I'm 30 years old. I had my first daughter at a young, naive, fresh faced and lacking a bit of confidence, 22 years old.
I hadn't yet entered my career, I had worked within the police, but left after realising I wasn't the sort of person that could leave that sort of work at the office. It was eating me up.
When I fell pregnant, I had just started to work as a car hire receptionist, a job, until I figured out what I wanted to do.
And then 'H' came along.
Mothering, mothering was what I wanted to do.
And so I did, and I still do, but now to 4 beautiful, funny girls.
Even though I knew I wanted to be at home with my daughters, I still had the itchy feet syndrome, to do things for myself.
Not to become an investment banker or run the next multi million empire (that would come later..) but just to 'put myself out there' for anything, everything, that I could actually do, small little baby steps to just see where it would take me, whilst I was still navigating exactly who else I would be apart from 'mum'.
The one thing I always did, was buy the local paper. Simple you say? You would be right. But remember, in this post I'm not trying to show anyone how to navigate stocks and shares from home.
It's all about just becoming a get up and go person, rather than waiting for things to happen to you.
Now, I'm not a fan of the news *hangs head,or, rather, buries it in the sand* but local papers are great for looking up opportunities.
Now, by opportunities I'm not talking about looking for Avon reps, I'm talking about that local charity looking for volunteers, that art teacher offering a free lesson that may unleash an unknown talent. Things you wouldn't even think to type into a search engine as you didn't know they existed.
Here are a couple of examples of projects I got involved with.
Some opened doors, some didn't, but all gave me confidence and a zest to keep on looking for what else was on offer.
I saw a competition for a mother and baby to become the new models for a Hand Print Memory company, you know, where you take tiny hands and imprint them on pictures to pass on to loving grandparents.
I was actually 7 months pregnant at the time of applying, so I sent my photo, of me and little 'A' and a rather massive bump, then pitched to them that having a pregnant model could actually really work for their brand, I didn't really know what I was talking about, but I sounded upbeat and ..it worked and we won!
I didn't dream we would, but before I knew it my face was plastered all over their products and I had a box of free goodies sent as a thank you.
This then opened the door to another little adventure.
I always browse the like of Netmums and Mumsnet, fantastic resources are just a click away.
One day I saw a post asking for pregnant models for a local photography studio. I sent in my picture from the competition 'A' and I had won, and yes, I got chosen for the job!
I would like to point out here I am NO model!
I am 5ft2 and average in build, I think it was mainly down to being positive, enthusiastic and smiling, a lot!
From the pregnancy model job, I got a
fabulous free photo shoot, pictures of my blooming bump and me, for free, and a massive boost in loving my pregnant body.
None of these involved money.
But that's not what was important.
It was about building the attitude of being a 'do'er', meeting and talking to complete strangers and they were just great fun, day by day I become a happier and more positive version of myself
In posts to follow, I'll go into other, some slightly random, things I have got involved in, and hopefully, they may inspire some of you to make your own luck, open doors you didn't know were there, and see how small adventures can change the person you are in 5 years time.
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