Five wonderful things #2

A big announcement is on the way...

The second post in this series, which I rather ambitiously said would be weekly, then decided fortnightly, and in all honesty it might end up being monthly! My intention is to share wonderful things with you and allow you to get to know me a bit more. I hope these posts are inspiring and enjoyable to read.

I’m grateful for…

On Sunday I walked with my three-year-old son River to the nature reserve in the centre of Lewes. River is always on the go, always full of energy. Running, scooting, climbing onto walls, jumping into streams, racing about. He rarely slows down. But on this occasion, things were different.

Ahead of us on the path, we saw a rabbit hop out of the brambles to sniff the air, before darting back in. River loves rabbits.

I said: ‘Rivsy, shall we sit quietly and wait, to see if the rabbit comes out again?’

So we sat on the path by the brambles. River nestled into me. The low afternoon sun shone through the misty sky, and a robin chirped in a tree next to us. A flock of ducks flew over us, quacking as they went. A huge dragonfly zoomed about. We sat there, in quietness and stillness, for maybe ten minutes. I felt utterly calm. I felt totally present. I felt like I was in a state of perfect presence, and bliss. Cuddled up to my son, sitting together in the warmth of the world. What a gift.

I’m finding this hard…

Next week, I will have some exciting news to share with you! You may or may not know that for the past year I’ve been training to be a sober coach and setting up my business. I took a life coaching course with Beautiful You Coaching Academy and a sober coaching course with The Sober Club. I’ve been building my Substack, working on my website, and all the behind-the-scenes important tasks required to set up a responsible and sustainable coaching business. One of my core values - in life and in my work - is integrity.

What I’ve been finding hard is perfectionism. My perfectionism is telling me everything should be completely perfect before I launch: my website¹, the booking process, e-newsletter. No glitches, no hiccups, no loose ends. It’s taking a lot of courage to set a date to go ahead, and know that everything will not be 100% perfect, and that’s OK.

Because the most important thing is why I’m doing this work. Why I want to help people break free from alcohol. There are many ‘whys’, but the biggest one is: I feel like I have been given a gift. A gift of a life of true freedom, where I have no desire to drink. And I want to share that gift with others.

I want to help people who may feel trapped, like I did, to recognise the brilliant light within them, unhook from all the false-beliefs keeping them stuck, break free from alcohol and step into the life they were always meant to live.

Look out for the big announcement next week!²

Three things I love

• I have just found Maria Popova’s An Almanac of Birds: Divinations for Uncertain Days and it took my breath away. Exquisite, wise and comforting words over illustrations of birds. Divine indeed.

• I’m so happy

  Holly Whitaker
  (author of Quit Like A Woman) is back writing on Substack!

• Everything

  Allison Taylor Conway
  writes is gold. I really recommend her newsletter Dry Humour Me.

Come join me

If this has piqued your interest, please do have a look at some of my other writing. I generally write one ‘deep dive’ essay a month that explores supportive practices and resources to help live a sober life with presence and compassion.

Meeting pain with love - sobriety in a nutshell

What if you adored yourself? - how would that change your life?

Alcohol relaxes me: is it true? - uncovering one of the biggest alcohol myths

1. Created by the brilliant

Lauren Barber

- I highly recommend working with her

2. Not as big as the Oasis reunion (I got tickets in the end! Hooray!) but still worth checking out