It’s Not My First Rebrand Rodeo…
At fifty-seven and having been residing in some form of online space or other for the last eighteen years, I recently questioned the sanity of another blog rebranding. Not only that but why am I still blogging when the world and his wife appear to have either decamped to Substack or TikTok? Apart from the obvious responses of I’m stubborn, because I can and the fact that I remain a slave to the “always evolving” tattoo on my inner arm, there are a few more nuanced reasons at play too.
I’ve come to learn later in life that I thrive on creativity – so much so that when I’m not being creative on the regular, something in the venn diagram of life feels very off. Despite the bad rap that online content creation continues to receive from some corners, it still feels like the supporting pillar of creativity for me and in a reverse inspiration twist, often inspires my real-life activities too. A true dinosaur, I hopped on board the blogging train back in 2009 when it was all still new and am not ashamed to admit that I’m still deeply and hopelessly in love with it. The irony is not lost on me that in a world of AI slop and Apps for everything, blogging now feels positively analogue.
If you’ve been subscribed to emails here and follow along on Instagram, you might have witnessed some of the recent mental flip-flopping over which direction my online presence should take. Nearly two year’s worth of navel gazing can get a little tiresome so consider this an apology for all the repetitive backing and forthing. But in all honestly, with H leaving the nest for Uni and onwards, me spending an intense year of caring for and then another dealing with the loss of our beloved labrador Biscuit, I completely lost my way for a while. Thankfully the part-time content creation work I did for a local florist friend kept me focused and in the loop of all things online – otherwise I think I might have just bought a dumbphone and declared myself done with the whole scene for good.
As I slowly began to climb back on the creative horse and gave some headspace to how I might wrap up my content in a neatly tied themed bow, I started listing the things that float my boat in this stage of life. Creating a cosy calm home, appreciating and being out in nature, partaking in small nurturing daily rituals, taking every opportunity to romanticise everyday moments and continuing to hone my style for the life I actually lead all came out top of the list. And in the process, I realised that the thing that ties it all together is the passing of the seasons. When I repeated this to a wise friend, her response was “But that’s something you’ve always done… you used to get excited about the change of the seasons back in the early Online Stylist days”. Isn’t it funny how some people can see you more clearly than you see yourself.
Living For The Seasons
In these later years, I find myself literally living for the seasons and all the feelings they bring forth. They of course exist within a calendar year but nowhere are they more keenly felt than in nature and the small moments that make up everyday life. Each one is anticipated, embraced, lived through and then eventually lamented as being something we are “over” due to too much of any one weather occurrence. And then - lucky us - comes the part where we get to look forward to the next one with all the joy it brings to our outside spaces, the food on the table, how our homes feel and what can be pulled out of the wardrobe. When I think about the concept of this, it feels like a privilege to live it four times a year… and for every year of life that remains. Recognising and celebrating those feelings adds meaning to both the smaller and the more significant moments and for me, encases the years in a beautiful cloak of nostalgia. So I set out to turn the blog into a space where I hope fellow kindred seasonal spirits can be inspired to do the same.
My wish is that through the storytelling pillars of Living With The Seasons, Collected Home, Style For Living and Notes on Life, this “old school” blog becomes an inspiring, trusted destination for anyone navigating their own evolving seasons and encourages the lost art of finding joy in the lives we’re already leading. Not the more glamorous life in a grander home with a better wardrobe and a continual do more, do it faster ethos. Just this one… the more considered, thoughtful, slower paced and (with a cap doff to Mary Oliver), wild and precious life we’ve been given.
Deep in the work of getting it ready and whilst drafting this post, I reached for a notebook of early morning scribbles from the end of summer, where I’d made a list of personal reasons why (and why not) I was intending to reinvent as Seasons by Amanda Start. There’s nothing groundbreaking in there but on the other hand, I think I’d do well to revisit them often. Here’s a selecion…
what it is
For a creative outlet
To facilitate more ways of finding everyday joy
For it to be aspirational but realistic and attainable
To deeper explore the concept of a loved and lived in home
For the subject matter to feel relevant to this life chapter
To retain confidence in my voice and experience gained from years of content creation
To stay in my lane and remember my “whys”
To fit in with life now and not take it over
To celebrate living life with a bit of Nancy Meyers movie main character energy at every opportunity!
What it’s not
It’s not a luxury showcase to fit in with the cool kid influencers
Not to cause stress – I’m fifty-f**king-seven and I don’t need that anymore!
Not to be pushed out of my comfort zone – I’ve done enough of that over the years
Not to look at what everyone else is doing and fall into a comparison trap
Not to end up spending all my days attached to my phone because I can’t switch off and step away
That last “not” may have already been ignored in the process of getting ready for going live but I’ve allowed myself the short-term concentration of effort to get it off the ground. And besides, it’s given me some much-needed purpose that I haven’t felt in a long time.
No Limits On Creativity
And finally, to seal my still blogging fate, during a particularly gruelling 4:00am mind racing wake-up, I gave up on sleep and took my note pad (and phone) downstairs to contemplate my options over a sunrise coffee. After feverishly scribbling down more rantings, I eventually opened Instagram and the first post that popped up in my feed was queen Nancy Meyers herself talking about making her current movie… at the age of seventy-six. My final bullet point on the note pad page that morning?
“If Nancy Meyers can make a movie at 76, I can sure as hell rebrand my blog at 57!”
So here we are. I hope you love it and come back to visit often. If you’ve been around for all my previous rebrand rodeos, thank you for sticking with me – you are truly heroic! And if you’re new here because you Googled “I’m fifty plus, have my life back; love cheese, wine, chinoiserie and am very partial to cushions but wondering what else is out there apart from AI drivel and dancing TikToks” … Hello and welcome! Come and follow me on Instagram and Pinterest for more seasonal living goodness and whilst you’re at it, feel free to sign up to join the Seasonal Living Community.
Meanwhile, I’ll be right here, crafting Seasons By Amanda Start into a quietly cosy place to be.
Amanda xx
A Few Thank You’s
I’m so grateful to Victoria at Saunders Design House who created the beautiful branding elements for this new era and did all the technical behind the scenes blog stuff so I could get Seasons out into the world. She knew exactly where I was coming from when I began describing what I had in mind and willingly took on board every idea, even the ones born of another sleepless night.
Thank you H for once again taking photographs of me for yet another phase of my blogging endeavours. I wasn’t sure if I was up for profile shots but you ended up getting exactly what I was after. And we got to see the pannage pigs in the process!
The beautiful autumnal image at the top my Homepage of the New Forest, a place that has nurtured my love of all the seasons over the years, is by talented local photographer, Annie Spratt. Find more of her amazing work here.
