We have arrived (Our journey to Brighton Part 3)

I left with you saying, that after a dark Autumn and Winter, some lights started to creep back into my days.

At the beginning of last year, I came across a Facebook post about NCT recruiting volunteers for a project I’d never heard of. It was a peer supporter volunteer role for a group that supports new mums with their mental health. I see hundreds of posts on social media each day but this one made me stop - it spoke directly to me and my heart. I applied without a second thought. Soon, I found myself on a 10-week training course with other amazing mums who had experienced very similar things to me at the beginning of their motherhood journey and were not shy to share their experiences. I found a lovely group of women who saw the value of community and support. We started our group session exactly one year ago every Friday and this job soon became the most important of all the jobs.

More or less at the same time, I decided to go back to work - which is a funny thing to say as I’ve been working all along. But you know what I mean. The official work, the one with a manager and a team and meetings and working hours and a monthly payslip. I had some specifics in my mind about this new job: I wanted a job that is close to my heart, part-time-ish, offers the opportunity of working from home and some flexibility. I set the bar high. As not many job offers met the criteria, I didn’t spend a massive amount of time with job seeking. I was most surprised to land a job within a few weeks in the marketing team of a national non-profit organisation.

This job offered me everything I wanted and way more: not only was it 4 days, working from home, a bit of flexibility around school runs but it brought such wonderful and inspirational women into my life that I didn’t expect. I found myself in this role. I was part of a project team that worked hard on closing the enjoyment gap in women’s activities and helping women overcome their barriers when it comes to being active. I loved it. I’ve always been passionate about women’s well-being and I felt that I got a national platform to support them.

As I was officially working with official working hours, the kids needed to go to breakfast and afterschool clubs. It meant that we could beat the school-run traffic and get to the school and back home way faster. As there were two working parents at home, the chores around the kids and the house had to be split equally as well. With my husband’s support, he took over some of the school runs and the jobs around the house.

It was my own stupidity that we hadn't done this earlier, when I was self-employed. Being self-employed and working mainly from home - except those few hours when I was out shooting - made me feel that “I’m at home anyway, I can do the dishes…”. It was always a frustrating feeling and made me feel less but I felt I could not justify asking my husband for an equal domestic load because he has a “proper” job.

I didn’t know that I only had to ask, and he would provide what’s best for both of us.

When I accepted the job, I decided to put my photography business to the side. I felt I failed in it and I wanted to shift my focus on something that I’m actually good at. I was almost angry at my camera. As soon as I made the decision, Curzon Cinemas, one of my “old” clients, asked me to do a couple of new jobs for them. This is how I ended up photographing some of the gorgeous Curzon Cinemas in the country and had my first billboard and advertisements in a shopping centre in London. HERE is an Instagram post about this milestone. Gosh, how hard I had been trying to get a job for 6 months and all I had to do was let it go and leave it for the Universe.There is also another thing that I consider a play from the Universe happened: one of my friends gave me a basic yoga course that could be gifted to someone as part of her yoga teacher training course. As my interest in yoga has grown from the actual physical practice to its spiritual and philosophical teachings, I delved into the course immediately. A few months later, I also decided to start yoga teacher training so I could learn the foundations of yoga. I didn’t want to teach until I was halfway through the course. I did a daily walk on “my” field when suddenly I realised how selfish it would be to keep all those learnings just for myself and not help other people to live healthier life. In that moment, yoga became “my thing”.

We also managed to find a house that we could actually afford and just before Summer, after having rented for a year, we moved into our own home again in Saltdean. This little, village-like part of Brighton stole our hearts not long after we moved to the seaside. With its 2 “high-streets”, one primary school, one big park, its lido and its beach made us feel like part of a community. Moving here was the last piece of the puzzle of me finding peace. After such a short time as a year, I already feel rooted and part of a community now. (The story of how my children got into this new school and started there in September is another fun story, but I will leave it for another time.)

As this is getting really long now, let me wrap up with how we stand now: kids are happier than ever in their new school, I quit my job and bid farewell to some of my favourite people due to some project changes and decided to start teaching yoga and bring photography back into my life. I rented a space in the newly renovated Saltdean Lido with my first classes starting in April. I booked a handful of family sessions in Saltdean with local families too. I made it.

There are some things in life you can’t go over, you can’t go under, you’ve got to go through.

I learnt an important lesson in the previous years: hold fast to the dreams of your heart no matter what. Even when things seem tough and unclear, believe that the universe has a plan for you. Trust yourself to navigate through challenges, knowing that if you keep pushing forward, something better awaits. Stay resilient, stay hopeful, and remember that the universe rewards those who keep chasing their dreams.

And as for whether my story has a happy ending? Well, things are certainly happy, but it's not the ending. It's all part of a journey we call life.