Ever so slightly......Evolving
Hello 2018! I can’t quite believe that it’s a new year, where have the last 6 months gone? I have been pondering the subjects to blog about and the direction that I should take my blog and my online presence. There has been a distinct lack of blog posts or art posts, or direction and this is something I am determined to change in the year ahead.
As you may know I moved into my dream home last March, an equestrian property where for the last few months I have been settling into my new life, trying to find a routine and juggle running a small livery yard, my consultancy work and my art, whilst trying to run a home, walk the dog and work the horse in between. It has been a busy few months and it has taken me a while to find a balance in it all, something I haven’t quite perfected yet.
I find January an exciting time as there is a whole 12 months in front of you and who knows what that might bring. It’s a time when I like to reflect on where I was a year ago, what has changed in my life and what I am looking to achieve in the year ahead. It can be overwhelming with the expectation that you need to make all these fabulous changes and become “a new you”, something that I don’t buy into and haven’t for a number of years. I am always striving to become a better version of the person I am, but my focus now is more on what I have learned from the year past, what I can do differently in the year ahead and what I would like to achieve.
This past few weeks I have been reflecting a lot on my businesses, the direction I would like to head in and the changes I need to implement to make these things happen.
One of the things I have pondered about more than anything is how I show up on social media, which version of me do I push, should I focus on purely the artwork, or should I be more visible as a livery business, or a self- employed woman who juggles the myriad of things I need to do in a day, or the consultant who dabbles in other things?
I thought about asking my followers what they would like to see, I thought about doing some research, looking up the statistics on similar art businesses and livery owners. I have even looked at a number of people online and compared myself to them and given myself a hard time for not being as good, or as visible, or having such an aesthetically pleasing Instagram feed. There have been many hours of trying to decide whether I should blog and vlog and what about, which area to market and drive forward and how to do just that.
However, one of the things I always want to me is true to myself, authentic and honest and I have come to the realisation that I don’t have to be anything other than that. I am all of these things, I am an Artist, a consultant, a yard owner, a woman who juggles a home and all that goes with that and above all I don’t need to be anything else other than myself. I don’t have anything to prove, there is too much of that already online and I don’t want to be one of those people who appears to be one thing and is something else entirely.
What I believe is that I only need to show up as myself, whether that be as the dishevelled mess who has just finished mucking out the yard, or the woman who has been in the kitchen cooking up a storm for the weekend or the consultant who has just finished a project at 2.00am in the morning to meet a deadline or the artist who loves to paint and has been working on the same piece for nearly 20 hours and isn’t quite happy with it yet. I am all of those things and more.
And to have the opportunity to be able to say that is huge and exciting and for that I am more grateful than anyone will ever know. There is so much I want to do, so many books I want to read, so many sides of myself that I want to nourish and develop, like finishing the book I started writing (yes, there is a book and no it has nothing to do with horses or art but that’s a whole other blog!) and then there are the things I want to learn. I am lucky enough to be able to do so many of the things I love, have the flexibility to be able to do all of those things and allow the universe to put opportunity in my path, being able to make the choice of whether I take them or not.
So the decision I have made is just to be myself. I don’t have to decide to be one thing or the other, my social media will be a reflection of that and above all I am going to try to be authentic in what I do, show up as Emma in whatever hat I am wearing that day and hope that the world appreciates all of those facets of my life. There will be good days and bad, interesting times and some not so interesting times, hopefully some funny stories and some achievements to celebrate and I look forward to sharing them all with you.
Life is an evolution and you need to be involved in the process, accept that things will change direction and be open to what lies ahead.
2018 bring it on, I am ready!!
If you have any ideas of what you would like to see in the blog and online I'd love to hear from you.
