Intro | Welcome to Clear Blue Sunday

Do you ever get the feeling that, however much you may try to adapt, the world you have built around you suddenly stops being the right place for you? I have been wrestling with that feeling over the past 12 months, albeit on a fairly inconsequential subject: writing. After months of trying to find ways to make the beauty blog that I have poured so much of myself into over the past four years fit with my 31 year old outlook, I have finally come to the realisation that the only way to move forward is to leave it behind. Writing is my passion, and one that has been sorely neglected while I debated my next step, but now that the decision is made and a new blog has been created, I can't wait to see what lies ahead.

Rather than confine myself to a tight niche, I want Clear Blue Sunday to be a place where I share all the things that are most important to me. As a former beauty blogger (wow - it feels good to say that!), I am sure there will be the occasional beauty post, but predominantly, I want to focus on the things that I get the most satisfaction from: health, exercise and wellbeing, work (yes, bizarre, I know, but it's something most of us have to deal with!) and personal development, and maybe a bit of cookery.

It's also important to me that I set out here what this blog won't be. As much as I used to enjoy beauty blogging, I became so disillusioned with what felt like a constant parade of vanity and materialism. There are some fantastic bloggers out there who really do focus on helping people to look and feel their best, but browsing through Instagram, I often got the feeling that blogs simply served to make people feel less happy and more insecure with their lives. I may be way off the mark, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was contributing to something that I find dark and upsetting. It had to stop, and that's what brings me here.

One of my aims will be, as much as possible, to portray a 'normal life': one that I hope resonates with you. While it has been wonderful to go to product launches and receive samples of various lotions and potions, I no longer think that fits with my 'ethics' (if that's not too grand a term). I have a job that I love and a happy home life, and I think those things matter much more than whether or not I have the full range of a new lipstick collection before it hits the shops. I'd like, if at all possible, to be the kind of blogger who contributes to you feeling great about your normal life, too, rather than making you sorry that you don't live behind an Instagram filter.

So, that's my little mission statement of sorts. The title Clear Blue Sunday sums up exactly what I want to achieve through this blog: peace, contentment and nothing but clear, blue skies ahead. I hope you'll join me on my journey.