Oh hello, darling, and welcome to the final post of Growth Month. Today is actually the day, my third year anniversary. Yes, this means that for last 1095 days I have sat at this very keyboard, thought, typed or corrected myself all in the effort of benpechey.com.
In 2016, I started this as a reaction to the Brexit vote, I realised that no-one would ever do anything for me. If I wanted something, I would have to go and get it myself. From then on I really began to craft my outputs into the world, as I wanted to have a presence and a voice.
The first posts were what I thought ‘bloggers’ are supposed to do, going through the motions as I found what and who I am supposed to be. I actually read them with a pinch of salt, but they were relatively useless. They didn’t add value to peoples lives or help bring visibility to any issues. However, those tentative first posts laid the foundations for my activism now.
It's funny because I never had any intentions for this, it was an exercise of shaping who I was, and who I wanted to be. Over the course of the three years, I have worked on myself, and present to you the growth of this period. I didn’t know where it would take me, of course, I’m not sat here with 50,000 followers, or possibly the traditional markers of success in the influence industry. You know what, that was never my goal. It was about having something to say.
Yet in the past three years, I have developed a truly unique view of the world. I access this through my visual presence and through using my voice. There are a lot of people in 2019 saying something, to say something is no longer enough. There are so many people in the industry, yet I feel that they aren’t contributing anything. I am saying things that speak to people, I uplift, I bring visibly, I make people listen. This is what we should ALL be doing with our platforms.
Not to mention I am a successful freelance writer, with articles published online and in print. I have launched 2 successful Podcasts. Been the subject of a mini-documentary, and other projects that are forthcoming. I also must mention my legendary daily Instagram stories that I know so many of you adore.
Having the ability to look back at three years of posts, gives me a visible timeline, I can see how far I have come. It also shows me where I need to go. I want to promote the LGBTQ+ community until we have FULL equality. I want to push body positivity to the point where all bodies are fully accepted. There is so much work to be done in this cruel cruel world.
When all the issues we face have been fixed, resolved and reduced I will stop. There is just one snag here, I worry that we may never overcome all these hurdles. I want to end this year with one of my favourite quotes, that I carry with me everywhere. From the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.”
So I guess I am going to carry on doing what I’m doing, see you in another 3 years time.
Shot by Rachel Pechey
Shop my Lewk:
Jacket: M&S
Trousers: M&S
Heels: Evans
Earrings: Sandra Alexandra Via July Child