The blogs are back!
I’ve been a bit lax this past year with the monthly blog posts because life has been beautifully hectic. While I have always been very good at spinning many plates, last year I realised that being good at it didn’t mean I had to do it. My priorities shifted as my world changed, like metaphorical tectonic plates, and I decided to make a conscious effort to be more present in my life – putting me and my family first. This has meant I actually took a few months off clinic work before and after I gave birth, and I dialed back the behind-the-scenes work to cover the most important aspects of the business only. It was both terrifying to feel such a perceived lack of control and freeing to know that Tas was looking after the patients so well and the business was thriving because I’ve spent 4 years building a solid foundation.
It was a bit of a shock to return to the clinic at 4.5 months postpartum. I hadn’t planned to return until February to give me 9 months at home to recover, but unexpected circumstances required me to come back before Christmas. It didn’t take long to get into the swing of it but I must say I’m not loving the early start on work days on such little sleep!
Anyway, here we are, well into the first week of the year and I’m here with the first blog of 2025!
Each year I choose a “word of the year”. I try to keep coming back to my chosen word throughout the year as a way to focus when everything else is so busy and I need to find the calm in the storm. Last year, I chose “health”, which I talked about in my “Intention Setting” blog last year. I chose it because at the time I knew I was nearly 5 months pregnant, but hadn’t shared the news publically, and that if there was ever a time to put myself first that time was upon me!
Which brings me to this years word: “Success”.
Some people think “success” is a dirty word and you should hide it, some think it’s an unattainable dream and others believe it’s just round the corner with the next new car, new tv, holiday. Success can become something you constantly think will come with the next purchase but find yourself unfulfilled because you aren’t sure what it is. Success looks different for everyone, but the trick is to know what that looks like for you because without a measure with which to tally your success against, how will you know that you have it?
I’ve chased success for a long time, as many people do. When I was at school I had a picture in my mind that it looked like marriage, house, kids and a 9-5 job by the age of 25, roughly achieved in that order, but something about that narrative felt wrong for me. I had never been taken by the idea of kids, I wasn’t enamoured with the idea of marriage, I thought I needed to have a huge house and I’d already been thinking of going the self-employed route so a 9-5 job was probably not in my future. Travel and adventure were my true calling in my 20s.
Ironically I’m doing nearly all of those life events in my 30s, for which I feel secure and excited about; although it still remains true that i’ve never worked a 9-5 job and I’m certain my adventuring days aren’t over yet! Truthfully, I already feel successful but not because I’m about to hit almost every traditional milestone you’re expected to, which I had honestly never believed would be part of my story. It’s because i’m happy.
My happiness isn’t because of money, or material items, or even about going on holiday. I believe it’s because I feel an overwhelming happiness deep in my soul just being at home with my fiance while we spend time watching and playing with our daughter as she explores the world around her. We have no drama in our life, people who sowed discontent and woe have fallen by the wayside as we spent less energy entertaining their draining behaviours, and neither of us bow to the pressure of peers who think we should go out more, drink more, or whatever their expectations are of how we should enjoy ourselves. Our families and closest friends are who provide the support we need, and we support them in equal measures – filling up the cups of others who refill ours in return.
I’ve felt like this for quite a while now, before we bought the house, before we had the baby, even before Wisbey Osteopathy became a well-known Hitchin brand. So this is the year I choose “success” because I deserve this happiness and I intend to continue enjoying it.
I challenge you to think about what success is for you, and to write it down. There’s no wrong answer, it could literally be anything! Once it’s written down it’s no longer just a dream, it’s a goal and you can start figuring out how to get there. Happy 2025, everyone, I hope you are successful!
Wisbey Osteopathy 