Blogging Community Shout-Out: Sunshine and Positivity

Today I’d like to do a post that’s a bit different from my regular style advice entries. Today it’s a blogging community shout-out- because they’re worth it! I want to take the time to say how lucky I feel to be able to blog and how delighted I am to be part of the blogging community. I love being surrounded by people who want to build each other up, put positive vibes out into the world and create something beautiful with other bloggers.

It’s a great feeling having your work be praised and valued by people in your niche. They are the ones who share the same struggles as you, harbour the same ambitions and face the same hurdles. And this past month has been a great one for feeling love from the community.

My first thanks is to Laura at girlbehindthelook for giving me the chance to participate in a project on body positivity. This is a very important subject for me, and one which I could expand on here with you if you’re interested. So without giving too much away, I’m looking forward to seeing the end result and very glad to have had the opportunity to give my 2 cents on the matter.

I can only hope that body positivity discussions will lead to more appreciation towards our bodies. These immensely strong and complex structures are too often taken for granted. None of us are getting a different body in this lifetime, so why not love yours for all it is and all it can do for you? Focus on keeping it healthy and strong for as long as possible, and cherish it through all the tough times it doesn’t give up on you!

My next thank you goes towards April at https://aprildoesthat.com, who has nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award! I find this nomination particularly heart-warming, as this peer award is given to those bloggers that bring positivity and inspiration to their readers and fellow bloggers. So thank you April, you definitely brought a lot of sunshine to my day 🙂

And to complete my entry for this award, I will first answer her questions and then post my own:

1. I’ve had MyStyle5 since Jan 2017 (so about 5 months now), but have had a different blog (adamcoolburg.com for those of you who also followed me there), which I started 3 years ago and had to unfortunately give up after 1 year due to personal reasons. But I couldn’t stay away from blogging and am now more determined than ever!
2. Some great bloggers I’d strongly recommend you check out are: Sonja, Samantha Maria, Coco, Carrie and Claudia.
3. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and of course, Youtube, which is my second creative outlet next to this blog.
4. I first started blogging on MyStyle5 because I wanted to create a platform for women who appreciate style in every sense of the word. They are not fashion victims or beauty slaves, but lovers of style as a means of expressing themselves, and translating each of the many parts that shape them as individuals into their outer looks. I want to help women who strive to get a better understanding of their style but don’t know where to start, and to celebrate the ones who already are confident in who they are and who flaunt their style.
5. The name of my blog came from wanting to give out sufficient interesting information with each post, but also not that much that I would end up boring my readers. So I figured 5 tips per post would be just right, and that’s how MyStyle5 came to life.
6. As a kid I used to love watching rom-coms with my mom, so Sleepless in Seattle, Serendipity and You’ve Got Mail were classics for us.
7. I believe what makes my blog special is that it has a mix of style advice and tips, along with my practical interpretation of these ideas. It’s structured as part objective principles regarding fashion, beauty and style which I’ve learned along the way, and part my own results that come from adopting and adapting this information to suit my needs and preferences. I’ve noticed that a lot of stylists who blog use stock photography to illustrate their suggestions, and on the other hand, many fashion bloggers showcase unique outfits and personal takes on fashion trends, without necessarily going into detailed style guidelines that can be used by everyone. So I thought I’d merge the two approaches for a more special result with (hopefully) significant value for my readers.
8. My first job was at Forever 21 in Amsterdam, doing a mix of customer care, tills and assisting the Visual Merchandising team.
9. One of the posts I’m really proud of is the first of my Invest in Yourself series.
10. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact amount of time it takes me to do a post from start to finish, as it’s an ongoing process where I’m constantly juggling topics and photography ideas in my mind. I would say probably a couple of days, as the photography part can take me anywhere from half an hour to a couple hours or a day to shoot, and then another couple of hours to choose the pictures, edit and resize them. Copywriting takes more or less a couple of hours once I have everything I want to write clear in my mind. It does help that I’m always jotting down ideas for different posts I want to do and then building on them.
11. First of all I’d like to give my readers a huge virtual hug and thank them for being here with me! The extremely positive feedback I always receive from you guys makes me even more grateful for having started my blog and motivates me even more to keep writing. And I’d also like to encourage you guys to let me know which subjects you’d like to see me write about in the future!

Now for my questions to the bloggers I will nominate:

1. Why did you start blogging in the first place?
2. How long have you been blogging for?
3. How would you define the niche you’re blogging in?
4. How is your blog different from others in your niche?
5. Where can we find you on social media?
6. Who is your biggest supporter in your blogging career?
7. What have been the biggest obstacles you’ve had to overcome with blogging?
8. How do you see your blog evolving in a year’s time?
9. What advice would you give to a blogger at the beginning of their career?
10. Who are your favorite bloggers?
11. What message would you like to give your readers?

In the spirit of paying it forward, which this award stands for, I will nominate 11 bloggers for this award. If you’re picked, answer the questions I posted, write down your own questions and nominate other fellow bloggers. If you’d like to be considered, please drop your blog link in the comments below. I will publish the list of nominees on the 20th May.

If you got to the end of the post, then thank you very much for reading, and thank you for being with me so far! Have an amazing week filled with sunshine!

*Edit:

As it’s time for me to nominate 11 bloggers for the Blogger Sunshine Awards (with a slight delay, my apologies for that), please see the nominees below. If you are among them, first of all congratulations 🙂 And if you wish to accept the nomination, then please:

1. Link back to this post announcing your nomination
2. Answer the questions I posted and write 11 of your own
3. Nominate 11 bloggers for the award to pass on the sunshine to others as well

The nominees are:

1. Christina at https://wanderlustinghippie.com/
2. Amalia and Paolo at http://hangaroundtheworld.com/en/
3. Laurel at http://thehiveblog.com/
4. Elizabeth at https://www.confidentlyelegant.com/
5. Nikki at http://www.simplysweetdays.com/
6. Ghita at https://titasblog1.blogspot.nl/
7. Tola at http://alotoftolablog.blogspot.nl/
8. Twinkle Star at https://myelfingalaxy.wordpress.com/
9. Stephanie at http://www.brunettebydesign.com/
10. Marlene at http://shesahotmess.com/
11. Rika at https://rikaconfesses.com/

Thank you for participating ladies (and gentleman), your comments have warmed my heart!