A New Chapter


The first blog I ever read, was by a girl named Hannah @ Secret Life of a Poor Student.

Hannah was a law student at Essex whose blog I came across in 2012 through a Twitter retweet. She wrote about dating, studying, and that one time she ordered a small Dominos pizza after dinner, just because she couldn't be bothered to walk to the shop and get Ben and Jerry's and there was a spending limit.

I became addicted to reading her trials and tribulations, and although she closed down her blog in 2014, Hannah remains the inspiration for starting Alice's Antics.

So, in 2013, I sat down and started writing. The theme was shit and the photos were all taken on a dodgy iPhone 5, but I fell in love with it. I wrote about almost setting my apartment on fire in Italy, I cringed about the day I tripped up the stairs on a bus and the doors closed on me, I discussed learning Italian in Italy.

And in that first year of blogging, I wrote 139 blog posts - almost 3 a week.

Blog posts take time to write. They take thought, and patience, but they should also come naturally. And for some reason, I haven't been able to write naturally on here for a very long time - in fact, until my last blog post.

I think some of that comes from growing up and watching the internet expand. When I first started Alice's Antics, 'influencers' didn't exist. Whereas now, you know for a fact the internet can come back to haunt you.

On top of this, is how exposed it makes you. I withdrew a LOT from my blog in 2016, after going on two consecutive dates where both guys had found Alice's Antics and/or my Youtube channel.

My Youtube is linked to my blog is linked to my Instagram and my Instagram is linked to my dating apps. These guys weren't Sherlock Holmes, but I didn't like the advantage they had over me.

In the last few years, I feel like the internet has been an elastic band in what it deems acceptable and not acceptable. I stopped posting my relatable rambles because I felt like nobody cared, and started posting more aesthetic, photo-y blogs because, for a long time, the internet has been about the projection of you.

And now, we're in full circle, and it's mental health and body positivity and self-love. And actually, I'm not 100% sure I'm ready to talk about all of that just yet either.

Putting myself on a pedestal or what I should be writing about, has stopped me from the natural course of writing that I love.

The long-winded posts about dating and men and how I'm suddenly 24 and like - will I be single FOREVER?? Stay tuned.

I want my blogs to be about being on the move, and running away from jobs and DEBT because guess what??? My coffee shop job didn't pay for my flight to Australia in 2018, my overdraft did!

I want to discuss friends, and drifting apart, and how important it is to stay in touch with the good ones.

And most of all, I want to talk about T R A V E L. It's the biggest part of my life. Over the last 10 months, I've really, truly come to terms with the fact that I will be sacrificing the life I always thought I'd have in my twenties, for a completely different one.

I grew up thinking my twenties would be spent in London, writing for a magazine (interchangeably Elle and Glamour during my teens), with a boyfriend and the same best friends from school + a couple from university.

But the reality is, I'm trying to figure out how to save money whilst living and working on minimum wage whilst also booking flights. I've spent more time in the last 2.5 years living out of a suitcase than at home, and over the summer one of my best friends asked me if I think travel has stopped me from meeting 'the one'.

(Stay tuned for that little gem to be discussed in the very near future).

This is what I want to write about. This is what I will be writing about. And this is the new chapter of Alice's Antics.

There will be swearing and laugh-out-louds, and reality checks and I'm going to be completely honest about all of the ups and downs of my life. Because frankly, I'm only 24 and could write a book already.

Let's go.

Love, Alice x

2 comments

  1. YES. I too got into blogging after reading Hannah's blog and was gutted when she closed it down. The industry has changed so much in recent years (something I'm still trying to articulate on my own blog) but you've really hit the nail on the head with this. Can't wait to see where the future takes you x

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  2. You clearly have excellent taste! Thank you so much! x

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