Hello! Yesterday (Monday 4th February) was Midlifechic’s 5th birthday. It’s been quite a journey from this rather petrified looking first ever outfit shot…
… to moments like this…
I’m writing this in a bit of a hurry because we have, quite literally, got a plane to catch. But I do just want to express my gratitude for the amazing personal journey that this blog has taken me on over the last five years. I’m not talking about the glitzy things – the best thing it’s done for me is to make me a more confident person. That doesn’t mean that I’ve changed, it’s just that I’ve grown comfortable with who I am and that’s the difference that you see between the shots above. How did I reach this harmonious place? It’s all thanks to being older, wiser and… you. The fact that you keep on reading means that I now feel connected to thousands of like-minded women with warm, open hearts and that gives me faith in man or rather womankind.
I love the fact that whenever I meet one of you in real life, we cut straight through the chit chat and get on with a proper conversation as happened with Gillian H a couple of weeks ago. Another reader who has been here since the very beginning asked if there’s any likelihood of the oft-mooted Midlifechic reader meet-up this year. Well I’m in discussions with a brand who would like to get an event off the ground with us. I know I’ve said this before but this time it’s a big brand with the resources to make things happen. If it goes ahead it might not be until September but I’m thinking that because it will probably be held in the middle of the country, I’ll perhaps organise an overnight package and then those of us who like wine-soaked chats can carry on! Fingers crossed.
In the meantime I just want to say thank you to you… all 51,593 of you who come back each time to read every post – and the less regular readers too. It’s your acceptance of me as a normal, down to earth woman that has helped me to feel at one with myself. I think we all go through our lives thinking we should be someone better but actually we’re fine just as we are. If I can share one thing from my five year blogging journey with you it’s just this – the rather annoying but nonetheless pertinent catchphrase of the moment…
“you do you”
…. or shall we use the rather more elegant French version of being ‘bien dans la peau’?
The four-year point is often seen as the benchmark that indicates whether a blogger will keep going or not – a lot seem to fall or slow down at that hurdle. So I’ve made it through the danger zone and I have every intention of keeping going. I hope that we’ll grow old together you and I… but not yet! Who knows what lies ahead, I’m sure there will be ups and downs as there always are. However being part of this warm community makes my life better so thank you for reading and joining in. Your comments and emails bring me joy every week and you give me hope for the future.
Going forward
Now, in preparation for my sixth year of blogging, I’ve put together a new reader survey 2019. I’d really like to know what you think about Midlifechic and also about the state of the ‘influencer’ industry. As you know, influencer isn’t my favourite term but neither is ‘content creator’ which is the current alternative. When people ask me about Midlifechic, I call myself a blogger because I write for the love of it – most of the money that comes from sponsored posts or affiliate links goes towards making Midlifechic better. A new, improved site will be coming later this year and I’ll be doing another survey on how you’d like to see the site itself improve very soon. In the meantime, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that this online world of ours is evolving and I’d like to know what you think.
Surveys like this can get expensive to run so I’ve had to cap the response numbers at 3,000 – it may mean that you don’t have a chance to answer but there will be a follow-up survey soon. So what will I do with your answers? I’ll collate the data and use it primarily to help me decide which direction to take with Midlifechic – what to write about and what to leave out. However I will also use some of the information when I’m working with retailers. As I said on Friday, it helps me to bring our sometimes overlooked segment of proactive, intelligent midlife women to life.
As always, this survey is completely anonymous, I have no way of knowing who said what unless you decide to say who you are in the final piece of open feedback. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes to complete and I promise that I read every single response and think about it carefully. So thank you for helping me by taking part. Mr MC is having a John Denver moment and is singing “I’m leaving on a jetplane” behind me so it sounds as though he’s going without me if I don’t hurry. Oh and if you see me on Instagram over the next few days, don’t worry about the hair colour – it’s a badly timed experiment. I wanted to see just how grey my roots are … it turns out they’re not very grey… they’re almost white! I probably should have timed it better but hey ho… see you next week.
Open Midifechic reader survey 2019 here
Disclosure: “reader survey 2019” is not a sponsored post
Recent posts you may have missed
Pop of colour outfit updates SS19
How to build a capsule wardrobe part 6 – the summary
How to build a capsule wardrobe part 5 – body shape and silhouette
How to build a capsule wardrobe part 4 – defining your style icon
How to build a capsule wardrobe part 3 – colour and texture
How to build a capsule wardrobe part 2 – defining your personal look
How to build a capsule wardrobe part 1 – wardrobe reality check
