What would I tell my Mother if she was still here? Don't worry, this isn't a morbid blog… just honest, humble and humorous! It's the trials, tribulations, ball-aches and joys of that wonderful thing called Motherhood!
Do you always go for the same colour when you buy something new? 🙋♀️
Or maybe you’ve found yourself in the changing cubicle in your favourite store having no idea if you can carry something off? You know it isn’t right, but you just can’t quite put your finger on why?
Wouldn’t it be great to have an expert eye with you to tell you whether something suits you knowing that it’s an honest opinion?
Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending a day with three business experts and had the benefit of their life experience and advice… me and 59 other women! We had all been invited to be part of a ‘test group’ for this new dynamic trio of Linda Davis-Carr, Andrea Callanan and Emma Van Heusen presenting their take on how to upscale our businesses.
Each of these women have been incredibly successful in their careers, faced difficulties along the way, made huge changes and sacrifices and after a lot of hard work, carved out their own successful businesses.
Andrea was our MC for the day as well as leading on the ‘Mindset’ section. Andrea did an amazing job of building the energy in the room with her infectious passion. Even the shrinking violets succumbed to her demands for us to shout “Hell Yeah” to her motivational questions.
Three sections were covered during the day… Linda was on ‘Business’, Andrea on ‘Mindset’ and Emma on ‘Marketing’. This blog isn’t an account of what they talked about… you’ll have to book up on their workshop to find out! What I will say, is that the women in that room had the opportunity to assess how far they have come and start to believe that they can achieve their dreams for the future.
‘The Triple Threat’, that is Linda, Andrea and Emma, talked candidly about their own experiences in business, their fears, worries and the good old ‘imposter syndrome’ that so many of us seem to suffer from.
One of the most poignant parts of the day was during Andrea’s Mindset section. Now, I’m a very open-minded person when it comes to ‘the mind’ so I was looking forward to this, but I appreciate it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. We were asked to stand up and put our hands by our sides. When then did some breathing in time to Andrea clicking her fingers. The energy in the room shifted and we were all receptive to her every word. As she clicked 1,2,3,4… 1,2,3,4, Andrea started to talk about our memories, asking us to go back to a time when something amazing happened. A memory that made you feel like you could do anything, a memory that we could see, a memory that we could feel.
As I stood there breathing in and out, a few visions flashed in and out of my mind, but there was one memory that came back to me, so I went with it. It wasn’t anything to do with the kids, or my husband, or my job… it was just me. I thought of the day when I had made a massive decision in what was undoubtedly the biggest crossroads in my life. You know the one, where whichever decision you make, you know your life will never be the same again. The overwhelming feelings I had was that I could do anything I put my mind to. I did it once and I can again.
As Andrea continued to talk us through the exercise, I was unable to stop the tears from pouring from out of my closed eyes, it really was that powerful. As we came out of the meditation, I looked around to see that so many of the other ladies were feeling the same! Tissues were passed around as we gathered ourselves together and it was clear to see that Andrea was also clearly affected by what she had just witnessed… lots of women in one room connecting with their emotions.
We did many other tasks during the day that made us think about how amazing we are… and if we didn’t think it at the beginning of the day, by the end, we were starting to believe it. It’s not something that will happen overnight, it has to be worked at but undoubtedly, having a tribe of women to support you like the ladies in the room is only going to help. Sometimes, just having somebody else saying that you are capable, you are valuable and you can do whatever you want to do is all you need to give you the push to do it.
What I came away with at the end of the day, was the thoughts that I had been playing around with the last few days were now confirmed. I want to get back to blogging, and build this little corner of the internet called ‘Tales of a Mother’s Daughter’. I want to create a place that shares information on all the things I like to talk about and feel passionate about. I want to work with companies that support women in all things ‘wellbeing’. This is all going to take time and hard work, but other people do it, so why shouldn’t I? If you have the drive, you can do anything.
The blog I started last June about our little girl’s Autism story had already started to evolve and despite being neglected for the past nine months while I up-skilled as a Social Media Manager, it’s time to get back to it. Time to get a re-brand and create an awesome website and go with it. It will take time and I’m not going to pressure myself into doing everything tomorrow (which is usually how I think)… I need to plan, make shit loads of lists… but I can make this happen.
As women, we are all daughters, and a lot of us are mothers too… and what was highlighted yesterday is that we all have our tale to tell, so let’s tell it!
Until next time,
Love and hugs
TOMD xxx
If you want to learn more about our three speakers, you can find them here…
It’s midday on a Sunday and I’m still sat on the sofa in my summer PJs. After having a very much needed day out drinking Gin and eating platters of meats and cheeses with my two oldest school friends, I’m now sat thinking about the stretch of the six weeks holidays in front of me!
Arrrrrrggggghhhh!!!!!!
I’m buggered whatever I do here. If I have a plan all written down, Ellie will go on and on about it, decide it will be rubbish and drive me crazy and if I don’t tell her she will go on and on about and decide we’re not doing anything and it’s going to be the worst holiday ever…driving me crazy 😜!!
She actually got upset when I told her that we wouldn’t be doing something every day! With 43 days to fill, I’m not putting myself under that sort of pressure… plus, I don’t have a money tree at the bottom of the garden! I know, there are lots of things we can do for free, and believe me, we will, but the stress of going out is sometimes too much to bear!
We’re due to go out for a walk along the river this afternoon with the dog, stopping off at a little pub and then walking back again. Hubby started to chat about the dog (who’s still new to the family and only four months old) and how much he loves her to which Ellie said accusingly “you don’t love me then”! True to form, always turning a conversation around to her! So already feeling stressed Ellie then started worrying about what we are going to talk about on our walk and whether we were going to have a good time. No matter what we say to reassure her (which I can only do for so long before I sound sarcastic) she still looks like she’s been slapped around the face with a kipper! 🐟
At this rate, who knows if we’ll go as Ellie is currently upstairs ‘calming down’.
The thing is, Ellie is now 12 years old and a lot of her peers go out and meet up with each other, have sleepovers and do things together. This doesn’t apply to Ellie.
I’ve no doubt that her peers think the world of her and support her – she’s in a lovely tutor group, but like most of our special ones, Ellie finds friendships difficult. She’s never been asked to a sleepover or around a friends house which is heartbreaking.
Thankfully Ellie really enjoys school and has a lovely little mate called Ed who is also partially supported by Ellie’s LSA. To me, enjoying school is the most important thing, everything else is a bonus. However, when I think about the firm friendships I formed at secondary school, I would really love that for Ellie too… and I don’t mean a big group as she couldn’t handle that. The only plus side at the moment is that there’s no bitching and friendship break-ups – see, I’m a ‘glass half full’ kinda girl!
It is thought that high functioning autistic children have feelings of intense loneliness, even though it is thought that they like to be alone.
I find that so sad.
I know Ellie watches a lot of things on YouTube of young girls and families vlogging about having sleepovers, doing ‘friend things’ and she compares her life to theirs and must wonder why she doesn’t do those kinds of things.
I suppose that brings me back around my friendships. I am so incredibly lucky to have a wonderful group of friends and also amazing friends outside of that friendship group. They are the best form of therapy (though this blogging lark is pretty good too!) they don’t judge (true friends don’t) and their support is second to none.
I thought that when my mum passed, that I would be lost without that female bond (my mother-in-law was also lost to cancer), but this awful event in my life has made those friendships stronger. They’ve been a tower of strength to both me, hubby and the kids and I know any one of them would be there if I needed them… as I would be for them.
I just hope Ellie gets to be as lucky as I am one day.
Do you always go for the same colour when you buy something new? 🙋♀️
Tales of a Mother's Daughter 