Raiin Monkey turns 1!

Wow, I can't believe that it's been a year! I have been blogging for a whole year! :) It's been an awesome experience. I have met so many amazing people and I have loved getting to know you all through your blogs! I started Raiin Monkey as a hobby, as an outlet to help distract myself from my mental health conditions, to give me somewhere to share my passions and focus on the things that make me smile. To create a happy place. A space where I could talk about my life, both the good sides and the negative points, the things I struggle with. My blog has been very helpful in keeping me going, it's made me get out of bed, given me the motivation to do things when my depression has been bad, and it's also been therapeutic to be able to write about the struggles I have living with mental & physical illness. It has given me the opportunity to meet the most lovely people, to find a support network and that means the world to me. So here's to my first blogiversary; I'm looking forward to seeing what the next year will bring! Thankyou to everyone who has been following my blog, reading and commenting on my posts and brightening up my days ♥

Something that I have really enjoyed about blogging is that I can write about anything. It's been fun to share with you all the things that make me who I am, the things that I love, like my obsession with kawaii things, my love of subscription boxes and blindboxes, my passion for nature photography, all of the little things that never fail to make me smile and cheer me up when I'm feeling crappy. It's lovely that I can look through my blog when I'm having a bad day and see all of these things, and it's especially wonderful when you all leave me the nicest comments. Being able to share with you all about my life as a spoonie has been great, too! Before I started blogging, I often felt alone in my struggles and it was difficult for me to talk about my mental illness. One of my goals for this year was to be more open about my depression and anxiety, and my blog has made that possible. Writing about it gave me the confidence to talk about it and I am so so thankful for that. 

I am proud of my little blog, of all of the effort, time and energy that has gone into it, all of the times when I was having a bad pain day or struggling with low mood, but I powered through and still blogged. Some days have been hard but I'm so glad that I put my all into my blog. There have been posts that I thoroughly enjoyed writing and that are my favourites, either because they were on a topic that is important and meaningful to me, or because it helped my mental health to be able to express myself and discuss a personal topic, and I wanted to share those with you. 

• Why girls should support girls

• Living with Telephonophobia

• An Afternoon in the Woods | Earth Day 2016

• National Masturbation Month

• Why I love Cosplay

The last 12 months has gone by so quickly! It seriously feels like yesterday that I was writing by first ever post 'My Favourite Things About Autumn'. Thankyou again to every single one of my followers for making me feel welcome in the blogging community, for being supportive and just so bloody fabulous! To celebrate my 1st blogiversary, I'm going to be hosting a giveaway. Look out for the post over the next few days :) 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

 Wanna see me make a fool out of myself on video, then follow me on snapchat!  I'm at raiin_monkey