It’s time to press “refresh” this April
Little did I think I’d be sitting here, watching the snow fall outside my office window, on 6 April 2021 talking about opening the studio back up after being forced to shut, for a forth time, due to a worldwide pandemic. What a crazy twelve months that just keeps on getting crazier!
Having said that, the pandemic has brought so much into focus and it seems many feel the same! For example, James - my hubby and photographer at #BBBY - was born in Belper yet we’ve spent so much of the last year exploring our local area, discovering new paths, streams and waterfalls we never knew about! It made us take action on the garden, creating a place that suited exactly what we wanted in our family of five, including veggie patch, pond (with frog spawn!) and fire pit. Our children taught us how to “forest school” as they no longer had access to this whilst home learning was at its peak and, as someone who hated feeling cold and being outside for a pointless walk, I have absolutely loved it!
Ironically, my Facebook memories brought up a post I made two years ago… How simple and mundane does life sound, back then! I remember that bloody speeding ticket too! It was a sunny day and I’d treated my middle daughter, “E”, to a McDonald’s for being so good with her tonsillitis. We were driving back, singing to the radio, windows down and enjoying the sunshine. Then I saw the bike, the policeman and the gun… I was doing 37MPH in what I thought was a 40MPH… Turned out it was a 30! Whoops! It’s the only time I have ever known E to not wanting her food and left most of her happy meal - she thought we were going to prison! Oh dear…Although, admittedly, the memory still makes me giggle!
Little did anyone know that 12 months later, we’d be learning what the word “lockdown” meant, staying at home - many not having to work yet still receiving some sort of wage - and the phrase “homeschool” took on a new meaning that most weren’t keen on!
If anything, the last 12 months has made me want to embrace life and instead of making a “wish list”, I’ve created a to do list. It’s full of things that I want to do and achieve… If I’d said this two years ago, I would have absolutely cringed and felt extremely self conscious. If someone else had said this I would have probably classed them as self absorbed however how can you be self absorbed when you’re creating opportunities for yourself to enjoy, achieve and experience? I’ve been able to express myself through decorating our home… Our dining room is now various shade of teal and the main bedroom is a navy blue with red accents and I bloody love them. My living room has an array of colours including sky blue, mustard yellow and pastel pink and I’m on count down to be able to paint the walls! It really does feel like a form of self expression - a journey that I’m enjoying being on and is being encouraged by James. Even my clothing style has changed and the colours (and sizing) has got bigger and bolder than I have ever dared, before… Isn’t this what Being Bold and Being You is about, though? Having an environment to feel able to express who you really want to be? There’s a gorgeous quote from “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig that says “When you stay too long in a place, you forget just how big an expanse the world is. You get no sense of the length of those longitudes and latitudes. Just as, she supposed, it is hard to have a sense of the vastness inside any one person.”
We have all been through something new, in the last 12-24 months. I hope that lockdown has given you the tools, processes and confidence to hit the refresh button as we move forward with covid-19, vaccines and a new normality but what I hope, more than ever, is that you feel able to be you. If you want to go for that walk - then go. If you’ve discovered a new hobby, then don’t stop when work and social lives resume - incorporate it into your new way… You’ve hit “refresh”, remember! Don’t slump into the old way. Old habits. The past. Embrace the teachings of the last year and create that time for you. Express yourself and wear that expression with absolute pride and confidence. Who knows, perhaps it’ll be your turn for a Be Bold Be You Experience, very, very soon.
Have a wonderfully refreshing April, everyone
Kx