It’s hard to know how to start this post, as it’s been so long since I last shared anything on my blog! But one of my goals this year was to get back to blogging again, so that’s what I’m trying to do!
Blogging is where it all started for me. It’s been almost ten years since I shared my first post – I remember how nervous I felt pressing that publish button and putting myself out there. But, for some reason, I think I feel even more nervous now than I did back then! Perhaps it’s because I now already have an established blog, which I’ve taken so much time away from. Back then, I had an empty slate with no expectations of what I might share. Whereas now, I’ve got ten years behind me of posts – some good and some not so great. I’ve got a degree in Journalism. And I’m obviously a lot older too. It feels like I should be producing amazing content right from the get-go, which is probably just an expectation that I’ve put on myself to be honest! And it’s scary wondering if anyone will actually read my blog posts now. I never had a huge following before, but I was happy with the views and comments I was getting, and they seemed to be heading in the right direction. I feel like I’m starting from scratch again, but maybe that’s not a bad thing.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m really proud of my past blog. I put so much time and energy into developing it, curating posts, sharing photos, and building up my audience. But I think it’s also important to acknowledge that, with time and increasing age, I’m going to change and potentially become a different person to the person I was ten years ago. And with that change is going to come a different outlook, different ideas, and different life circumstances. So, it makes sense that my posts are probably going to look quite different to the ones in the past. And that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with change.
Speaking of change, if you have followed my blog for a while, you’ll probably notice some pretty big changes over here. Firstly, I’ve changed my blog name. I remember trying to come up with a name for my blog ten years ago – experimenting with words, names and attempting to come up with something unique that described what and who I was. I ended up naming it after my cat, Jaffa, who is sadly no longer with me. The name Ramblings of a Jaffa Cat never really made sense. I’d always get questions about what it meant and who was Jaffa - I guess at least it was a talking point! But when I came back to blogging this year, I decided I was finally ready for a rebrand. Again, I spent ages experimenting with words and names, trying to come up with something that would explain who I am and what I’m writing about. But nothing really stuck and everything I came up with just felt a bit gimmicky. So, in the end, I decided to just go with my name – after all, this blog is going to be about me and my life, so what better name to use than my own! Hopefully it’s not something I’ll grow out of either – it feels professional enough that I can use it in my journalistic work, but informal enough to fit with my personal blog too. I’ve included the tag line ‘Disability. Disney. Daily Life,’ just to give a brief explanation of what you might find on my blog, but hopefully it also leaves space for me to write posts about anything that feels important to me at the time.
You may also notice that, because of this name change, that I have a new blog header! Once I decided that I no longer wanted to be Ramblings of a Jaffa Cat, I knew that I would obviously need a new header to match my new blog name. Thankfully, the lovely Helen, who did my last header, was only too happy to help me with this new one, and I’m so pleased with the result. I think it encapsulates everything I hope to talk about – Disability and chronic illness, Disney, and my daily life as a Disabled person. It’s also now possible to use it as a header across all my social media, such as my YouTube channel and Facebook page, giving me a bit more of a cohesive presence. I really like the fact that everything will now be linked together, rather than before, where every outlet was a bit different.
So, what can you expect from my blog in the future? In all honesty, I’m still working that out in my head! I’m hoping to focus on life as a Disabled person, so posts about accessible days out, what to expect from certain hospital tests and appointments, sharing tips, hacks, and products that I’ve picked up to make life a bit easier and just generally what it’s like to live with a Disability and chronic illness. But I also want to talk about things that I love, so you’ll also see posts about one of my biggest loves – Disney! As well as things like beauty, fashion, travel, theatre, and so much more. I can’t really fit myself into a particular niche – there’s just too many different things I want to write about! But I think that’s OK – I guess you’d call it a lifestyle blog and that suits me just fine.
I’m really looking forward to getting back to blogging again. I’ve missed writing so much and have felt really sad about abandoning the blog that started it all. I won’t be able to promise a specific schedule for my posts or say I’ll be sharing, say, two posts a week, as it’s going to completely depend on my health (which hasn’t been good over the last few years – maybe I’ll expand on what’s been going on in another post!) But I do want to make the commitment to just share on here as regularly as possible, so hopefully some of you will stick around to read it! I’m excited to get started!
What posts would you like to see from me now that I'm back to blogging?
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