Let's face it, being green and clean is not easy. Sure the market is booming, more people are getting interested and wising up in the industry. More shops are selling natural alternatives to traditional offerings and online websites are abundant, but it still isn't something you can do without thinking.
With traditional beauty, lifestyle, fashion etc etc you simply walk into a shop or hop on a website and your only tough decisions boil down to the most simple aspects. Colour/pattern/fabric, scent/taste, size/fit and price are top of the list, every individual will have other personal preferences but these sum up the vast majority of areas to debate during purchasing.
In the green/clean 'world' it just isn't that straightforward. Heck we can't even agree on the terms, words, phrases and names to use for it. There's a whole lists of terminology out there that are used and often abused and we're all trying to find one that fits just right, but there isn't one.
Why?
Because like with everything else in life it breaks down to being about personal preference. Never in a million years will everyone ever agree full heartedly on the exact same thing.
Then add into the mix; brands, ingredients, do's and don'ts, research/new research/old research, application techniques, ethics, environment, humanity, trends, experts, bloggers, opinions, facts, opinions, research, studies, opinions, facts....aaaaaarrgh. One day, one research study says ABC about a topic of choice the next month a new study says XYZ about the same thing! It's enough to make you question every. single. little. thing. And that ain't easy.
Step in blogging for newbies. So you've jumped on this, lets be real, MAMMOTH journey of exploring and transitioning to natural living and if it wasn't tough enough you've decided to blog all your successes and all your pitfalls and everyone will be reading and having their opinions on your opinions. Well.....when you think of it like, as the phrase goes; shit just got real.
Over time you feel confidence grow, you get to grips with all those long complex ingredient names, can trot out facts and figures to anyone asking. You merrily blog away until out of the blue something, or nothing as can sometimes be the case, comes up and makes you start to question everything you thought you knew or your decisions, your choices, your ethics. All of a sudden you feel like the newbie on the block again. What a sucker punch to the gut that feeling is.
So this is where I find myself again. After years and years of blogging I seem to have come full circle again and feel like I'm back where I started on the natural journey. I'm talking most specifically about beauty as that is my strongest area of focus for my blog. I've felt lately I've really found my niche and my passion with makeup, I've always loved it and gaining the confidence to really bring it to my blog has been amazing. However, along with this I've started to now question and struggle with my choices, molehills becoming mountains. Should I be/do/say/choose this? Should I be/say/do/choose that? I've had this in my head for a while and feel it's only honest to share on my blog. As I say my blog is about successes and failures and I've never claimed to try and be perfect, so this is real and honest. I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing right now! I'm wading through options and feeling torn in so many directions. That's the honest truth.
I feel like I can write this now because I've finally settled in my mind what I want to do about my 'inner turmoil' and that is to except the fact that there is no perfect, there are no rules, things are always going to be changing, conflicting and that is just part of it all. It's part of the journey and I'm going to try and incorporate that in my blog a lot more. I always wanted to find a set guideline in my own mind of strict rules that I follow, but with the ever changing industry, new ingredients and research popping up daily, having a set guideline or rules in my head isn't realistic. So my new personal mind project is about flexibility and COMPROMISE. Not being scared to compromise, to make choices, to choose a 'lesser of two evils' approach if I just don't want to give something up completely.
And so leads me on to my next lengthy heart and soul searching, slightly ranty post, about 'compromise'. But that is for another blog post, another day.
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