When I think about how long 5 years is, I can’t get over the length of time it is and what I’ve achieved in that time. I launched Dungarees & Donuts back in college and since that time I’ve completed a degree and I am now working a full-time job. I’ve changed my name via deed poll and had two relationships. Like, a lot has happened. I remember talking to my best friend at the time about her blog and YouTube, she would speak to all of these really cool people on Twitter and it was like they were real-life best friends despite never meeting. Her blog was full of book reviews, colourful pictures and posts about makeup and I wanted to get in on the action. I set up my blog which to this day don’t know why the name Dungarees & Donuts stuck, but I did eat a lot of Donuts in college and Dungarees goes well with it, plus when I first launched my blog I wanted to talk about fashion. Over the years my blog really has taught me a lot and I’ve made some great friends, gained some confidence I know I would not have without my blog and have been able to share my passion for writing with the world.
Since I was younger I’ve always wanted to be a writer, even in Primary School, I’d create these ‘books’ which were essentially a lot of folded paper stapled together and a drawing I’d done on the front and in reality the book was only around 5 pages, but it felt like a huge deal to me at the time. In early high school, I decided to go down the route of creating children’s books and although I never shared them with anyone bar, my family, I think it gave me, even more, drive to get my writing out there.
I get asked a lot what I blog about and sometimes it feels easier to say what they want to hear e.g. beauty. But in reality Dungarees & Donuts is me, on a website. It’s full of colour, quirky clothes, ramblings about everyday life and tons of posts about my own mental health and it’s a huge part of me and although it’s been 5 years I couldn’t see myself getting bored of it anytime soon. I take small breaks from time to time and do often get frustrated when it comes to writers blog but I manage to come out of it stronger and as long as you guys still want to read, I will keep posting. For me my blog was once about constant scheduled content, 5 times a week to posting weekly once or twice and loving the content I am putting out. Each post full to the brim of photos I love and each piece of content I actually feel proud of, whereas before I created the content because I felt like I had to.
The blogging community has changed over the years too, I was forever wanting to fit in with everyone else and what they were doing and over recent years there have been more alternative blogs making a stir within the community and they’re who I aspire to be like. I love to read makeup blogs and learn new things which I would otherwise have been clueless about, but I know it’s not my forte so it seems pointless trying to make it what my blog is about. The blogging community has shifted from a ton of chats each night to just a few a week, I am glad they’re still going somewhere. Blogging feels like it is mostly now about making it someway in the industry, YouTubers, as we know, have HUGE incomes and get invited to lots of events and it makes us jealous, me included, but although bloggers may not get as much of the industry as YouTubers do, it’s still great to know we have that kind of influence. It’s amazing that normal people such as you and I can have such a big influence from anywhere in the world.
I still pinch myself each time I get an email in my inbox about reviews and sponsored content and each time I still wonder why they’d want to work me, but at the same time, I feel eternally grateful and I doubt that feeling of wow, will ever stop for me. I feel privileged to be where I am today with my blog and have such a supportive readership. For the future of Dungarees & Donuts, I hope to keep spreading awareness around mental illness and it makes me feel great doing so because I know that during my struggles, so many of you have had my back and helped me through the tough times. I promise to keep making you proud and on to the next five years.
I feel like I totally need to hold a glass of champagne and this point.
