Hi.
I’m Angela, 35, mum of two, wife, business owner.
I recently quit my job and started my own business.
Why? (It’s a bit of a big, scary thing to do, I know)
Well, because I realised that there was more to life than the juggling involved in raising kids, holding down a job, trying to keep the house clean and tidy, providing decent meals, not sitting down ‘til 9pm and forcing myself to stay up at least another hour just to get some me time / us time. I was exhausted, anxious and depressed.
Something had to change.
So I changed it.
I trained as a Certified Infant Massage Instructor (CIMI) as part of my last job, back in 2004, qualifying in early 2005. I taught regular classes over the years and it was one of my favourite parts of the job. The training, provided by the International Association of Infant Massage, was amazing and I felt confident delivering classes to their high standard. It is also so relaxing that even I, as the instructor, feel fantastic afterwards. Perfect.
I also have a keen interest in communication, speech and language development, particularly in the early years before words and as they are emerging. I’m a Nursery Nurse by profession. I wrote my Rock a Rhyme program to reflect this stage of child development, promoting communication through interactive song and rhyme, music and movement and most of all FUN.
So I took these two things, two things that I love, and created MY KID ROCKS.
I work around my kids running my classes when they are in school and nursery. I work at home when they are in bed, or when they are having some TV time, or are just happy playing on their own. I get to take them to school and nursery, and I’m there at the end of the day to pick them up. It’s not perfect – I’m probably going to miss the odd school performance if I have a class, but it works otherwise and the guilt and expense of sending them elsewhere for childcare has gone. Plus, the house is a bit tidier, we are eating a bit better and I am a happier person.
I feel more balanced.
I love what I do.
I feel like I have found ‘me’ again.
I didn’t realise at the time, but I’d lost who I was. I was trying to be everything to everyone else and leaving nothing left for me. Someone once asked me what I liked to do in my spare time, what were my hobbies, interests? I couldn’t answer. I didn’t actually know. It had been so long since I had considered myself that I had actually lost who I was as a person.
I’ve since found out that this phenomenon of modern motherhood is actually quite common. I read a blog one day by Vicky Drake, a Life Balance Coach http://vickydrake.com/mother-me/ and it really resonated with me. She could have written it about me, in fact when I showed my friend, she asked me if I’d written it as she recognised me in what Vicky had written too.
I’m lucky enough to live near Vicky and was able to attend one of her mini retreats – a gift from my husband. I have also attended mindfulness sessions and try to practice daily. It’s made me realise that BEING is as important as DOING, maybe even more so at times. In taking time to just BE I have discovered what I love again. I have learned to appreciate the small things. Now I can tell that person that I love photography, walks on the beach in all weathers, hunting for sea glass, I even taught myself to knit this summer and joined in the adult colouring in craze!
I love that one of the many benefits of Baby Massage is that it provides a strong foundation for emotional health, promoting responsiveness, nurturing and listening
It sounds a bit corny but I feel like I’ve realised my calling in life.
I feel whole again.