Every month, we select one member of the Blogosphere Community to be celebrated through our blog, social media and newsletter.
Our #MemberOfTheMonth for May 2021 is… Tracy from Instinctively Pure.
When did your blogging journey begin and what made you start?
My journey started around 2017, I’d known for some time that I wanted to have some form of creative outlet, maybe to share makeup looks, fashion tips, interiors and my other interests, but I wasn’t sure anyone would be interested.
I was struggling to find that sort of content to enjoy myself and I was looking for something I could relate to.
If I was going to do it, I wanted to come across genuinely, like the woman next door you could trust.
A massive thing for me was keeping the content independent, natural, untouched and unfiltered in everyday and show other people we’re all the same.
I wanted to find great ethical products and cut out the crazy advertising hype and focus on the reality.
I’d never had a Facebook account or Instagram when I decided to write my first blog, it was all new territory for me, but I finally took the leap when my daughter left for university at 16 and my son became more independent too.
I’ve never really been very good at just sitting about. I found I had a lot more time to myself, especially as I’m housebound a lot of the time due to my autoimmune condition. This seemed like a good opportunity to give it a go.
Do you have any further plans for hosting your own podcast?
It’s funny my husband and I have recently been talking about creating a joint podcast. I think we would definitely have a lot of fun, but also bring a well rounded perspective.
We usually sound off to each other, at least once or twice a day about the issues we are facing environmentally and as a population, normally when we read something or hear something on the news, so why not give it a go.
I think as a couple who have lived in a Disabled/Carer relationship for nearly 24 years, there’s also some really important topics we could touch on too.
It’s amazing how this can change a relationship if left unchecked and hopefully we could help others out there that are just starting out with similar changes to their lives, or are fairly new to this type of sick person and carer relationship dynamic.
I think this is probably even more important as a topic to cover since Covid and Long Covid became part of all our lives too.
How did lockdown impact your content creation?
Honestly, I took a step back and re-evaluated. I needed it.
If I’m being completely honest I wasn’t being 100% myself, I knew what I wanted and I could visualise the end goal, but I kept falling into the same social media trap of “must post content”. I think I lost my message if that makes sense, my creativity was all mixed up and the stress was making me ill, instead of giving me an outlet I enjoyed. I feel much more refreshed, renewed and invigorated now.
We’ve always been very environmentally aware, and as a woman with an autoimmune condition, I’ve always been very aware of what goes into the products we use both in our home and on our bodies. So this lockdown helped me to look at things more closely and we’re adding lots of new blog posts about our favourite environmentally conscious products, as well as new categories covering everything from ethical fashion and makeup to sustainable living and new environmentally beneficial products.
Overall I’m ready to just be unapologetically me again, and I want to share the content that is important to me, and that I stand behind 100%.
It’s important to remember that if I don’t create anything or have nothing to share that day, then I’ll post the next day or the next but it won’t stress me out anymore.
Have you developed a new style or found a new way of creating content?
I’m much more relaxed with myself, I’ve taken all the pressure off. I was trying to control way too many things and make everything perfect!
It’s like c’mon we live in Scotland, if you’re going to shoot outdoors then get back to how things were before, embrace the rain, laugh at the wind blowing your hair all over your face and just have fun. I’m trying to just enjoy the process now and produce quality content that people will enjoy and get behind.
I understand what works for me and what doesn’t, that’s the most important thing. I want to be smiling and laughing in my photos, not taking myself too seriously and I want to help people find the best information on everything I cover so they can make their own informed choices and have a laugh with me.
Do you have any goals or aspirations for the second half of 2021?
I definitely want to grow and develop all my channels, so they are all providing the best content for each of their audiences.
I will be putting a massive amount of focus on my creativity, upping my game when it comes to video and Instagram Reel content, and making my blog the centre of it all.
I would love to end the year with my first edit with one of my favourite sustainable brands, something I could be proud to put my name too and have our podcast set up and running, and people actually enjoying it and laughing along with us.
As far as personal goals, I definitely need to keep working on my mental strength and daily yoga to keep me strong and happy and just try to enjoy everyday.
How can the Blogosphere Community best serve you going forward?
I have loved the digital get togethers and the online events! VirBELA has been a game changer, it was such a great event all round and genuinely felt like we were participating.
A lot of the previous events I had not been able to attend because of travel, health, etc but being online has changed all of this.
It would be great if you had more workshops, meetups, brand events. I think we are all just looking for and grateful for ways to connect with like minded people.