In a world of perpetual negativity, one of our favorite blogs, Stardust, offers refreshingly positive insight. The blogger behind Stardust, Anastasia, promotes a healthier lifestyle that extends past diet and exercise and tackles weighty issues of self-esteem and body acceptance. Unsurprisingly, Anastasia’s blog has spread like wildfire among the blogging community because of her wise and insightful opinions on difficult and relevant topics of today.
Stardust is all about projecting your most positive self and acting as a light in a dark world. From humorous posts that will leave you grinning to deep, moving posts that will wanting to change the world, Anastasia has created an incredibly special and happy place for her readers.
Fortunately for us, we were able to unlock some of her positivity and find out her tips for having a growing blog.
- What made you start Stardust?
I started Stardust in January this year as an outlet for me to air my thoughts on how we can improve our lives by learning to accept our vulnerabilities and since then, it has taken off more than I ever could have imagined! In April this year, I also launched #ProjectPositive, an initiative to help stamp out self-inflicted negativity on social media. Blogging is something that I’d been wanting to do (and procrastinating!) for around 5 years before I started my blog, so it was long overdue for me! I’ve always been a writer throughout my whole life so this was a very natural progression for me.
- What’s been the biggest challenge of blogging?
By far the biggest challenge has been managing the schedule – not just for posting, but for all the behind the scenes stuff that people forget about, like the social media campaigns, the SEO and the fostering relationships, plus servicing the needs of those who sponsor me. I’m a stickler for a good routine and I’ve got about 4 calendars on the go at any one time to keep track of everything. I think the secret is not letting yourself fall behind, and trying to have as much done ahead of time as you can. That way, you allow yourself a bit of breathing room if you’re just not feeling it on one particular day.
- How do you find time for blogging?
I’m a firm believer that if something is important to you, you MAKE time. I haven’t always got the time to sit down and do a solid blogging session, so I write down bits and bobs whenever I get a second – I’ve got a notebook full of half sentences and half paragraphs waiting to be turned into posts! I think it’s important to do what you can, when you can. If all you’ve got is 10 minutes between finishing dinner and going to the gym, knock off some of the smaller tasks then! The more tasks you can tick off, the more productive you’ll feel.
- You just started your very first social media challenge! Can you tell us more about it and how you came up with this concept?
I did – and I’ve been so overwhelmed with the awesome response it has had from beautiful ladies across the globe! I started the #ProjectPositive 30 day social media challenge as a way of introducing a little bit of positive self-reflection into people’s lives. So often, women especially concern themselves with self-inflicted negativity and this is detrimental to our mindsets on so many levels. By giving people a prompt, all they have to do is finish the sentence – this is a really easy way for people to write something positive about themselves under a structured framework that doesn’t leave people feeling uncomfortable about being nice to themselves!
- What’s been the best thing to come from blogging?
Definitely the relationships I’ve made – some of the best people in my world I now consider to be some of the bloggers I’ve met, and many of these ladies are closer to me than people I’ve known for most of my life!
- What does the future hold for Stardust?
I’ve got some big things in the pipeline! Without giving too much away, let’s just say that you can expect to see a lot more of me not only online, but in print as well 🙂
We loved getting to learn more about Stardust and Anastasia’s campaign to help us change our thinking. From body acceptance to dealing with embarrassing moments, Anastasia has been an inspiration and great help to her readers.
To find out more information about joining the #ProjectPositive social media challenge, read Anastasia’s post here. Connect and binge-read her positive blog here.
Anastasia’s social media links:
Every week, we’ll be highlighting some of our favorite bloggers in our Bloggers Know Best column. From fashion to cooking, we’re connecting you with some of the best experts in the blogging world. Our featured bloggers have tons of ideas and tips to help you break into the blogging community. To have your blog featured, contact Rebecca at rebecca@allynlewis.com