What I’ve learnt from being six months sober

Well today marks being six months sober for me.

It’s 8am and I’m sat in my garden in my bikini sunbathing thanks to this glorious British weather we are having and sipping black coffee writing this with a clear head after a 9 hour sleep.

With England through to the semi finals of the World Cup yesterday then I suspect that most of the nation isn’t even awake yet, let alone up and enjoying the day like I am. Plus let’s not talk about how rough many people will feel for most of the day if they’ve been out celebrating with alcohol…

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Why I do what I do

I’ve not posted anything on this personal blog for a while and in fact the last time was on just after finishing my MBA (poor show!) as once that was done then my Bolst Global business took over and the focus was more on the business blogging and getting some clients on my books and start growing some revenues.

Italy for Easter

Seven months in now and I’ve come back to Italy for Easter (a place I visit fairly regularly as I have a close friend living here) and I’ve spent the last two days working in the unexpected glorious sunshine by the lake in a beautiful Northern Italian town in the mountains. My friend has been working leaving me to my own devices to wander around, sunbathe and get lost in my thoughts. And it’s been so good for me!

Time to think…

Getting up early I’ve handled emails and phone calls in the morning over coffee and breakfast and then left the laptop at home and just taken the trusty iPad, pen and paper along with some healthy nibbles out to the lake for the afternoon so I can work on some important aspects of business proposals, personal goals and the entrepreneurial spark programme that I am currently a part of. It’s been great because being wifi disconnected and in a new warm environment I’ve felt so productive and reenergised and managed to get through all of my tasks fairly quickly as well as give some thought to things I just haven’t had the headspace to lately.

I know I’m lucky – in so far as I have control of my time and my schedule now and can therefore do this. I am here for six days and have no boss to beg for annual leave! I can work when I want and take the time off when I want (or allow myself to- still need to work on that but that’s a post for another day!) and this is definitely one of the reasons I started Bolst Global in the first place. I’m happy to work every Sunday this year if I can have days and weeks like these at other times!

Dreaming of my own balcony

Another big advantage is the ability to be geographically mobile with the kind of work that I do again allowing me to travel and work from anywhere- I have a long term goal of splitting my time between various countries one most likely Spain where I can sit on the balcony with my morning coffee and laptop and work from there!

Here in Italy I see and appreciate how forward thinking the UK and my mindset is when it comes to this flexibility with work and how we perceive workplaces and professional expectations and obligations. My friend has pushed for a some amount of her time to be working from home because essentially her job is tech based and so is fully able to do so. However culturally her italian employer doesn’t accept this so she is having to do twelve hour working days during the week just to get to work, work and the come home again. Leaving her no time for exercise, food shopping (shop shuts in the town at 7.30pm) or just general down time and she is exhausted!

Definitely worth it

So whilst having your own business is a LOT of work and a real rollercoaster (not without its sacrifices either!) I wouldn’t change it for the world – for the experiences it has given me so far and the future opportunities that it will bring too.

Happy Easter everyone- no chocolate eggs for me but off to buy some half price Prosecco from the supermarket before it shuts!

Victoria x

Why without your wellbeing you ain’t got a thing…

It’s been an interesting, exhilarating and exhausting week after finally finishing my MBA at Leeds Business School.

I had the opportunity to head down to London straight after finishing and spend time building relationships and networks at the Speciality Fine Food Fair, staying with several friends who were very kind to put me up during my time there.

So I broke the strict gym routine for a week and the healthy eating regime (impossible not to sample some of the innovative sometimes naughty treats on offer at a food fair like this!) and spent my time packing the trip to the full….

Taking its toll

Except I don’t think I realised how tired and emotionally drained from the week before I was and it hit me hard. When Tuesday arrived I was exhausted. Physically and mentally.Hours of walking round the stands in high heels (yes I am still refusing to succumb to flats for the time being!) and often with my bags took their toll on my feet, calves and back. And all those conversations with exhibitors, peers and in meetings although fantastic and the right thing to do also left my brain numb and devoid of it’s usual sharpness.

Whilst staying with one of my friends, only a few years older than me who runs an export department like I used to do in previous full-time employment she also told me about how she’d been travelled so much on business at the beginning of this year she’d collapsed at work and now was taking on-going medication due to her stress levels.

Now she absolutely loves travelling like I do. She loves and speaks several languages, just like me. And she loves work too, as do I. But hearing her story, knowing how similar we are and acknowledging that this week I’d pushed myself too hard made me remember yet again the importance of taking breaks and looking after yourself. That could have so easily been me or anyone else who fits a similar ‘go-getter’ profile.

Two years ago I also suffered a really bad injury in the gym and it put me out of action for six weeks. Looking back I do believe in part it happened because I was doing too much. Not being able to get to work as often due to my job when I did go I tried to squeeze in as much as I could and with fatigue I sustained an injury that was avoidable.

Thinking back about that episode coupled with this week has made me take yesterday OFF completely. The first full day off in a long long time without any MBA deadlines creeping into my head! And it has allowed me to rest properly over the past couple of days and today too, knowing I need to do so in order to be more motivated, more focused and importantly more fun to spend time with.

Take a rest!

So the message is this: there’s always more we can do but actually sometimes the best thing for our body, mind and soul is to do nothing, at least for a little while.

So if you know you’ve been doing far too much of late and you can take some time out to rest today then do it! You won’t regret the way you feel after and it will help massively improve your overall wellbeing.

You’ll start the new week feeling refreshed and looking forward to the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

Don’t learn the hard way like so many of us do!

Happy Sunday everyone,