Brit Mums Live 2014
I think the term introvert would sum me up quite nicely.Not one for groups, not one for huge cities crammed full of floods of people scurrying busily about their day.
The hustle and bustle of places like London somewhat scare me. And a familiar feeling of dread overcame me as I stepped off of my train at Euston yesterday morning with my ever-supportive Husband in tow, who was very tightly holding on to my hand as if to say, 'you'll be okay' which at that particular time, I really needed to believe.
I don't know if you ever noticed or not but everyone seems to walk so quickly in London. And it's kind of catching.. I felt my own legs start to ever so slightly speed up as I made my way to my hotel, totally full of nerves which at that point seemed to be rapidly overcoming me.
Having my Husband, Adam, there with me really helped to keep me grounded. His support in everything that I do is just completely invaluable and I am eternally grateful to him for it.
I know that it can't have been the most exciting experience for him waiting around in London for me all day whilst I rubbed shoulders with fellow bloggers and brushed up my 'skills' in a field that I feel very passionate about. But returning to the hotel later that evening and seeing him after a very surreal, somewhat exhausting, first day at Brit Mums was quite honestly - just the very best feeling.
One of the things that struck me the most about the many things that us bloggers take away from events such as these, is that we learn so much about ourselves. It's a hard to thing to sit and try and explain but I really feel that I have discovered a lot more about who I am, what I want and even how to achieve it.
I've learnt that it's okay to have, 'I'm an absolute emotional-mess' days, that it's okay to feel nervous and ask for help from people when you don't know something.
I've also learnt that I need to stop picking myself apart as much as I do, that I should believe in myself and my blog a lot more and that I have the ability to be a lot more confident than I thought I could be. It's all about self-belief I guess and the last couple of days has taught me the absolute value of what it is to have belief in yourself.
I've also learnt that I want to be more in control of my blog. And by that I mean when it comes to the paid work or working with companies for promotional purposes, it's going to have to fit with me, my blog, my content and my readers. I will now be consistently asking myself the question, 'What would I want to read about?'.
In regards to fellow bloggers who I was so very fortunate enough to meet. There's only one word I can use to describe how I feel about some of them and that is just phenomenal (okay, I suppose that's technically two words!).
People like Katie from Mummy daddy me and Charlotte from Write like no-one's watching inspire me beyond the word inspiration.
They are not only brilliant blog writers/photographers/Mums, they are brilliant, genuine and kind people.
Spending as much time as I did with Charlotte today was such a highlight to my time at Brit Mums. And though I'd never met Charlotte before, I somehow managed to feel an almost instant connection with her. I guess you could say that there are just some people in the big wide world who at some point in time you are supposed to meet. And as surreal as it was, I will always look back on our chat over our cardboard boxed lunch (and wine!) with a big smile on my face.
There are so many other wonderful and kind bloggers who I met over the last couple of days that I could quite honestly just sit and write and write about until my fingers turned numb. But asides from having what would be very sore fingers I know I'd never make it into bed tonight. So I'm just going to mention a few very special people that made my first ever Brit Mums Live experience that much more wonderful and memorable..
Hayley, Emma, Emily - such wonderful, hopefully lifelong friends. Charlotte - who is apparently just as mad as I am and who made me laugh, quite a lot. Kerry - who is so incredibly sweet. Michelle - who is just as lovely. Lucy - who is unbelievably inspirational and also very pretty. And also Lucy from dear beautiful - who seems so genuine and warm. James - who I find as a daddy blogger, very inspirational and kind. Bex - who I found to be so lovely to talk to. Vikki - who I would liked to have spent more time with as she seemed like such a lovely person. And lastly my last special mention is to Kelly who apart from having incredibly great taste in names for little boys is just such an absolute sweetheart.
If I have missed anyone, I am really sorry! Please don't take it personally. There really are just far too many people to name. To every single person that I had the absolute pleasure of meeting over the last two magical days.. thank you for making my experience what it was - so incredibly surreal!
And just before I retire myself to bed for the night, I'd like to say the biggest thank you to the absolutely lovely and very gorgeous girls who were over at the Spatone stand yesterday and today.
Without them I wouldn't have any of the amazing memories that I now have from the past couple of days.
So thank you to the team at Spatone for getting behind me and my blog. It has really meant the world.
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