It’s so surreal, but this is my seventh year of blogging. Writing my thoughts and publishing them on the internet has always been strange, but stranger still is the fact that people read them.

I’ve mentioned a bunch of times that I don’t always know what to write about. That’s been happening more frequently lately. It’s like I’m running out of topics, which is good in that it pushes me, but bad because it causes me some anxiety when I don’t feel in control.

At the same time, the fluidity is wonderful. The blog changes and evolves as I do. When I started, everything was beauty-related. These days, we talk about art and mental health and immigration, or various other opinion pieces.

Of course, covering such a wide field means you folks aren’t always interested. Some of you come here for art or book reviews, but couldn’t care less about my thoughts on social media or stigma. Some of you only care about the posts regarding creating a new home in Canada.

It makes sense that I’m losing steam after seven years of doing this. It’s been seven years. Seven. 🙂

But I think the other thing that affects my ability to write is that I’ve convinced myself nobody would notice if I stopped. I was in a dark place for a while there and the blog reflected that. I didn’t feel the writing – both my novel and blog were too draining to touch. So I stopped for a while. Turns out people noticed (thank you).

I’ve been trying really hard to get back up to standard here, while also staying true to being 100% myself. I don’t want to show you who I am only at my best, I want to share my thoughts from the dark too. I firmly believe that talking about all of these things openly will create more tolerance and understanding from those folks who don’t struggle with mental issues. It’s because previous generations swept everything under the rug that we’re in this position in the first place.

Friends, this post, I’ve just realised, is chliché central. Please excuse that. 🙂

I need some kind of change, as much as I abhor change. I don’t know if that involves chucking the schedule, or tightening it, but I do know that I need help. I’ve asked this before, but I’m asking again. If you want to read more about certain themes or topics here, please let me know. I remember many of you said last time that you want more art and tutorials. The dark place robbed me of the ability to create anything, but I’m feeling more at peace again and will make more art. I’ll try my best to keep these bi-weekly from now on.

So, I need your help to fill the gaps. What would you like to read about? Do you like the format and layout of the website? Any ideas, thoughts or suggestions are welcome. With my novel safely in the care of my wonderful editor, I can focus all my attention on the blog.

Thank you for reading.

Yolandie