Turn a setback into a comeback.

Hello again you lovely lot. Firstly, I would like to apologise for throwing a whole load of content out there and then seemingly falling off the face of the earth afterwards. This post is going to just be a little bit about why that happened and what it has taught me.

So as you will all well know, the world went bat shit crazy back in March and it seems that we have been in a living prison and through the longest month of our lives simultaneously.

Well, the world actually (in my opinion) has been crazy for a long time but that is a whole different story. COVID-19 saw the world essentially come to a standstill, jobs lost, loved ones too and a general breakdown of everything that we knew and probably took for granted before the year 2020 graced us with its presence.

In the last few months, some pretty major life events have happened to me personally and that is why, I suppose, that I haven’t had the motivation or even the words to put down to articulate how I feel or that would be of any use to anyone. Until now. Some of my friends had asked me, ‘why haven’t you posted anything on your blog for a while?’ and quite simply the answer is (in short) I was too busy getting fat, not knowing what to do with my job, getting into shape and then back out of it again (although circles are sexy, right?) and in amongst all of that, my parents have split after 35 years and I also lost someone I loved dearly to suicide. It’s a lot. Even reading that back I feel guilty making anyone read this as its pretty heavy stuff.

I didn’t talk about it all that much to anyone outside my very close circle because it all just becomes a bit too real when you say it out loud. HOWEVER, sometimes that is just life. Life can be really tough and it throws shit in your direction as if you have octopus arms and are able to catch and juggle it all. I am merely human, and only have the two arms so it’s been a little tricky at times.

For me, I prefer to talk about things when I’m capable of telling the story without crying or making too many inappropriate jokes at my own expense but talking is an absolute NECESSITY. Bottling up emotions, stacking them on metaphorical shelves and hoping they’ll hold until a later date only ever works on a temporary basis. You have to feel your feels, process them, talk about them and find a way to cope and move on.

Now onto the positive message, as that is what these posts are and will always be about. I am all for feeling your feelings and I have spent a lot of time Bridget Jones style crying, getting mad, not sleeping properly and generally just wallowing a bit. But life is too short and too precious to do that forever. What keeps me going through this thing called life is perspective. I cannot stress this point enough.

If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.

Mary Engelbreit

Sounds simple enough, right? Now I’m definitely not suggesting that it’s easy, but I can tell you that with enough practice it really does work. Although some pretty serious and some pretty personal shit has happened to me or around me or even to the people that I love, I try and remember these things – someone out there will always have it worse and envy the position you are in and ALWAYS be grateful for what you have and try and not focus on what you don’t.

When things feel a bit too much, think of a few things that you are grateful for, think about them for a hot minute while taking a few deep breaths and you will feel a bit better afterwards. Repeat as required.

And just like that, I’ve turned my setbacks into a comeback. Thanks for reading if you got this far and I definitely won’t leave it so long before the next one.

Ona xo