Hey Sweeties,
I can’t quite believe it’s New Year’s Eve and at midnight we not only start a brand-new year, but we enter a whole new decade. When I reflect on the last 10 years, the word that immediately springs to mind is ‘career’ as this was very much where all my energy and ambition was driven into.
2009
This was a busy year of moving and transitioning. I finished my two-year course in dental nursing at Kings College London, and immediately moved up to Leeds to be with my then boyfriend, and work professionally for a few months (as a dental nurse) before I upped sticks again and moved down to Bath to begin university in the September.
University had been quite a last-minute decision, but I really needed to listen to my growing interest in media, I also found being in full-time work quite intense and I wanted some more flexibility in life at that point to pursue various things personally and professionally.
2012 – 2018
Career
Until landing my break in marketing at the beginning of 2013, my ‘career’ until that point is usefully documented in probably what is my most read and referred to post, My Graduate Experience (here).
I am surprised I think that I haven’t done more in public relations, my career naturally took me down the marketing route but it was my growing interest in public relations that quite heavily steered me towards going to university, and was certainly the focus of work experience I undertook. But that’s sometimes just how things roll.
I had always envisioned 30 to be the point in which I would want to be thinking about having a family, so my main goal was to work my butt off as hard as I could to progress myself in my career so that when it came to stepping back for a few years while I focus on family, I would be in a good place professionally and financially. In short, I achieved this… sort of.
Anxiety and Mental Health
I have made no secret that I suffer with anxiety as do so many of us, it really does seem to be one of life’s curses. Honestly it’s probably been around since I started school because there are so many things I can pin to being a result of anxiety than me just being a worrier, but I only really took notice of it in 2014 when I wrote this post here.
Largely however, it has just been something that has just simmered underneath the surface until 2017 when I started to get constant panic attacks. It was then made a million times worse when I started a new role and had the manager from actual hell who crushed all my professional confidence and turned me into a crying, quivering wreck for three months until I had to resign for the sake of my health. As always, here is a useful post summarising that time.
The most frustrating thing for me between October 2017-2018, was that I had mostly achieved my main goal of working my way up to a good level before wanting to start a family. I left a good (ish) job to make that final leap in salary and role somewhere else, in fact I achieved this three times, but it has been nothing short of a fail. I got driven out of the first role because my manager was a bullying bitch, the next role really wasn’t a good fit but I had to stick it out only to be made redundant suddenly (maybe a blessing in disguise?), and then I rocked up to my current employer -who are brilliant and I so wish I found them a year earlier- pregnant!
Outside of work
This past decade saw me break up with the boyfriend I thought I wanted to marry, and in the process of mending my broken heart I found a new lease of independence I had been craving. I lived on my own which I absolutely loved, got some tattoos, went out a lot, and worked hard on my degree before, quite unexpectedly I met the man that I did marry. I moved across the country to be with him after university, we bought a house, he’s put up with two destructive bunny rabbits (although he has loved them I think secretly), supported several job moves on my part and a couple of periods of unemployment, but mostly we have lived selfishly for the best part of eight years before we became three. He is my absolute rock and I wouldn’t be without him.
2019 –
I became a mummy!
In March I welcomed my son and my heart has never been so full. It has been the most challenging time of my life but 100 percent the most rewarding, I reflected on my (so far) biggest challenge here a couple of months ago, but once I get back into the swing of things more parenting content will soon be landing in 2020, so stay tuned!
ClaireySweetie.com is six!
Apologies for the lack of posts this year, I feel I have quite a good excuse for the lack of activity on ClaireySweetie.com (see above) and I missed its birthday AGAIN!! Earlier this month (December) this blog celebrated its sixth birthday, but I failed to in any way actually celebrate… doh!!
Blogging though has really gone through some changes in recent years. It suddenly got saturated with people driven by the Zoella effect doing it just for the fame and freebies which, once learnt aren’t actually free, and fame not a given, do mostly seem to have dropped off the radar and back to whatever they were or were not doing.
Every new blogger (or certainly back when I started) goes through a period of being contacted by brands and creating content for free led by false promises that they will share your work on their social channels (ALL LIES!!), but I have fortunately put all that behind me. You want to work with me? Fantastic! Here’s how to get in touch.
Blogging will never be my job, but my dream of working for myself one day is still very much alive. Blogging is actually an expensive hobby which I am reminded of when I am annually invoiced for domain registration and hosting, so while it is all fun and games, it does to need to earn its keep.
Summary
In summary, this decade has been driven by work/career and my want to prove myself and do well. The new decade will be driven by family, my career has temporarily turned into a job so that while I can still try to do well professionally, it’s more so that I can earn enough to support my home and family. Time with my son and any future siblings he may have, is my sole motivation.
Of course I am not a selfish person, but the last 10 years have been spent living selfishly. Now I am not my main focus, I don’t want to lose myself because that would be stupid, and a waste of the time and energy so far spent on me. But I am a mother now, my proudest role to date and that is what I need to work my butt off progressing (and ClaireySweetie.com).
To all my readers and followers, and anyone who knows me, I wish you all a truly happy, healthy and successful 2020.
Until next time x
