Take A Seat On My (Virtual) Sofa & Let’s Have A Catch-Up

I consider myself an introvert so I’ve come to recognise that I have what I call a ‘social battery’. If you ever catch me at the end of the day being slightly quiet, withdrawn and not as talkative… it’s only because my social battery has drained and it’s likely that I’m dreaming about retreating to a night in front of the TV. My comfort zone. 

Does this sound familiar to you? I love nothing more than settling on the sofa in front of the TV with a nice cup of tea and a copious amount of snacks! Don’t we all?!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not what you would call a couch potato (I say this as I’m sat on my sofa typing this up covered in Oreo crumbs), but I underestimated how much time I actually spend on the sofa. Come to think of it, I think it’s where I’m at my happiest. I mean, I love to venture out and explore, and that makes me really happy too. But it’s a different kind of happy, isn’t it?

I can’t say that I have the best looking sofa otherwise I’d show you. You know us bloggers curate our social media feed so that it only shows the highlights and best bits of our lives, and my current sofa set most certainly not one of them. Sure, it’s comfy, I give it that. But get this… it’s a poo-brown colour. Nothing wrong with brown furniture but let’s face it, it’s so not Instagrammable. 

I didn’t choose it, Anthea Turner did (true story) but if I had a choice, I’d pick a light grey set with hints of pastel pink thrown in there in the form of cushions or a throw. I live in a rented property, and the interior designer was Anthea Turner. You’d think she’d do better than this but I think she hates us or something because when I first moved in, everything in the flat is different shades of brown. 

I’ve been able to paint some of the furniture white but I’m stuck with the the hideous brown, un-Instagrammable sofa complete  brown and orange cushions. Did your stomach just turn like it did mine? 

Luckily, as I said, it’s very comfortable, so I’m not in a hurry to replace it just for the sake of it. But I will replace it… eventually. When the times comes, I’ll be making a visit to DFS Sofa to pick the one I want!

DFS has asked me to reminisce about my favourite sofa time but to be honest, I don’t really have one.

I love inviting my close friends over where we sit and have in-depth conversations about everything and anything, or we have girls night in where we slob out on the sofa watching movies. 

But the truth is, all that stands out for me is all the times I’ve gone through some hard times like being ill, having a panic attack, or going through a break-up. When I’m going through that, you’ll find me sprawled across on the sofa under a fleecy throw to recover, reset and recuperate. I’ve come to think of it as my way of coping through tough times and it’s the comfort of knowing you’re in a safe zone. It just makes me feel better. Like when my boyfriend of 10 years broke up with me, I spent an entire 2 weeks ‘grieving’ on the sofa before I bounced back, full of life, and ready to conquer the world again! 

But thinking back on how nice it always is when I’ve had my close friends over for lovely chats to put the world to right. I think we can all agree that with the all the negativity going on in the world right now, we need to do that more than ever right now.

And that gave me idea to invite you to my “virtual blog sofa” today to have a catch-up. I wondered to myself what we could talk about and if we were friends in real life (which we so are, by the way!), what would we talk about? The very thing that brings us together, of course. BLOGGING. So… settle down on my virtual sofa and let’s ‘ave a little chit-chat!

How are you?

I used to love reading about someone’s day, what they got up to, where they’ve been on their blog. It encouraged me to do the same. Through social media and the comment section of blogs, I found people that I had a lot in common with. Blogging has moved on from that little bubble and these days, leaving comments on blogs are long gone. I am guilty of the lack of comments I submit after reading a post but I used to be so good at it and it was something I enjoyed, it was a way of getting to know each other. The game has moved on and I’m going to move with it. From now on, if i’m not spending my commute working, you’ll see me pop up on Instagram commenting on my fellow bloggers content. I want to spend time getting to know the people in the community again. I want to know how you are and what you’ve been upto!

Where have I been?

Even though my profile has been quiet recently due to a busy work schedule, I still try to immerse myself in the community and make an effort to get to know the people behind the blogs, especially those who are new and need advice and guidance. I always let it known that you can always email me with questions about blogging and I will be as helpful as I can – no matter how busy I am, I will have time for my fellow bloggers!

I have acquired a lot of knowledge about blogging and social media because it has been a massive part of my life for the best part of 9 years (eeeks!). Since I started my job as a social media editor in a fashion company, my knowledge about the topic has increased tenfold. If you want to know how to do something in particular, give me a shout!

Drama, drama, drama!

Ooooh, the things I want to tell you (but can’t!) but from the discussions I see on Twitter, I think you’ve all figured it out for yourselves. Those who are on Twitter will have noticed the tension within the blogging community, there seems to be a new issue every week that people have latched on to whether it’s calling someone out for bad behaviour, to witch-hunts, to pain-in-the-arse algorithms, to “Instafraud”. (Thanks to this, I know exactly who’s buying followers). You know, just when you thought you couldn’t learn much more about blogging, 

If you’re a new blogging or you’re thinking about starting a new blog, don’t for one minute think that there’s no room for you. That’s the beauty of the Internet and I have said this time and time again. THERE IS ENOUGH ROOM FOR EVERYONE. I can not stress this enough. It won’t happen overnight (I’m sure you know this already) so prepare to work hard but once you get there and you’ve built a genuine and authentic ’personal brand’, it is the most satisfying thing ever.

Disclaimer: This post is in conjunction with DFS but all thoughts are my own. Visit their website to find out more about their great range of DFS Sofas.