HAPPY NEW YEAR! I think we can all agree that 2020 has been one WILD unforgettable ride and it looks like we are starting the new year off on the same note. While we can’t control everything that goes on around us, we can control how we react to it. Despite what’s going on in our world I hope that you’ve been able to make the best of it and that you and your family are taking good care of yourselves. Last week I talked about doing an affirmation activity as a self-care challenge in this post. The challenge is supposed to help you find the lessons from 2020 instead of focusing on the harm that the pandemic may have caused. If you haven’t already, check it out. I worked on the worksheet and It was really helpful, and trust me, I’m not being biased lol.
I wanted to start the year off by sharing some of the ideas that I have planned for 2021. But before I get into that, I want to THANK YOU for your continued support. I started the blog in September 2020 and I didn’t start taking it seriously until the weekend before Halloween. Within that timeframe I have worked my butt off to stay consistent, provide good content, and engage with those who support me on social media. In this small timeframe I accomplished the following:
- I increased the traffic to my page significantly (see graph below).
- I was a guest blogger on www.wombmanunspoken.com (check out my feature).
- I was listed as one of the top 40 self-love bloggers on feedspot.
- A photographer who wrote for Women’s Fitness Mag reached out and asked if she could be a guest blogger on my blog.
- I was asked to be interviewed for Shop Lovet Agency blog. A woman owned organization that produces social media, self-care, and vision board planners (in addition to other items).
As we got closer to the end of the year, I started thinking about what I wanted to do differently with the blog in 2021 and I came up with a few ideas.
NEW LOGO: I want to take my blog to the next level and for me that meant I needed to create a color scheme and a logo. I kept it simple but included the purpose of my blog; which is encouraging everyone to engage in self-love through self-care. I wanted new visitors to know instantly what to expect. In my intro on the menu page, I indicated that I wanted to create a platform for women in my decade (women in their forties) but my blog is for everyone because self-care should start at every age. The logo should be up by now but I also included it below. In terms of the color choices; yellow is my favorite color and I like yellow and gray paired together. So there you have it.
NEWSLETTER: The idea to have a newsletter never crossed my mind when I started the blog I just didn’t know what I would talk about. But one of my followers told me back in November that she signed up for the newsletter. If you’re interested in the newsletter, you can email me at tam33ks@yahoo.com. The newsletter will be sent out once per week on Sundays and they will include a personal message from me, the self-care accountability worksheet (discussed in more details below), and probably the titles of my upcoming blogs for the week. The newsletter will be called Self-Care Daily because the purpose of my blog is to encourage us to engage in some form of self-care each day of the week (I decided to change the name so disregard the name in the image below :).
A sneak peek of my first newsletter.
SELF-CARE ACCOUNTABILITY WORKSHEET: This worksheet will act as a supplement to my daily self-care challenges and will only be available to those who sign up for the newsletter. I decided to create this as a way to continue to encourage us to take care of ourselves. I provided space for each day of the week, and space for you to answer the following; “Today I did” and “How did it make me feel?” I also included a blank space for you to jot down notes or to have a brief journaling session, and of course I added my self-care formula. The worksheet will be sent out weekly with the newsletter and will have a different quote and background each week and of course you will be able to print them out.
MONTHLY SELF-CARE FOCUS: If you’ve been following me you know that I post daily self-care challenges. The challenges for the week are posted every Sunday by midnight. I decided that I wanted to mix it up a bit in the new year because I don’t want my readers to get bored or feel like I’m becoming predictable. So starting in January, the challenges will focus on one main topic. For example, if the topic for the month is quality time, my self-care challenges for the month will be centered around some form of quality time activity. I will definitely try my best to make sure that these challenges are not repetitive.
I hope you are as excited as I am about these upcoming changes, there’s more to come but this is where I’m at right now. I definitely feel like I have my work cut out for me this year but I thoroughly enjoy creating content for you. Also, my goal is to continue to grow and get better with this blog and I want to encourage you to do the same. I still have a long way to go, there are other changes that I would like to make in the future. I’m enjoying this journey so far and I think I’m on the right track.
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Self-Care At Forty 