Reflecting on my Year: My Highlights of 2017

Obviously the biggest highlight of they year has to be giving birth. I still can’t believe I done it! Me?! It’s crazy what a woman’s body can be capable of when giving birth. The strength that you find in those few moments, hours, days of labour and the whole ten months of pregnancy is spectacular. I was speaking with a friend over drinks the other day, we were discussing the whole thing and she described giving birth as an out of body experience.  I am not sure how I would explain it, but I feel fortunate and proud to have been able to have experienced it myself and it most certainly has given me an inner strength I never imagined I would have. I can’t believe I have only known my little girl just ten months when I love her to the point of agony and I still can’t get my head around how much my world has changed in such a short space of time. It’s because I have given birth and become a mother that the following highlights have made it on this list. One day I will share my birth story on this blog – but regardless of that story, bringing my first and only child into this world by far trumps all that will follow. But please do read on.

You may or may not know that I used to work at Farfetch. Some time in September I decided I would not return. The thought of resigning from the job I had planned to return to all that time gave me anxiety, but it just wasn’t right to go back at that time. But with the support of my hubby I was able to resign knowing that I was not letting myself or my family down. There’s more to this story coming to my blog at some point soon too.

You may not know, but I started writing online twelve years ago. In those years I had a blog that I wrote day in day. I stopped writing when I started Farfetch, because the role I was doing there caused me to fall out of love with blogging and social media. Since being on maternity leave I have discovered my love for digital all over again. I have started blogging again, invested in a new site and have found some sort of creative release, which is always important to me. I have found some brilliant women and mothers in the digital space that I find great strength in and that really inspire me. There’s great power in social media and it has helped me to connect with women that I wouldn’t have been able to on maternity leave and has really helped to shape my outlook on life and particularly my next career move.

This truly was a turning point for me. This really made me look at womanhood, motherhood, technology and the work place in a whole different light. Four female columnist who I would deem to be successful, all working in the media whose voices and visions her heard all vocalised how backwards the workplace is when it comes to employing women. How women are still expected to slot into some archaic structure that doesn’t actually work for mothers trying to be great achievers in their careers and at home. This conversation with Elle inspired me to get back on social media and start exploring my voice again to Start polishing up my content creation and social media skills and to start building a platform for myself to be heard. I am still exploring my voice and it would seem that the motherhood content is massively overpowering Fashion in the content I am writing and creating right now but I suppose that is just a reflection of my life. However, Elle really ignited something within me which suddenly made me execute all the ideas I had been toying with and doubting myself about for months, maybe even years.

There’s not really much to say on this point, other than the fact that a friend and I stopped speaking for nearly two years. She was one of my best and oldest of friends and during the period that we didn’t speak she missed the beginning of my marriage, me buying my first house, my entire pregnancy and the first three months of my daughters life. It’s still crazy to me that this part of my life wasn’t shared with her when we have basically shared our entire lives together since the age of 11. Having her absent from my life made my heart heavy, so although our friendship isn’t quite what it used to be and it may never be, I feel that had we not have rekindled our friendship in this lifetime it would have been a great mistake.

I would be lying to you if I said I am completely comfortable in my body and don’t body shame and bash myself at the occasional down point. I do forget that my body is the way it is due to giving birth and I know that it hasn’t made its full transformation yet because of the way my life is set up and for some of the choices that I have made. I suppose the confidence kicks in here, because I know in myself that the choices I have made are not choices that are neglectful ones. With limited free time in my maternity leave, how I have spent the time that I have been able to make has been conscious and hitting the gym hasn’t been a priority. I have managed to take care of my weight through diet – as this takes no time at all. And this seems to be working for me. The process is slow and the results are gradual, but it’s manageable for me and hopefully long lasting. I am quietly confident I will reach my goal and am not putting too much pressure on it. At the end of the day you are what you eat and I like who I am. I am pretty sure pregnancy number two will come way before I hit my goal weight anyway, but you know what, how could I be mad at that?!

Happy New Year, guys!x