I’ve Been Given The Sunshine Blogger Award

Not only have I been seriously slacking on the blogging front (winter months, amirite?) but I also missed this amazing award. The Sunshine Blogger Award is a peer-recognition achievement for bloggers.

With bloggers nominating other bloggers who they believe create blogs worth reading, the recognition itself feels just beautiful. Writing and creating a blog can be personal, so knowing others find joy in what you do is a great feeling.

I was nominated by Life With Rachael, a lifestyle blogger I discovered on Twitter and Boss Girl Bloggers. She posed 11 questions to be, which I’ll answer below.

11 GTKM Questions

What are 3 positive things that have happened for you in 2020?

I began writing my novel properly. My wonderful podcast, The Island Library Podcast began and finished season one.

What is something you wish you could tell your younger self?

Stop stressing, and go to the doctor.

The former is more to do with everything I do having to sit comfortably in my life. The second is because I spent far too long uncomfortable in my own head when really I had undiagnosed and untreated mental health disorders.

If you could be famous for 1 thing, what would it be?

My book… I guess? Whenever I decide to let it be free into the world. Or maybe all the work I do for mental health. I don’t want to be famous “famous”. The idea of being famous in this climate actually makes me scared.

What skill would you love to have?

As much as I try, learning a language is so damn hard. So I would love to be able to find learning a language a bit easier.

What is your favourite part of blogging?

Spreading a little joy with my words and hopefully impacting someone’s day in a positive way. I also love looking back at things from the year, and I can do that easily with blogging. Such as Purchases Which Made Me Happy in 2020, I can look back at this next year and see if I still use these.

What is your perfect idea of self care?

Playing The Sims 4 or just lying in bed for hours when I’ve woken up and watching videos until I feel I need food. I find such peace in the morning that it’s nice to hide under the covers and just be.

If you could travel anywhere in time, where would you go and why?

I’d love to go and see the Egyptians, but really I’d love to have gotten to know my Grandad as he’s spoken so highly off and I barely knew him before he passed.

If you could live anywhere in the world other than where you currently live, where would it be?

I want to live somewhere both me and my husband can thrive. I’m quite lucky that most of my work (except my day job) can move with me, but for him he is an engineer with specific qualifications so a move is definitely on the cards for us in the future. I don’t care where we go, as long as he can be happy and so can I, plus Cheddar. But I’m sure the dog will be happy as long as there is a park and no water.

What was the last app you used on your phone? NOT including social media.

NHS COVID-19 app.

I wanted to see if it was still working as I hadn’t had a notification for a while and thought I’d broken it.

What, if anything, have you learnt from the last year?

That having a full-breakdown in January 2020 was the worst, but best thing that ever happened to me. I was in so much ‘mental’ pain, and had been holding on so much, that when everything shattered I thought it was the end of everything. But it wasn’t.

I learned that I can do a lot more than I set my mind to, and can even freelance.

What do you hope for next year?

I hope to continue to be happy, and push my little freelance-butt to take on better jobs. I hope my book will be done and set, so I can choose which path I want to take. Most of all, just wish I keep the same handle on my health, but if I can’t, I want to be able to put a plan into action and get the help I deserve.

I am going to nominate just a handful of blogs for this award. I need to read more blogs than I currently do, which is something I’m going to work on.

LauraLizBuckley – a blogger, but also an editor and co-founder of The Island Library

Jenny Eckloff – a writer as well as a blogger who talks about her health and diabetes journey.

Love, Em – a blogger who talks about lifestyle, Beaty and food.

Here are your questions, if you wish to answer them:

1. What are three positive things that have happened for you in 2020?
2. What is something you wish you could tell your younger self?
3. Favourite podcast or song you listen too regularly?
4. Favourite thing about your 2020?
5. How are you going to make your blog grow next year?
6. What Hogwarts House are you, and do you agree?
7. Where do you want to travel to in the next year (if we all can)?
8. What’s a book or film world you’d love to be in for the day?
9. What is your favourite thing about social media?
10. What, if anything, have you learnt from the last year?
11. What do you hope for next year?