Are you knee deep in the 'joy' of holidays this week?
Which somehow often don't feel so much like holidays in motherhood...
Maybe you're at home, trying to fill longer days with 'fun'. Or feeling guilty because you're not doing that, you're working (maybe late into the night to fit around the kids, that's my story this week...).
If you're very lucky, you're off somewhere exotic and warn (or cold and beautiful like we did, Scotland). But wherever you are, you're probably still doing the same old mothering stuff, because there's no real holiday from that...
You're still busy meeting the needs of other people, juggling expectations, compromising, and worrying about all the things that aren't quite getting done.
It can be SO difficult to make time for our own needs and desires - on holiday or not.
Which is one of the reasons that Mamas’ Retreats are awesome of course: they provide space to do that.
At our retreat last month, we all talked about how hard it can be to move forward confidently towards what we want. How, in motherhood, we often put our dreams aside, for now. And that “for now” stretches away into the distance.
As we talked about all of this at our Mamas’ Retreat, we made tiny bottle necklaces. And we filled our tiny glass bottles with whatever we felt we most needed right now to pursue our own desires: time, courage, confidence, clarity... We created tiny bottles of encouragement, ready to support us in the moments when moving forward feels scary or hard.
Simply giving ourselves permission to put those tiny messages in bottles started to clear the fog. Because sometimes all we need is a simple reminder that we matter, and a little bit of encouragement and momentum to move forward.
Sometimes we need someone to hold our hand and walk us through our next steps: to connect with our vison, the feelings we crave, the desires we have, our worth and resilience.
And sometimes... we need a little bit of magic.
We need to find a message in a bottle.
So this is me, sending that message in a bottle, to you.
To remind you that the first step forward can be oh so small.
And so can the second.
And the third. You just need a tiny sip of courage every day.
Five minutes of bravery and faith in yourself.
And maybe - magic being magic - your first tiny step is already happening. Right now, as you read this. As you breathe, and read. As you take a few minutes to clear your head.
Right now, as you remind yourself that you matter.
That you matter enough to take a few moments to think about what you really want. To get curious about what you know, and what you don’t. About where you’d like to be clearer or more confident.
What words do you most need to hear right now?
I am loved. I am courageous. I am worthy…
In my bottle right now is the courage I need to send you this email. To remind you that I’m here to help you, if you need that right now.
Because after that last retreat, I found myself writing into the night. I didn’t know it then, but I was creating something for you. Something that could help you to move forward too.
It starts with this mail I'm sending to you today. (and if you're reading this on our website and you haven't signed up for our mama-loving mail yet, you can do that at www.storyofmum.com/bottle or below)
Over the next ten days, five more little pieces of Message in a Bottle Mama-Loving Mail will arrive with a quiet chink in your inbox, gently reminding you to make a little bit of precious space for you.
Five little glass bottles of hope and faith, sealed with a tiny cork of love. Each sharing a question I use to support other mamas. And some extra love and encouragement to move you forward.
To get you started.
Because you are an awesome mother, and you deserve that.
If these awaken something, and you'd like to move forward within a small group of equally amazing women, and with support from me, we'll be opening up a two week long group programme at the end of April: Mama Moving Forward.
It turns out that this is what I was creating late into the night all last week…
Because you are worthy of your biggest secret dreams.
You are strong enough, good enough, mama enough
You can move forward in tiny brave sips.
And you are not alone.
Sending you a message in a tiny bottle, a gentle call to move forward, with love,
Pippa and Penny
Sign up for our mama-loving mail below...
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