Do you remember what you were doing on the 28th August 2015? Because I do. Because the 28th August 2015 was the day that I decided to start my journey as TeenagelifeBeth. And what a journey it's been. But today is the day to say goodbye to this journey.
It's almost been four years since I first started this journey. Back at the start, I was 15, just about to go into my last year of school, and didn't really know who I was or what I wanted from life. Now I am 19, have just finished my first year of university, and to be honest I still don't really know who I am or what I want from life, but I think I have a slightly clearer idea than I did back then. And that's partly thanks to this blog.
During my time as TeenagelifeBeth, I have come to many realisations as to who I am. I think that one of these things that has been one of the main features of my blog is my journey with mental health. Back when I was 15, I knew there was something about me that was different about me compared to others, but I wasn't entirely sure what this was. I think it is partly from writing this blog and interacting with people on Twitter that I came to realise that I have anxiety, and later that I had mild depression and some suicidal tendencies. Some may say that it is a bad thing I found this out because it's not something that anyone would want to be told that they have. However, I see me finding this out as a good thing because it means after many years of not knowing what was 'wrong' with me, I finally have an answer. And if that's not a good thing then I don't know what is.
One of the main reasons why I decided to start this blog is because I wanted to talk about my life with other people and share my experiences to try and help others in either knowing they aren't alone with what they are going through, or helping them with something if I have faced something similar. I hope I have achieved this in some way, so if I have please tell me in the comments. I also started this blog to try and find some answers to things happening in my life that I didn't know how to deal with, mostly because I had no idea what was going on. But thanks to some of you who have read my posts and given me some advice, you have helped me in getting to know myself and have helped me to figure out some situations that I would probably still be trying to figure out if it wasn't for you. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for everything you have helped me with, it really means a lot more to me than you could possibly ever imagine.
But this isn't the end. I love blogging and would never want any of this to end. I know I took a brief break back in 2017, but I have been back blogging for around a year now and I think it took that little break to realise how much I love doing this and how much I don't want to stop doing it. This may be the end of TeenagelifeBeth, but it's not the end of my blogging 'career' forever.
As I am 19, this means next year I am going to be turning 20 (something which I am very terrified of). As this means I am going to become an 'adult', this also means I will no longer be a teenager, which is 100% scary but kind of exciting to see what I go on to do next. And I want to share this new journey with you, which is why I am starting a whole new blog on a whole new platform. You may say I should have done this at the start of next year or when I actually turn 20, but to be honest, that is going to be when I am far too busy and after a lot of consideration I felt that right now was the perfect time for me to start a new blog.
My new blog site is one I have spent a while creating now, so I really hope you like it. It is called 'Life of Beth' (a bit like the Life of Riley, except my life is nowhere near as carefree or easy - if anything it's quite the opposite, which is why it's the life of Beth). You can find it here, where there is already a post all up and ready for you to check out.
With a new blog name comes a new twitter handle and a new email address. I did consider creating a whole new twitter profile, however it has taken me years to build up the following I already have on my current profile, so I thought it would be a shame (and very time consuming) to have to start all over again. My new twitter name will be '@lifeofbeth761', which you will be able to find about an hour after this post goes up (so if you are reading this after 7pm on 07/07/19 and aren't already following me, then hopefully you will be able to find it). My new email address is 'lifeofbeth761@gmail.com'. This, along with my new twitter name, is already on my new blog page, where you will find other ways of contacting me, so please either head over there or drop me an email for whatever the reason may be.
I would just like to point out that I have chosen not to move across the posts from this blog to my new one as I want it to be a fresh start. However, I am not going to delete this blog as some of the posts that are on here have been found quite helpful by a lot of people and I would still like to have the ability to re-share any of them when the time is right without having my fresh, new shiny blog bombarded with over 100 blog posts when it has barely been live for five minutes. Plus, I would also still like to be able to do my blog 'throwback Thursdays'. This may be weird as I have started afresh, but I have found that some of the throwbacks I have already done have turned out to still be relevant somehow when I re-share them. This will definitely carry on until the end of the year, if not then for the foreseeable future. This is also a way for me to look back on most of my teenage years, to see what life was like and how much my life has changed.
So I guess this really is the end. Once again, I would like to thank you all so, so, so much for all of your love and support and I hope you all love the new blog. It will still be very much the same concept as this one, except it involves me growing up in a whole new light and a journey which I very much hope to share with all of you. Because if it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't be here today. So thank YOU for everything you have done for me, it truly means the world and more.
Love Beth xx
