It’s been long since I last talked about the thoughts that are going around in my head. Lately, I’ve been feeling really uninspired and disappointed with life. I haven’t been feeling so emotional since my last heartbreak but somehow, matters in the family and the unpleasant blogging/influencers (whatever you want to call it) scene have been injecting real negative thoughts into me. I mean, we’re all human; we are all entitled to feel what we want to, right?

You know, they say “Every family has its own struggles”. It’s true, no matter big or small. Going through what I am going through, I must say that it’s really, really tough having to handle so much. Well, I know God will never give us challenges that we can’t handle, but sometimes, I feel that I need a break from all this craziness. I need an undisturbed week, or even month to myself in order to recharge and face the problems again. When you keep having lemons thrown to you while you’re trying to figure things out, it can get quite tiring.

I just hope that things will come around in 2 weeks’ time. The last thing you want is to go home to nonsense after a stressed day at work. Home is the last place you want to have more stress added onto your plate. Peace is all I need.

On to why I was feeling so uninspired recently… If you’ve been keeping track of what’s going on in the beauty blogging scene, you’ve probably realised that it seems like everyone’s likes and follows have taken a huge blow with the algorithm updates to Instagram. You know how people like to beat the system when they can’t fight it?

So, I’ve been observing there are many “influencers”/”bloggers” who try to beat the system by having incredibly high following and likes. And where do the follows and likes come from? Ha, from their monthly shopping/retail therapy budget probably. I won’t name and shame, but you know who you are. I don’t know if they think people are stupid or perhaps they think people won’t find out, but a thousand followers gained in a day is definitely fishy if you’ve only been having 50 a day. Just Socialblade anyone whom you think is suspicious and you’ll know what I mean. Though you can only track their details for the current month and might not find anything suspicious then, I’ve got all the screenshots from months back (anyone wants to help me expose the cheaters?).

That being said, the reason why I brought this up was because I feel utterly disappointed. Instagram used to be a platform that people share their likes, dislikes and thoughts (for beauty products in my case) genuinely, without expecting anything in return. Nowadays, it has turned into a platform for receiving products, posting pretty photos – all for the money, the fame, and more products. It’s all about the people who fake it till they make it, literally. I mean like, you have the world now, what more do you want?

But well, there are all kinds of people in the world. You just have to deal with it, right? Life gives you 1001 reasons to sulk, but you just need to find that 1 reason to smile and fight through it all. And no, I’m not going to let these people affect me anymore (yes, I was, for a short period of time) because they don’t mean anything to me and what means everything to me is my passion, my dreams and goals. 🙂

With that, I urge all brands and PR companies to conduct your due diligence before you start picking people for your campaigns. You really don’t know who the people you are attracting. For all you know, the impressive number of followers might all come from Russia, Latvia, or any other region besides your targeted city. Or, “are they even real?” one might ask…

Oh and of course, all you people who have been sharing genuine reviews and putting in all the hard work, GREAT JOB! The algorithm has changed, but that doesn’t change who we are.

That said, I’m not going to let the negativity tear down the defense I’ve built. It isn’t easy to inject happy thoughts but I am trying! If you are reading this, give me a pat on my back virtually, will you?

And, I am going to leave you with this…

Amidst chasing fame and money, stop and smell the roses. Be with Mother Nature and her wonders. You’ll gain much more than what you are chasing now. Grow rich not by materialism, but by experience. Stay true, for an honest and pure heart is gold.

Create yourself and be gorgeous!
XOXO, Roanna.