Practice what you preach

So to enable myself to show up fully for not only myself but for others too I needed to do make sure I was doing what it says in the title.

Having spent a month in Italy living the Italian dream, I allowed myself time out from everything and everyone in the UK and felt like I’d done a whole complete shift and I was unraveling those last few layers and getting back to my roots and the core of who I truly am. A person that I had lost beyond belief for so many years from past experiences, no one can prepare you for the healing that is required and necessary to build yourself back up again. But let me tell you right now, it is possible and you can do it. I spent a lot of time on my own working with myself. Something I know some people find the idea of, uncomfortable. It's a truly fulfilling experience and one I highly recommend.

How can you have fun on your own? 

Once you are truly happy within yourself you can enjoy life this way so easily. Exploring, wandering and getting lost was just beautiful. The discoveries, moments and precious times. I hand on my heart loved every minute. It most definitely reignited that old flame within me and brought back those deep embedded roots I once had, that got lost for so many years. It enlightened my travel dream once again of not only experiencing all those magical moments but sharing them with someone too. I learnt so much about myself in these moments of pure independence and freedom and realised just how far I have come. 

It’s these moments you need to really cherish and give to yourself. To just step back for a minute and realise how far you have come and how much you have grown. That's when you’re able to seek the joy of looking back, the pain no longer lingers and you're able to see the real distance you’ve gone. It’s great to look at how much you have grown and give yourself a good pat on the back. 

Being in solitude allows you the time to get to know you. To sit back and reflect, to learn what has now gone and to show up for where you are right now. Facing all your truths. Even the raw ugly side, traits of yourself that you don’t always want to face but help you to learn about yourself and what areas you may need to work on. Something I feel needs to be showcased out there more, the unedited raw honesty. We all hold our own toxic traits as much as we don't like to admit.

On returning back to the UK I then had a complete break and came off all social media. It just felt like the right time to do so. (A few days later I then had laser eye surgery which also involved minimal screen time, so it worked well)

What showed up for me in the time being off it?

How easy it was and how I didn't miss it. It’s funny how you can do something for so long and then you take it away and it doesn't even phase you. I know that may sound silly but it has almost become a daily habit - habit being the key word there and just something that so many of us are mindlessly doing.

The joy of being 32 is that I have lived and experienced life before social media and coming off it really took me back to my roots. My head was a lot clearer and quite honestly I urge you to do it, even just for a few days here and there. I have always been into travel and taking photos and love sharing the beauty of the world on Instagram and I will no doubt continue to do so. My personal Instagram is more so an online memory box, but even then I stop myself and ask, should I just be enjoying the moment more.

It's such a fine line but I think when the part of sharing on social becomes a case of as and when I feel like it rather than having to conform to posting at certain days/time etc. I am staying true to myself. I know in the social media world this is key to getting your content reach at its highest and your business out there and I have played around with it all but I can’t help finding myself not wanting to conform to that control and I guess in turn, that keeps me sitting at staying true to who I am. (sorry Dad, I now understand why I was such a handful) One for never wanting to conform and always being a big believer in my own freedom. It all starts to make a lot of sense. My roots are well and truly back and firmly grounded within me. I don’t want to have to adhere to Instagrams algorithms to become successful in a career that I am so passionate about. Yet it frustrates me that a lot of small businesses, even more so now with ‘covid’ are having to solely rely on this. 

This is just another form of society trying to take back control and monitor us. Technology, if used in the right healthy way, can be great. Small, local businesses put so much time, effort and creativity into the livelihoods of their business and have taken the leap to follow their dreams, they deserve to reap the rewards. There's some method behind the mass media of targeting everything that involves being creative and dubbing it and keeping the big corporations safe whilst the small business continue to struggle. 

As I said I wanted to practice what I preach and taking a break meant taking a real break. Being aware of what you say and then actually doing it are two very different things. Actions speak louder than words and I find myself constantly coming back to myself, stopping and observing and taking the time to work out if I’m staying try to myself. Becoming aware of 'Is this staying true to who I am' is one to for us all to work on. Coming from someone who loves to give, this is a constant practice for myself. There's a lot to be said for the older generation and the joy of simplicity. The collective urge is out there so much right now to bring some more of that back. 

The balancing act -

Create balance, space and awareness for yourself and support others where you can. 

Sending love always 

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