8th August 2022

PMS while Self Employed

I am sharing this because I think the more we talk about periods the better. And that includes PMS (premenstrual syndrome). 

If you were to look at my every move on social media, my email usage and customer service engagement, you won't be long seeing a very obvious pattern. One that arises every month and means a total work black out from anything between 3-8 days. Some women don't experience pms, some really do. It varies so much depending on the woman, depending on the month. All I know is that for me, each month I suffer from sometimes terrible pms and period pain. I lose my energy, I lose my focus, I lose my direction. And instead I gain not just physical discomfort, but also the mental and emotional mess that comes with it all too. Doubt, anxiety, ungrounded, lonely, not wanting to be social, but wanting to be social!  This all seems to be intensified greatly while being self employed. Sick days don't come easily for self employed people, but every month having no choice but to switch off from your business can be so incredibly unsettling. It just adds to the stress of running your own business alone. 

Some women live their lives around their period. Some women go on as if it doesn't exist. I've tried both. I have learned that by scheduling my social life around my period, I can feel less under pressure for when the time comes. I can retreat and be alone and have my period time to myself. And sometimes it's just what I want and need. But recently I have started to feel that I am not the one in control and that no matter what, I must surrender to this moment. In one sense I think that is honoring the body, and listening to what is needed. But I also don't think it's 'normal' to feel such extremities each month. 

That is why three months ago I stopped eating sugar, gluten, dairy, nuts, even fruit. The goal was to improve my skin (psoriasis ) and my period pain and pms. It seemed to work well for the first 6 weeks. My skin started to improve, my pms eased a bit, I had a lot of energy. But then it plateaued and I haven't seen much of an improvement since. To say this is both frustrating and disappointing would be an understatement.  The next thing to tackle, they say, is stress. And so I have come to a point where I am admitting to myself that for the most part of running Organic Movement, I have been very stressed. The silent type of stress, the one that's just there in the background. This is not good for me. It's not good for my skin, my body, my hormones and my mind. I really want to take a pause. But how will I live? I do not know the answer to this very big question. But I remember 3 years ago , I was in a somewhat similar situation where I quit my job, sold my car, and left Ireland to go to India. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do after my trip. In the end, the answer was so clear and obvious, the answer was Organic Movement. It's not only been stress of course. My business has helped me grow so much. It helped me through heartbreak, it helped me develop my interpersonal skills, take risks, meet new people, form amazing friendships. It even was the reason that got me to where I am today, living in Portugal. Life is funny like that. Sometimes you need to let go and trust.

Notes: I have also been working with holistic therapies and approaches to help alleviate my pms. While these have always been a help, there is no ‘answer’ that I have found to work long term. Yet..!

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16th March 2022

A Complicated Mother’s Day

Yesterday on my to-do list I had 'write email campaign for Mother's Day'. I was thinking of what to say and how I can make it not just be a generic message, 'Love your Mom, Buy her leggings!' ;) But nothing felt right. I couldn't help but think, who am I to message all of these people about their mothers? What if their mother has passed away, what if they don't have a relationship at all, or there are issues, what if they want to be a mother so bad but they can't, and of course what if they were a mother but sadly lost their child. These are all such sensitive topics that I feel I cannot pretend don't exist. This is not to take away the celebration of mothers and mother-figures around the world, it's not about hiding the love we have for them. It's just an acknowledgement for those who will not have the stereotypical Mother's Day. 

I read this article on Byrdie.com written last year by by AAMINA KHAN and thought it gave great insight into what people are going through with their own mothers.

The message I took from this is to treat everyone with compassion and kindness, we really have no idea what people have going on in their lives.

And whether this goes out in a newsletter is still undecided..
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 4th March 2022

My First Post

I wrote this post last year and never did anything with it - go figure. I now share with you my first blog post. When I write I can only be my honest self. Some people might think I am exposing too much of myself. I can't do it any differently. I am ready to share with you the ups and downs of running a business. At the end of the day, it's not all business, it's life. Business and personal - they intertwine, come together, stand apart, it changes all the time.

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21st April 2021

Who Am I?

I have a vision of where I want Organic Movement to go and how I see it in 12 months time. It isn't going to get there without two very important things: Me and consistency.

It takes commitment to get a business off the ground. Something that I have come to recognise. One week I'm all go, to-do lists ticked, making plans, feeling on top of the world. The next week might not be the same. Maybe for a personal reason, maybe there is a problem I cannot solve and so I get stuck. These weeks are the toughest. I can lose my focus, confidence and direction. I always try to stay on top of my work load. That is manageable. But it is the idea of expansion that challenges me. How to get from A to Z. My lack of patience doesn't help. It can mean that my inner critic can come down too hard on me. Why am I not where I want it to be yet? Look at so and so's business and how far they have come in the same time period. But then I remember I am me and I am doing my best. 

I told a new friend recently that setting up a business and working for myself was always a dream. I finally found the courage to do it after my 3 month solo trip to India in 2018. It was the biggest thing I ever did at the time, travelling to a country so well known for its danger but also for its authentic magical heart opening warmth people just adored it for. I instantly fell in love with India. I became a yogi. I practised daily, I stayed in ashrams and ate the sattvic diet some people labelled as so boring - I loved everything about it, the simple way of living. The people I met were amazing. I found my community it seemed. It opened something inside of me. The courage I was searching for came alive and when I returned back to Ireland from India I was confident to make my dream into a reality. For months I could barely even say I owned a business. That's the thing..there are natural entrepreneurs and there are the late comers. What you say means everything, I couldn't say I owned a business. I would stutter over my words, get flustered and even embarrassed. I enrolled in an Entrepreneurship and Management course with the Irish Times and I have to say it was the turning point for me. I learned so much. I could apply everything to the business instantly. I met such helpful people who shared their knowledge with me. 

We all get to where we are supposed to be eventually. 

I can now say I am a business owner, the founder of Organic Movement.