Meet The Blogger: Ashleigh From The Stevenson Life

It’s hard to believe that this blog series has been running for almost a year! It’s proved to be a really popular slot on my blog and I’m thrilled to have been able to bring some of the amazing bloggers out there to your attention; I hope you have been able to find a new favourite amongst the vast array of sites! I will be continuing this feature into 2020 so please do get in touch if you’d like to be featured!

Anyway, on to today’s post and I have yet another cracker for you as I chat to the lovely Ashleigh from The Stevenson Life. Check out all the must know info and be sure to give her a blog a visit too!

clear mason jar with red liquid and straw — Image Credit

Tell us a bit about yourself and your blog

Hi all, my name is Ashleigh. I’m a 24 year old blogger, part time administrator for a local charity and full time mum to my 18 month old Grayson. I run ‘The Stevenson Life’ with my husband Mark and we blog about a number of different subjects and issues. My main area’s of blogging interest are parenting, mental health and feminism. That’s not to say that’s all I limit myself too, we use our blog as a place to write about whatever we want (within reason of course!)

How long have you been blogging?

So Mark and I have had The Stevenson Life since April 2017, but before that I had my own blog. My blog was started in 2012, and it started off being largely around beauty blogging and my love for music and then slowly began to include more in depth topics. So all in all, I’ve been blogging for around 7 years.

What or who inspired you to create your blog?

Back when I first started blogging, I was really into the likes of ViviannaDoesMakeup (which shows how long ago it was) and Lily Pebbles. I liked that they used their platforms for area’s that interested them, but they would also talk about topics that they felt needed to be discussed. Life then got in the way and I stopped blogging for a while, but when Mark and I moved across the country to Liverpool, we discussed starting up a joint blog. I’d really missed blogging, and I knew Mark enjoyed it as well so I jumped at the chance.

What’s your favourite thing about running your blog?

I’d say my favourite thing is just being able to talk about things I’m passionate about. I’m a big advocate for mental health, and so I like to believe that if I can open up a narrative for someone to feel comfortable to talk about how they are feeling, then I’ve done a great thing. I also like to talk about my experiences with parenting, because whilst it is amazing it’s also super hard and I know parents nowadays try so hard to put on the persona of ‘perfect parent’. So if I can write a post about how my toddler still doesn’t sleep through the night in his own bed, and another mum or dad see’s that and goes “oh thank god, it isn’t just us” then my post has done what it needs to do.

How do you stay motivated?

I find the best way to stay motivated for me personally, is to keep a note on my phone of all the ideas I come up with throughout the day for posts. I find I’ll be sitting somewhere and I’ll hear something, or see something and I’ll think “that would make a great blog post”. I also try not to force myself to write at any given time, because this never works for me. I need to be in the right frame of mind, and that can’t be forced. I also find listening to music whilst I’m blogging really gets me into the swing of things as well.

What’s been the most challenging part of your blogging journey to date?

After having Grayson, we moved from Liverpool back to Suffolk (moving with a newborn is not something I’d recommend) we were also renovating our house and planning our wedding. Life was going at such full speed that we just didn’t have time for blogging, as much as we both wanted to sit down a write a posts. So we both lost the motivation for a long time, but it was like something clicked one day and I suddenly had the passion again.

Tell us about your favourite blog post

Probably my favourite blog post to date is this one, because birth trauma is something that isn’t discussed enough and although it made me extremely nervous to post I really felt like it was a post that would hopefully help more mums and dads out there. However, we’ve got a few new blog posts coming up that I’m VERY excited for!

Describe your blog in four words

Passionate, thought-provoking, personal and open-minded

What are your future hopes and dreams for your blog?

The only hope I have for our blog is that we can continue to write about the things that we love, and that people will read our posts and hopefully keep coming back to read what we have to write next!