When I started this blog just over two weeks ago, my intention was to to make it a primarily positive, happy place where I could help others, raise awareness of issues that are important to me and, most importantly, share some of the things I love.

The main focus of the blog was always going to be beauty, but I hadn’t anticipated losing my point and shoot camera just when I needed it.  I finally gave up the search, and a memory card for the DSLR I’ve been putting off learning to use arrives this weekend, so be prepared for lots of photos that a professional would cringe at, but about which I will probably be rather proud!  Note: If you are buying a Canon EOS camera, you might want to check whether a memory card is included – I was pretty shocked to find I couldn’t use the camera straight out of the box!

I know blogs need visuals to retain readers, so I was not prepared for how wonderfully supportive the Twitter and WordPress communities would be, even with my blog almost solely consisting of words.  I would like to say a huge THANKYOU to every single person who has followed me and liked my posts so far, both on here and on Twitter.  The positive and inspirational blog posts and tweets that keep appearing in my feeds have made me want to repay the favour by trying to make my content as positive as I can, whilst still promoting awareness of causes about which I’m passionate.

Stories about mental health battles may seem a depressing topic (pun unintended) to those who have never suffered, but to those who are fighting, I hope they help them to realise that they are not alone.  We all know someone who has been affected by mental illness.  Keeping talking about mental health in the same way we do physical health is the best way for the stigma to stop and for everyone to get the help they need.  That’s why I created the #EndMentalStigma tag, which I hope even more people will do on their own blogs, whether they are suffering themselves or not.

This post is becoming rather rambly and disjointed, so I’ll bring it back to the point.  We all have things in our lives for which we can be thankful.  I’m hoping that by concentrating on the good things in my life, even if that’s just the fact the sun is shining or having a new camera to play with, I can become more positive and an even better friend.  Anyone who would like to join me in that is very welcome to do so – it would be awesome if everyone who reads this could comment with at least one thing that makes them happy.  I’ll start with a few examples of things that make me happy:

All animals (especially penguins and cats)
Watermelon
Peonies
Pink
Starbucks vegan-hazelnutty-goodness
All of my incredible family and friends (new online friends included – i.e. YOU!)

Photo credit: Matt Biddulph via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Love and hugs,

April xoxo