The Gallery: Me
This is me. It’s not a selfie, because I’m rubbish at selfies. It was taken by my husband on Boxing Day and is the most recent photo of me in existence.
I’ve written a lot about myself since I started blogging – that’s what blogging pretty much every day for three and a half years can do to a person. So what can I say about myself that I haven’t said before, that regular readers won’t already know?
And then I realised. This photo shows me looking happy. And I am happy. Pretty much all of the time. Happier than I’ve been for as long as I can remember, possibly happier than I’ve ever been in my whole adult life.
My new life suits me. I take a great deal of pleasure in walking my own kids to school every day and picking them up. I like to be able to go to all the school events without worrying how I’m going to fit it round work or, sadly, being forced to give them up altogether. When the school phones to tell me my son has banged his head in the playground and they’re not sure if he’s OK, I can just go to see him immediately – I don’t need to sit in an office 10 miles away panicking about whether I should get my mum to go to him or my husband. Because I just drop everything and I’m there myself in five minutes.
And while the kids are at school, I work. I write things for other people – press releases, articles and bits of web copy. I proof read and edit articles and educational materials. I tweet on behalf of clients. And I feel happy doing it. I have enough work to keep me busy and earn me money, but not so much that I feel stressed and overwhelmed. And when it gets to 3.15, I stop working and don’t think about it again until the next morning.
My new found happiness means I’m a nicer person to live with. Of course my kids still stress me out daily in the mornings and at bedtime, because that’s just what kids do, but I take it in my stride. I don’t shout at them. I don’t argue with my husband. I don’t have the underlying feelings of anger and unhappiness that I always had when I went to an office to work – the feelings I thought would always have, the feelings I didn’t even realise were caused by work.
So that’s me. I’m happy.
This post was written in response to a prompt at Sticky Fingers. Pop over to see how others have interpreted the theme ‘me’.
Ahhh that’s a very lovely way to be and even from a distance I can see a huge change in you! You definitely made a very good decision 🙂
Thank you! It’s amazing you can see that change even that far away (although to be fair I ‘talk’ to you way more than my real life friends). I definitely made the right decision, but I could so easily have stayed – I only went because there was no other real option.
Lovely happy photo. What a nice thing to share
Thanks very much. It’s great to have the opportunity to share it. I never even realised I was unhappy before!
🙂
Thanks! That says it all! 🙂
The happiness shines from this photo!
Thanks very much! How could I not be happy when I’m with my daughter and we have food?! 🙂
Ah this post really made me smile. Not just the photograph but the words too. So lovely to read about someone being happy. You’ve clearly made an excellent choice not only for you but for your family too. x
Thanks very much. I definitely have! But at the time it wasn’t a choice I wanted to make, it was something I was forced into! x
Lovely, heartwarming post. Your life is the one I crave and hope to work towards achieving this year. I hope the good times and happiness continues for you x
Thanks very much and good luck to you on achieving your aim! It wasn’t something I consciously set out to do, but I’m so glad I did!
Oh that is just lovely Sarah. So lovely to read about positivity and how someone can turn their life around to become content.
So glad I ‘found’ you last year. I’ll be sticking around 😉
Thank you! What a lovely thing to say 🙂 I hadn’t even realised I was unhappy until I became happy!
So glad that it’s all worked out for you. I guess underneath happy is always what people want, even though that’s not always what is expressed.
Thanks very much. It definitely is! It’s all I wish for for my children, in whatever form it comes. The weird thing is, I hadn’t even realised I was unhappy!
This post could so have been written about me. Losing my job to ill health seemed the worst thing ever at the time. In 12 days time it will have been 2 years. I was ill and at such a low point at the time and thought life was over. It’s amazing how things change. We don’t have as much money as we used to but we live a simplier life and all of us are happier.
I was too stressed doing a job I no longer liked let alone loved like I once did. I may have thought it was the worst thing that could happen but for us it was the best. I ran away to the seaside in desperation and never regret that for one second.
So glad it was a positive choice for you and it’s lovely how everyone has benefited.
That’s brilliant that things have worked out so well for you too and you’re much happier. Like you, I used to love my job, but I’d gone off it in recent years. I actually didn’t even like it any more, but I hadn’t realised that.
It has definitely been good for all of us 🙂
Beautiful. You can really see the genuine happiness in your face. X
Thank you! What a lovely thing to say 🙂 x
Aww what a lovely post, really made me smile lovely. You are gorgeous x
Thank you! That’s such a lovely thing to say 🙂 x
Such a happy photo, you look gorgeous and very relaxed!
Thank you! That’s a lovely thing to say 🙂
It’s so wonderful to read how well everything has worked out for you, and the happiness that you have reaped. I do think life has a habit of taking us on the right paths, some days that can be so difficult, but it is fantastic that you now have found balance- the holy grail!
Thank you! It was quite an unexpected path for me to take, but it’s worked out so well 🙂
Thank you! It really is, it makes such a difference.
What a lovely photo, you do look happy and you should feel great, it sounds like your life is just perfect at the moment.
Thanks very much! Life is very good at the moment, long may it continue! 🙂
What an inspiration! You definitely do look happy and long may it continue. You seem to enjoy being you!
Thanks very much! What a lovely thing to say. 🙂
Oh how lovely! I am glad you are happy. I am super lucky enough to work part time and it really is lovely to spend a bit of time mid week with the kids. I know I will have to go back to work eventually but I will enjoy it for a while x
What a lovely photo, and a lovely post Sarah! I’m so pleased to hear that your new life is going as well as it is, and you certainly look happy 🙂 The idea of working freelance in this capacity really appeals to me, I just don’t know where I’d start!!
Thanks very much! I didn’t know where to start, either, but I was kind of in a position where I didn’t have much choice! Most of my work has come through friends or old work contacts or even bloggers! 🙂
Ah, lovely to read this, Sarah. I’m at home with my kids, blogging, of course, and then when my youngest goes to school I’ll increase my freelancing workload. I love that I can take mine to school and be there for the seemingly endless parent workshops, assemblies, parents evenings etc. and play with and care for my toddler all day, that after all is why I gave up my career in the first place. And now I have a new one looming, and like you, it makes me happy. Lovely photo, full of happiness x
Thanks very much. It really is a good life to lead, isn’t it? It’s amazing how much school demands of parents, and it’s nice to be there when you’re needed. Good luck with your new career! x
And what an enormous achievement the ability to say you’re happy is! 🙂 xx
It certainly is! Thanks very much 🙂 x