Finding my Voice

This is a subject that after literally consuming self development books almost daily for the last three years, I feel like I can finally open up about. I have always been a person that relies on validation from other people, I make content people either ask for or from research I know they want to watch. This has gotten me reasonably far with regards to my audience but my head was not a happy place.

Spending around three years as ‘an Influencer/mumfluencer’ whatever you want to call it, I slowly started to HATE social media, the pressure from brands wanting results, interfering with your style and your followers judging you because lets face it no one believes you are genuine when you are being paid £1,000 to talk about a product, it was utterly soul destroying.

About two years ago after falling down the well of ‘influencing’ I publicly announced that I would no longer be called an influencer and I was in fact just a person that shared content, with no pressure and no expectation from anyone, including myself. What I did commit to doing was working with brands as a videographer and a photographer to create them content for their own social media. This sometimes involved me but I didn’t HAVE to share anything on my personal accounts.

My social media journey has been colourful and my account has moved around all of the areas of my life from fitness, cottage life, baking, interiors to now, which is horses. I would sit clueless most evenings empty of ideas after a busy day of selling my creativity to other people and basically have nothing to say.

I started personal development coaching (therapy, counselling) not sure of the best terminology, just over a year ago and the journey of weekly sessions until this present day has seen me convert from someone that constantly needs validation from everyone else, to someone that internally knows their worth (most of the time, we all have shit days) and feels no pressure to perform like a dancing monkey daily on social media.

Once feeling mentally stronger it was time to turn my attentions to social media. Who am I, what do I want to share and why do I want to share it. As a videographer and filmmaker my passion lies in provoking emotion, when you watch my videos I want you to ‘feel’ something. I sit across the room from Arabella (my daughter) and even at a distance am totally overwhelmed by the loudness and aggressive video content that is so widely available. Fast talking, loud noises, go go go, I don’t want this. I want to tell stories in a peaceful way incorporating some talking, natural sounds and appropriate music, the kind that doesn’t panic you and make you feel like you should be up and doing star jumps at 6am.

From years of google searches ‘how to grow my channel’ ‘what do people want to see’ ‘ how to get noticed’ my new strategy goes against everything I’ve read. You must post click bait, fast paced content to capture peoples attention, Loud thumbnails, long wordy captions. Nope, not doing any of it. My statement to you all today is that I will share the following:

Instagram – Life, short captions, some stories when I fancy it, I won’t work with brands unless it’s as a photographer or videographer, if I share them it’s a product I love or I’m working with the brand. I also commit to responding to DM’s predominantly with voice notes as it’s a much better way of communication with people properly.

My Blog – A variety of blogs about all aspects of my life, as and when I feel inspired, no pressure for creativity. If I write four posts one week and one the net so be it. If I’ve learned anything from working as a creative it’s that you can’t force creativity.

Youtube – A variety of videos covering parts of my life, some informative some relaxing, some just because I want to document something, I won’t commit to a schedule, I will post as and when my life allows time.

I branded my account briefly as ‘The Equestrian Blogger’ because it was a way of starting to write and find my footing in a new area without any stigma attached to it or the need to share it on my social media. It so turns out that writing makes me incredibly happy so deciding to continue down this late night coffee fuelled avenue of writing was going to need to fit in to my current ‘life plan’.

So moving forwards my account is called ‘Georgina Hannay’, I am an Equestrian and Countryside filmmaker, photographer and blogger. And I will be talking about all the things that are part of my life. This will vary from a bit of fashion (when I spend more than 12 seconds not in riding clothes) the animals, the cottage, my work the horses, holidays and whatever else I fancy journalling on here, filming for YouTube and photographing for Instagram.

Hopefully this all makes sense. It has felt like a journey of discovery finding my purpose, but I finally feel like on a personal level where I have landed is right.

I am still very much on the social media treadmill but I am wondering not sprinting.

Thanks as always for reading

My first Youtube video with a commitment on the type of content I want to create, would love to know what you think

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