Idolising Celebrities

Idolising celebrities. It's something many people do, and recently I've seen quite a few people have debates about whether it's right or not…mainly on YouTube (e.g. SprinkeOfGlitter), and I wanted to share my own view on the topic.

Pretty much every young person has a celebrity or public figure like a YouTuber or blogger they look up to, which is cool, that's fine, but I often think people take it too far and get swept up in the persona that person puts on in front of cameras, in interviews or just generally in public view. I think people forget these celebrities are actually real people, people with faults, insecurities and worries.
I see far too many young people, mainly girls, saying "ohh I wish I was *insert celebrity name here*" or "*so and so* is so perfect!" and it bugs me ever so much, for various reasons.

Whether you like it/believe it or not the person you see in front of cameras, whether it's an A list actress, a member of a band, a YouTuber or a blogger, is never going to be the full and true them 100%, you're never going to see every accept of their life, every emotion they feel and everything they go through. That person will naturally only want people seeing the best parts of themselves, and they'll always put across who they want people to see them as…i.e happy, funny or confident, when it could be very far from the truth. I know from experience that even I put on a persona to people I meet. I've been told numerous times that I come across as very calm and confident, when in reality I'm a very anxious and insecure person.
It's the same with how people look, an example of this is that YouTubers know when they're going to sit down and film so of course they'll put on nice clothes, do their hair all nicely, put some makeup on, make sure their lighting is good, etc, so the person you're seeing is the best version of themself. I'm sure they look very different at the end of the day when their makeup has worn off, they're sat on a sofa in pyjamas that maybe need a wash and their hair is pulled back in a messy bun (not that looks matter, but remember no-one looks glamorous 24/7).
Celebrities and public figures live in reality too. Fact. Every single person on this planet has things they wish they could change about their appearance or how they are, even people you may look at as being the perfect human being. I guarantee you if you were to wake up one morning in the body of the person you wish to be you would see it totally differently, because we all see ourselves in the most critical way. I think it's also important to remember that age plays a huge role here…young girls look up to people who are older than them, and with age comes the ability to not care so much what people think of you which results in more confidence and an aura that brings envy to teens who are still in that stage of life where they believe everyone is staring at them, and everyone cares about what hairstyle they have (which honestly, they don't…and if they do then so what? They're not worth your time).

Admiring a certain aspect of someone I can relate to a lot more, e.g. I admire Zoe (Zoella) for doing huge things when she suffers with anxiety, I admire Carrie Fletcher for always being true to herself and for being very honest in her videos, I admire actresses who went for their dreams and achieved so many things, recently I've had huge admiration for Tullulah Willis (Demi Moore and Bruce Willis's daughter) for speaking so openly about her struggles with body dysmorphia, and I admire anyone who stands up for important issues…but admiring those aspects doesn't mean I admire every single thing those people do, and it doesn't mean I think they're perfect or want to change who I am to be them.
I think in life it's a great thing to just be who you are, have your own morals, have your own style, have your own personality and don't try to conform to be somebody who you see as being better than yourself, because honestly they aren't and I'm sure they would happily tell you that.

So yes, we can learn from public figures, we can admire certain things they achieve and of course they can inspire us, but ultimately no-one is perfect and I bet you have things about yourself that others look at and think "damn, I wish I was like that".
I definitely need to take my own advice, because I still worry about what others think of me; I'm only human after all, but I have let go a bit and relaxed a lot more and honestly it's the best thing you can do.

VInspired! Get Involved.

I thought I'd share something with you. I don't know if you remember, but back in July I was involved with an event called VInspired Live, blog post about it here, after this I was asked to do some more work with them and become a VInspired VIP.
I'm so pleased to be doing more with them, as they're such a brilliant charity who do great work.

VInspired is the UK's leading youth volunteering charity. They help young people connect with volunteering opportunities that really matter to them.
The organisation has created more than a million volunteering opportunities and has really helped a lot of people. They are dedicated to helping young people improve their confidence, their skills and have fun whilst making a change to issues they really care about.

Over 144,000 people use VInspired as a way to find volunteer work with more than 2,500 charities, so whatever you're interested in there'll always be something you could get involved with that you have a passion for.

Why volunteer? Here are a few reasons -
1. Volunteering is a great way to make new friends, and the best part is they'll have the same interests as you.
2. You could make some great contacts, getting jobs and opportunities is often about 'who you know', so who knows where it could lead?
3. It looks fantastic on any CV. Almost 75% of employers would rather hire an employee with volunteering experience rather than one without.
4. You will learn new skills that'll help you in future employment.
5. You can make a change and give something back.
6. Make it fit for you. Whether you're in full time education, or have loads of time on your hands there will be an opportunity that has just the right amount of work in it that you're looking for.

If you're 14-25 I highly recommend you check their website out for more information, remember to sign up and share this with your friends as well!
VInspired's website here!
VInspired's Facebook page!

What have you got to lose?
Make a change. 

VInspired Live! Exciting News and FREE TICKETS!

I have some exciting news!

I was approached recently by a charity called VInspired and they asked me to be a brand ambassador for their upcoming event VInspired Live! I of course said yes!

VInspired is a charity dedicated to helping young people volunteer in ways that matter to them. They provide them with opportunities to do good things and to make a difference. They really help these young people learn different skills, improve their confidence and have fun whilst making a change to the things they care about.

VInspired Live will be an amazing event held on the 6th of July at the Roundhouse in London. 

The event, hosted by Rick Edwards and Gemma Cairney, will mix great music from acts such as Professor Green and Skepta, with inspiration from Olympic stars, Levi Roots and more. 

They'll also be 4 young people who are trying to make a difference to issues they care about, thousands of people voted for what issue they believe in the most and the top 4 were -

* Changing self esteem and mental health

* Changing street crime

* Changing youth unemployment

* Changing youth homelessness

The 4 people campaigning for each of these issues have celebrity mentors, which include Jack and Finn Harries from Jacksgap YouTube fame - they will be there on the day, very excited for that. 

You can vote for which you'd like to win here.

Now for the mega exciting part….YOU have the chance to be at this amazing event, that is for such a wonderful cause…and the best part is it is FREE!

"How?" I hear you ask….all you have to do is register for tickets here http://vinspiredlive.com/#get-tickets and you could be in with a chance of winning a pair! It is that simple.

I personally cannot wait for the event and I will have my vlogging camera with me, so if you don't win tickets then don't worry - you can catch up with everything that happened via my vlog from the day!

I think it's such a brilliant idea, a great lineup and such an amazing charity, and I really hope to see some of you there!

VInspired's links -

Facebook

Twitter

Volunteering

Music.People.Change

Dream! Dream! And Then Go For It!

I heard someone say the other day that they wanted to be a TV presenter, I said that was great and asked how they were going to go about it, they replied "I'm not, my parents wont let me, they said it's a waste of time and I'll never achieve it". This made me very angry, so I have decided to write a blog post about it.

We all have dreams, whether they're fairly small, easy to achieve dreams or big dreams that you need to work your butt off to achieve, we all have them and no-one should be allowed to tell you that you can't do them.
What would happen if we all thought like that? What would happen if everyone with a big dream thought "no, I can't do that, it will never happen so I wont bother"? I'll tell you, they'd be no TV, they'd be no internet, they'd be no shops, they'd be no music, they'd be no films. We'd have no actors or actresses, we'd have no writers, we'd have no bands or singers. Life would be dull.

There's always a chance your dream could be a reality, whether it's a small chance or a massive chance you need to go for it! Just think, that small chance of your dreams coming true is a little bit of hope, and if there is that hope and that chance then you CAN make it a reality, work hard, don't give up and don't let people tell you that you can't do something...they're probably only saying that because either they're jealous you're going for something, or they're sour because they never went for their dreams.

Okay, so maybe you fail, maybe you don't achieve your dream, but it's not the end of the world. And wouldn't you rather have tried and done all you could rather than never even attempted it and in years to come regretted it and constantly thought "what if?".  I know which I would prefer. Never give up on a dream, don't ever think "It'll take too long to achieve" because that time will pass anyway. Start now, otherwise in a years time you'll think "I wish I had started then instead of waiting".
The likelihood is, even if you don't achieve what you were aiming to in the quest to do so, you'll have had fun trying, you'll have gained important skills, made new friends and maybe even found something that would make you even happier than your original dream.

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?
That makes you think about what you want, what you would like to achieve. So go for those things!
Even if just one comes true, that could be the one to change your life for the better and make you whole.

I hope you all go for you dreams.

DREAM BIG.