September Updates in November! -This year has been like that!
Oh my goodness, so much has been happening, I don’t even know where to begin.
It has been in my head to start blogging properly and step away from the socials a bit to free up ore time to do that, but the lure of that dopamine hit has been strong, and old habits die hard, so i keep finding myself back on Linky instead of focusing my efforts here.
Heres to NEW beginings, creating new habits on the old Celtic New Year, November 1st,
Even if I do feel slightly fuzzy-headed and hungover from all the sugar I ate yesterday during some crazy hallowen celebrations with my friends who ranged in ages from aged 3 -72 !
I had too much fun so as usual forgot to take any pics . so youll have to take me my word for how amazing we all looked.
Our tiny mountain town did not know what had hit it!
Lets start, with the BIG EXCITING NEWS
We Are AWARD WINNERS – Twice over!
There should be another badge here to show we won the platinum too,
I need to chase that up!
Back in spring I entered an award, I intended to send newsletters asking people to vote for me, and I intended to fill my social media with incentives for people to vote for me.
Then I got really busy with things here, and I forgot to post anything and didnt send a single newsletter.
One post in linked in was the sum total of my efforts,
Even my family couldn’t vote for me, because I told them about it but didn’t send the crucial link telling them how to vote,
So I forgot about the awards and focused on running the retreats.
it was a crazy busy summer, doing most of it on my own, thank good ness for my friend and volunteers that helped .
I couldnt have done it without you.
At the end of the sumer I got an email that I almost didn’t even open,
I was kicking myself about my lack of efforts to get any publicity out of it and didn’t want to rub salt in the wound by reading about all the winners, who had got their shit together!
Well Im very glad I did, because we only went and won! not once but TWICE!
Well technically Wellness and Wilderness won PLATINUM in the RETREATS category, for our wellbeing Retreats in Nature.
And I won GOLD in the THERAPY category for my holistic midlife and menopause coaching and body work therapies.
* I guess Wellness and Wilderness is me the dogs and the volunteers ? so we have been celebrating hard with lots of happy dancing and walks and cake and bones!
How I’ve been turning around some sad news,
For those of you who don’t yet know, I had some less happy news,
that knocked me for six at the beginning of the year.
My partner, who has been helping me run this place for the past few years, left unexpectedly in February,
( in the middle of the worst bit of winter weather we have had up here for years! )
My confidence and mental health had already taken a massive nose dive due to peri-menopause and all the huge changes the pandemic years had forced on my life. And this was so unexpected that for quite some time i was just in shock. Literally my whole life felt in question. I was really unsure of wether I could stay here alone.
But Im happy to say I have survived, almost thrived . Since then, I have:
– Coped with the very low temperatures and snow and ice and limited wood and water supplies when he left,
– Managed the busiest summer of retreat and glamping bookings that we have had to date,
– Me and the volunteers have almost kept on top of the maintenance and winterising of this place.
To give you some idea, just cutting and clearing the grass is a couple of weeks work when you have 7,000 square metres to cut!
Now things are quieter and winter is drawing in Im getting back into building up my online work again.
I am going to need to earn more again now I’m a single mumma to a growing family ( of dogs ) again!
My contract with the wonderful Illuminate Chairty finally comes to an end at the end of the year, after being extended several times since March 2021 . So I am looking for something to replace that, If you know of any charities or small businesess that would benefit from affordable, effective (Award Winning!) Self care sessions please do let me know, and let them know about me.
Im very proud to say that feedback from the sessions i have been running for Illuminate has been consistently wonderful.
I only wish I had had more confidence in myself when i started them.
The day before my first online session in March 2021, I was in tears on the phone to my daughter feeling completely out of my depth and like they had defintly chosen the wrong person for the project!
now they are my favourite sessions to do!
People of all walks of life are feeling the pressure atm. Mental and physical health problems are on the rise and with a cost o f living crisis too investing in self care stragies can feel like a luxery. ( its not it is essential preventive health care, especially at midlife, but i get it if its a choice between paying the bills or learning how to chill, we all need to eat.
This is why i love working with small businesses or charites who pay me to offer sessions to people for free
to help their employees or beneficiaries (who cant afford private self care sessions)
I dont charge small business corperate wellbeing package prices so its a win win for everyone.
My session can help you save money and time too as a very busy “profesional peasant” I need affordable
time efficient ways to look after myself. I share the effective, low cost simple stratagies, that help me, and that don’t require expensive gym memberships, fancy equipment or ingredients.
Thank all the goddesses for my wonderful volunteers.
Thank goddesses I have still had a steady stream of helpful friends and volunteers, without whom I couldn’t have done half of what we have achieved this year.
We didn’t do any major building work, as the general maintenance glamping and retreats took up all our time.
The roof of the house still needs fixing & finishing, so….
If anyone happens to know any weirdo natural builders (like me only with better roof knowledge! ) particularly those that know about reciprocal roofs, which isnt many folks to be honest, so anyone who might be able to advise on what is possibly the most complicated reciprocal roof in the world, please do send them my way!
I really need to get the roof sorted on this place so I can finish the rest before it starts falling down!
The bus is not going to last me the rest of my days, that is a whole other project, I need the house sorted so i can think about trying to save the iconic Geo Crusier.
Oh and dogs, dogs and more dogs!
I have accidentally acquired 2 more dogs,
Lucky ( short for fecking lucky puppy ) a once was, very tiny puppy who was left in the rubbish in the village.
He is now nearly 5 months old border collie crossed with something? but who knows what.
He is super cute but pretty crazy. He has not read the puppy manual that says he is supposed to sleep more than the other dogs. he is like a teenage boy with ADHD.
and then came Bimba a 5 or 6 year old Bull Terrier who is very sweet, but not at. all the very slow old lady that she was supposed to be when I rescued her!
Having 3 has certainly changed the dynamic here. Nelson was so good before, now they are both cute and chaos in almost equal measure! Who wants to see pics of the new dogs?
Ill be back soon with October AND November updates, and then I think we wil be up to date!