What A Difference A Year Makes!

Saying goodbye to September recently got me thinking about life lately and how much things have changed. I guess being a teacher I tend to think of September as the start of a new year (if you know anyone who works in education, chances are when you mention ‘New Year’ they’re thinking of the first few days after the summer break rather than December 31st!). I started musing on September 2017, thinking back to those early days of wedding planning (or ‘wedmin’ as it soon became known as!) and feeling as though nine months was plenty of time to plan our big day (oh how quickly it flies by!).

Not only have I become a ‘Mrs’ in the last twelve months, although I hasten to add I’ve decided to keep my surname – so I don’t feel too different, I’ve also changed my job and begun to seriously think about what the future holds. Speaking to friends around my age I think this seems to be quite common at the moment – we’re not really built for staying in one job for decades like in days gone by.

Last September I was heading back to work and in all honesty I was dreading it. I was unhappy in my school, I didn’t feel valued, and I felt as though I was falling out of love with a career that I had worked hard so at for the last ten years. I won’t bore you with the details but it had a massive impact on my mental health (in hindsight I’m really not sure how I was surprised – I was teaching full time, planning a wedding and writing my blog). I started feeling overwhelmed and unsatisfied.

As much as I loved my career (and let’s face it, if you know anyone in the education industry you’ll know it’s far from 9am-3pm and it’s more of a vocation than a job) I knew that I had to put myself first and really take a step back and evaluate what I needed. That famous saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup” came to mind frequently, which, coupled with the now almost weekly intense migraines became a huge sign that something had to give.

By Christmas I had decided that I wanted to teach part-time to allow myself time to de-stress and focus on feeling positive and confident again. To cut a long story short this wasn’t possible at my school and so I wrote my letter of resignation and planned to leave at the end of April 2018 – roughly three weeks before our wedding. I think for me, a huge sign that I had made the right decision was that as soon as I handed in my notice I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I’m not going to lie and say it wasn’t scary or upsetting (oh boy it was!) but I’m forever thankful to my amazing, supportive Canadian for giving me the push and being a shoulder to lean on both emotionally and financially over the last few months.

After the wedding celebrations we went on honeymoon (another positive to my hiatus was that we could avoid the ridiculously expensive school holidays!) and soaked in the first few weeks of that incredible newlywed glowing feeling. It also was a great opportunity to rest and recover and focus on what the future held.

After we returned home I started working a supply cover teacher – it’s been a great way to still feel connected to my career but really lighten the stress load! It’s also allowed me to find more time for writing (I’ve recently written an article for the amazing City Girl Network and our wedding blog post was also featured on Rock My Wedding – girly squeal!) which has always been a passion of mine.

So all-in-all it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster of a year…but in a positive way! I’m very much a believer of fate and ‘what will be will be’ and I think sometimes there are signs leading the way that just can’t be ignored. Having such a fabulous Husband who is always my cheerleader has helped me to see that actually the most important things in life need to be put at the top of the list – taking care of yourself and others and stepping away from negative situations so that you can embrace the positivity that comes your way.

Although I’ve been musing about the past lately this post was mainly inspired by the beautiful Aura Chakra Necklace from Daisy London that you may have spotted I’m wearing. It’s design is based on the Aura (also is often referred to as the eight chakra) which establishes your sense of place and connection, so when this is in balance, it can feel like you are directly the universe to effortlessly fulfil your wishes. The Aura represents unity and fulfilment and I’ve been wearing it to remind myself what I’m striving for in the future. You can view Daisy London’s women’s necklaces and find the whole chakra collection and the meanings behind each design here. I just love the sentiment of empowerment behind them!

I’m super excited about the future and it’s possibilities, and I’ll let you in on a little secret…after feeling inspired after arranging my own wedding flowers, I’ve just booked onto an ‘Introduction to Floristry‘ course at half term. Expect lots of photos of blooms on my Instagram over the next few weeks!

The Blonde x

*This is a collaborative post with the lovely folk at Daisy London but as always all opinions are my own and I only feature products or events that are fitting and in keeping with the tone and content of my blog or Instagram page.