Can you believe that today marks one whole year since I delved back into the world of blogging? It’s been one whole year since I wrote you all an explanation of where I had been for the last few years, why things had become so non-existent and why I wanted that all to change.

So I thought this would be a really good opportunity to look back over the past 365 days and see just how far this website has come, how far I have come as a person and work out if it was all worth it and what I’m going to do next.

Let’s start with What’s Happened With The Blog.

I have written 77 posts, definitely a bit short of the 100 or 150 I had thought I would!

The topics I have covered this year have included beauty, fashion, travel, mental health and entertainment.

I have welcomed almost 15,000 views – to some bloggers this may not sound like much but in 2013 – the height of my blog’s success the first time round – I welcomed 3,358 views.

I have launched and grown various social medias:

Facebook: was 80 followers, now 1162 (1197 likes).

Twitter: was 0 followers, now 537.

Instagram: was 0 followers, now 640.

Pinterest: was 0 followers, now 232.

Youtube: was 0 followers, now 39. (that’s right, I sometimes make videos too!)

I’ve also dabbled in Vero, Stumbleupon, Mix and Google+ to varying levels of success. Last month I hit 200 WordPress followers! Unfortunately somebody obviously decided that my content was not for them anymore and left the party bringing me back down to 199 – so close!

For those in the know, last week I discovered my DA has finally reached 20 and I am so happy because I feel like a whole new world of opportunities starts opening up when you hit your 20s.

Of course these numbers are fluctuating all the time so even if I went back and checked in an hour these could be totally different. These were the numbers when I checked so we are sticking to it!

So what opportunities has blogging brought me in the past 365 days? I have been blessed with one sponsored post, a handful of collaborative opportunities which have benefitted me financially and have the opportunity to work alongside other bloggers for my Home Town Tourism series. I have attended events for: Chapelton, Annie Mo’s, The Body Shop (twice!), Lush, The Spiritualist, Lane 7 and Tivoli Theatre (well, the theatre company that did the show). I have had the chance to work alongside Wingz and Organic Shop Haircare. These have all been incredible experiences in their own way whichI am so grateful for.

I realise the concept of me benefitting financially from this venture may make some uncomfortable and is something I plan on addressing in a post later this month, so please stick around and don’t give up on me – trust me I’m definitely not some kind of secret millionaire swindling every penny from your pocket!

The five posts which WordPress is telling us all have been my most popular are:

1. Five Reasons I’m Thirsting For The Spiritualist’s Launch
2. Twenty Things I’d Like To Experience
3. Why I’m Not Joining The Mental Health Conversation
4. The Unspoken Rules Of Hostelling
5. The April Travel Challenge

While this may be so, if you had asked me what the top ten posts from the last year were I would have said (in no particular order):

• Going Solo: Is It Really That Bad?
• My First Glossybox
• Why I’m Not Joining The Mental Health Conversation
• Why I Hated Uni And The Things The Made It Bearable
• Five Things I Always Pack And Never Use
• Can We Talk About English As A First Language Privilege?
• Welcome Back
• Wingz
• How I Made A New Year’s Resolution I Could Keep
• The Cheapskate’s Guide To Five Affordable Products Worth Treating Yourself To

Interestingly these are the ones which I feel have performed best – either when published or over time – and yet only one of these posts features in the top five that WordPress has chosen through their algorithm.

I think that pretty much covers everything that has happened with the blog since it relaunched last year, of course anything you want to know just ask in the comments below or just check out the blog!

So with that let’s move on to what has been happening in my world outside of blogging since the relaunch.

This bit will be quite short since it’s pretty much laid out in my birthday post but here is a quick summary:

• still in the same job, although I have moved over one desk.
• discovered I could travel abroad alone and not die.
• got a hamster (then he died very suddenly and I got another one).
• lost a tooth.
• boyfriend.
• bought a house (not with said boyfriend, probably the most frequently asked question).

I think that pretty much sums it up!

So I think the next things on the list is Was It All Worth It?

Obviously a big question when starting a blog, or in my case relaunching a practically dead blog, is am I doing the right thing? As I explained in my post on this day last year, in my soul I had a burning desire to blog again. It wasn’t about the money or the views or fun nights out, it was about the unquenchable passion to write what I wanted, when I wanted and how I wanted. So from that point of view I would say very much yes, it has definitely been worth it.

The world of blogging, and my understanding of it, is very different in 2018 to what it was when I first opened WordPress in 2012. My blogosphere only really extended as far as my classmates, most of whom were on blogspot and really had absolutely no interest in writing a blog at all. While I am still very much learning, I now have a much better understanding of connecting with others, of supporting each other, of how algorithms work and which ones are worth fighting against. I’ve seen some pretty dark corners of blogging and I’ve developed that understanding of content and issues faced by content creators that I think only content creators can truly understand. I have seen beautiful moments of friendship and terrible times of drama. We push on and keep going though, and the blogging community is probably one of the strongest and most resilient I have come across in my lifetime. Blogging becomes somewhat of a way of life, even if you’re not doing it as a career, and that is impossible to escape. Despite it’s inevitable stresses I would 100% say yes, it was totally worth it.

So the final question (I’m sure you’ll be glad to read since this is my longest post in a while!) is What Now? What does the next year hold in store for KTTLG?

The honest answer is I have no idea. I would really like to spend more time focussing on videos and vlogs and be able to post them more often. From the actual blogging side of things, I guess my aim is just to continue putting out content which I enjoy and which you appreciate and hopefully just keep growing my little corner of the internet. If you have anything you would like to see – or not see – then please don’t hesitate to let me know as I always love hearing from people and hearing your suggestions! Let me know what some of your favourite content is, because that is always very interesting.

This month, as I briefly explained yesterday, I am attempting Blogtober and I am super keen to share some other Blogtober bloggers with you all because this is really hard and we honestly are all trying super hard! So now that you’ve made it through my post why not take a moment to show a little appreciation for the hard work of Mandi from Big Family Organised Chaos or Jaymee of The Mum Diaries?