I’m back *waves*
Hello everyone, how are you doing? After a couple of months away from all things Blue Jay, I’m slowly finding my way back. The time away has honestly been better than I could have imagined. I had time and space to rest, refuel and feel inspired again. I regained the spark of creativity that had been snubbed out by the pressure I was putting on myself to succeed as a…
BRB - new website coming!
Hello everyone - how are you doing? I wanted to let you know that the blog is going to go quiet over the next couple of weeks because very exciting things are happening behind the scenes and a brand new website is going to be coming your way in January! Blue Jay of Happiness launched on January 1st 2017 and as it approaches its third birthday I’ve decided it’s time…
Five ways to boost SEO on popular blog posts
This isn’t my usual style of blog post here on Blue Jay of Happiness, but every now and then I really like sharing tips about blogging. I know quite a few of you reading run your own blogs and I personally love reading these types of posts, so I thought - why not? I wanted to tell you about something I did a couple of months ago when I had…
The importance of not working to refuel creativity
I took a break from work recently; 5 days away from social media and 12 days altogether with zero thoughts about work and… honestly? It’s been one of the best things I could have done, both personally and professionally. As you’ll know if you follow me online, I was beginning to feel exhausted by work, including my day-job, this blog and coaching work. Marketing myself, ‘showing up’ and being consistent…
How to stay consistent with your content (without burning out)
A comment I sometimes get from those who follow me online is how consistent I am with my content. It’s worth saying here that creating content, whether it’s a blog post, a newsletter or even an instagram story, can be…. a lot. Individually it may not seem like much, but pull all of the different strands together and - well, that’s a big old tapestry of content. Here’s a breakdown…
What ‘showing up’ really means
If you’re in the online business world, whether you run your own business or you have dreams of being your own boss one day, you have probably heard the term ‘showing up’ before. It’s a term I hear a lot in podcasts, live videos, Instagram posts and it can feel a little intangible… like, what does it actually mean? So I wanted to use this blog post to explore the…
What happened when I took a blogging break
OK, this title is a little more dramatic than intended. The blogging break was only about two weeks, but so many things happened in that time I felt it warranted a post. Also, this is… I think… the longest break I’ve taken since launching Blue Jay of Happiness on January 1st 2017. I’ve spoken on Instagram about why I decided to take the break, but for those who don’t follow…
What 20 years of writing has taught me
I was 12 when I bought my first ever diary. I remember vividly writing as if I was talking to someone, my pal ‘diary’. I explained how things were about to change for me, I was about to turn 13 - a teenager - and I was about to be cool. Well, was I in for a surprise! Instead of becoming cool, I became sad, frustrated, lonely and everything else…
Showing up as our whole selves
Last week I was interviewed by the lovely Ruth Poundwhite for her upcoming podcast (Creatively Human) and we got to talking about honesty on social media, specifically about mental health. Something I realised, was that part of the reason I talk so openly about mental health is because, quite simply, it’s part of who I am. And while I believe we should never be defined by our past experiences, these…
An anxious gal’s guide to networking
I’ll be honest, I kind of hate the word networking - what I really mean here is attending events and meeting strangers. But ‘An anxious gal’s guide to attending events and meeting strangers’ didn’t work so well as a title. You all know the events I mean though. Perhaps they are work events, maybe you’re going to blogging conference or Instagram meet-up. Whatever it is, if the idea of walking…