Celebrate All of The Good Things
I haven’t written for ages. The main prompt for my post today is to remind you to take a moment to celebrate all the good things, however small. This Winnie the Pooh quote (big fan here!) by Eeyore spoke to me “It never hurts to keep looking for sunshine”.
This year, 2022, has thrown its fair share of challenges my way but I’m sitting here writing this having come through most of them and working on the others. In writing this, I want to record the highs and lows, as a reminder to my future self. If you haven’t guessed, I’m all about the positives today.
I may be here to celebrate all the good things but to appreciate them I have had to overcome a few hurdles then an aha moment to realise that I need to celebrate today. Without going into the gory details I still want to give you an outline of the journey that took me to my keyboard today…
2022 So Far
In January and early February I had a cancer scare, mid February I caught Covid for a second time, in March both my clinically vulnerable parents and their carer caught Covid, as a result my dad was hospitalised for 2.5 weeks which directly caused his Alzheimer’s to deteriorate a great deal, I stepped in to temporarily care for my parents having no previous care training, April disclosed extensive water damage in my flat which needed major repairs. All the while I continue to struggle with Long Covid, which has been going on for 2 years now. In May things got on top of me and my mental health took a turn for the worse. This caused several bad incidents involving some good friends.
Now for the positives!
Please celebrate all the good things with me:
- I don’t have cancer and I was privileged to road test a brand new biopsy machine at the Birmingham Breast unit. The staff there are really amazing, thank you.
- My mum and dad are ok. I’ll visit them this week and give them a huge hug.
- I’ve now been referred to a Long Covid clinic.
- The bathroom will be sorted out soon.
- I’m talking to a therapist regularly, working on understanding myself better. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to do this but better late than never.
- My self care, that has fallen by the wayside this year, is firmly scheduled back into my routine.
- I have very understanding friends. A million thanks!
- My business is going well and I won 2 awards: West Midlands & South England Winner in category “Jewellery” from English Wedding Awards 2022 and UK winner in category “Jewellery” from Guides for Brides customer services awards. With everything going on I have only just added this to my website.
- I created a brand new online course for jewellery making which is launching tomorrow.
So to conclude my post today, can I just urge you all to celebrate all the good things today, acknowledge your mental health and look after it. I can easily see from writing all this out that my list of wins is longer than my list of hurdles. Being here to share all of that with you is the biggest win of all. If any of this resonates with you please leave your thoughts in the comments below, thanks.
Tomorrow I have a big announcement ! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day, Elizabeth
Brilliant post Ellie. The positives definitely outweigh the negatives. You are amazingly strong and a true inspiration. Sending you much love today as I celebrate the good things, however small. Great advice to acknowledge our own mental health & listen to our own voice and body.See you soon and I can’t wait for this BIG announcement
Thank you Rachel, you have been a great and supportive neighbour, I really appreciate you being around. See you very soon xx
Hey Ellie, thanks for sharing the ups and downs. Some of which I was aware of and some not. Sadly we some times need to downs to appreciate the ups, but you have been though a lot recently and I wish you more of the ups and much less of the lows over the coming months. Love always Derrick
Thank you Derrick, your friendship means so much. Thanks for being there. Lots of Love, Ellie
Very well deserved wins from Guides for Brides and the English Wedding Awards; congratulations Elizabeth.
Geoff and I still gaze in wonder at the wedding rings you helped us make, they made our wedding day even more special.
PS also huge W the P fans!
Thank you so much for you kind comments Bridget. It makes me very happy that you love your wedding rings so much. And yes Winnie the Pooh is an inspiration!
It takes a really strong person to open up and make themself vulnerable. I am sure you will help many people having been honest. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Tracey, Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I really appreciate your support. I do feel stronger having shared this.
Very moved by your writing in such an open-hearted way. So pleased about the awards – you deserve them. Selfishly I wish you were back in Brighton to teach me again – I’m sure your new teaching venture will be another success. Wishing you calmer waters for the rest of the year
Thank you for your message Ruth, I appreciate it. I hope you continue with your jewellery making as I know how much you enjoy it.