nay!?!? meh... I have had many breaks from blogging in the past few years. When I first started blogging, I used to just blog whenever I felt like it. Then I got more into a schedule and I'd blog every week; which I think went on for about a year, until I started uni and if you go to uni and have a blog, you'll understand how hard they are to juggle! I've had a long break recently and this is the first post I've done in ages that I have actually enjoyed writing! 

Lastly, toddlers become more independent... 

As I said at the start of this post, I always wanted to do YouTube but never had the balls to do it, until 5 months ago. After my break up (which I guess you can say, this is where I became more independent) my mental health deteriorated dramatically and I needed a creative outlet to help me get through it all, so I started YouTube. At first I really enjoyed it and I got addicted to making videos. I still enjoy it now but I'm finding it hard to come across like I'm happy and obviously when I'm anxious/depressed, I'm not very exciting to watch. I am hoping that I get back into it and fall in love with it again; but similarly to blogging, vlogging has allowed me to become more independent and create the content that I have always wanted to create!

So that's it! 3 years... with hopefully many more years to come! 

I don't know where this blog is going to go from here, but what I do know is that I am so so glad little 16 year old Sophie started this, because little did she know how far it would get her and what amazing experiences it would bring! 

Thank you all for the support over the past 3 years!

Happy 3rd Birthday Petals Of Perfection!

(yes I did nearly cry just writing that)

x