New Year, Stronger Me

New year, new me? How about make that a stronger version of me than a brand new one?! Hence why I’m sharing a collage of the ‘old me’ with photos taken over the past few years up until recently!

The Christmas period saw my mood drop with a week post-Christmas where I felt low and anxious (my moods fluctuated up until Florence turned 10 months and this was the first time they dropped so severly since then post-cycle)…But after the storm comes sunshine right, and if you’re lucky, rainbows and I’ve felt that way over the past few weeks. My eldest son turned 13 (yes, I have a teen and a toddler in the house now-help) and now my mood has lifted and with that change has also come deep clarity. A reward from years of therapy and self development work (plus reading Manifest and recently Dive Deeper, both by Roxie Nafousi and watching the Lucky Girl Syndrome TikTok videos whilst feeling s***) has resulted in an energetic shift in me. A greater sense of self-belief and repeated rewiring of the brain to be kinder to myself is making its mark.  I don’t share this lightly either after feeling my confidence and sense of self nose-dived after Florence and that’s despite reaching millions of people monthly across my channels because confidence isn’t straight forward) but as I write, I begin new chapters personally and professionally and in the words of Lizzo, it’s about damn time!

I have new management in the form of experienced and excellent humans, Lee and Liam at Lunar Talent for a start. I’ve been approached a lot over the years for representation and historically have worked with big and smaller agents/managers (in fact my first literary agent for screenwriting and directing was straight out of uni) but I’ve enjoyed managing myself the past few years. It is time to delegate and collaborate now and these guys feel like the perfect fit so I’m pumped for what’s to come.

I’ve (finally) taken my husband’s advice too and keep my circle small and tight, staying close to the light which means working and hanging out with people who feel like sunshine.

Case in point is Emma of The Jewellery Makers who become a close friend over the past couple of years and came to visit Florence and spread some of her and her family’s joyous energy onto us. It was truly nourishing hanging out and eating Sicilian food together! It’s true what they say, it really is all about quality over quantity when it comes to friends for me, from now on!

So, I’m running (make that power walking) into the new year feeling confident in who I am, sure that my voice matters and that change, even the challenging kind, is ultimately good for the soul. I’m creating more prolificially without caution, trusting myself and those around me. I trust the universe has my back because I’m a lucky girl/woman/mama! Go watch TikTok if you don’t believe me!

…There are a lot of changes incoming too. With a new house on the horizon which will hopefully complete in a few months (*speaking out loud to the universe, it *WILL complete), Florence might be starting nursery then too most probably for a couple of half days (if I’m ready *cry) and some dream projects are kicking off so life feels exciting, purposeful but also pretty calm. No drama, just the aligning of stars!

Here’s to a happy and healthy new year to you all.