Rainbow Diaries: Show prep!
Friday 18 October 2024: Week 4
We have arrived in London!!!!
It’s been a hectic week doing last minute prep for the first ever Rainbow Hunting show experience at the Clean & Tidy Show at Excel. It’s totally a family affair… we have a stand, a memory tree, guess how many sweets in the jar and pots for tricky subjects… plus I’m speaking three times over the weekend… and I’m up for three awards… so both my teens are getting paid to come and work on my stand.
Eek…
Such a big deal… Rainbow Hunting is no longer my “little business” or my “expensive hobby”… finally, I feel like a valid business, making money and helping people in the way I have always wanted… being the grief and life coach I wish I’d had when my husband had died.
How I’m finding time for this no-one knows…
1. This Week's Internal Weather Report!
It’s been an anxiety provoking week…
Storm clouds: the biggest storms of last week continued to be the physical manifestations of all my worries about the show… thankfully the headaches, queasy feelings and dizzy spells lessened but the chest pain was so bad that I phoned the GP… only to be told I’m somewhere on the scale between mild anxiety and needing to go straight to A&E… not helpful!!!
Rainbow: So often it’s this… but the rainbows this week were definitely connections… magical moments with my children, really good 121 and Sadmin sessions with clients and arriving at the show and meeting folk I’d previously only ever met online!
Sunshine: It’s in the horse bit below… but definitely our session doing ground work with the filly… she is lush!
2. Business Reflections
Grief and Life Coaching updates: As I mentioned in the rainbows above, it’s always such an honour to walk alongside people as they make significant discoveries and find their own way forwards… the sessions this week have made my heart sing and I feel SO fortunate to have such lovely clients.
Course creation update: This week has been more show prep than course creation… but I did record the Introduction video for the new and improved Sadmin course and I’m SO excited to chat to you all more about that in the coming weeks!
Light-bulb moments: Definitely still trying to set the perfectionist tendencies to one side and keep reminding myself… progress not perfection!
3. Parenting Teens in Grief
Family highlight: A lightbulb moment that although others seem to talk about parenting teens in a negative light, I am just SO grateful for my gorgeous girls… just having them in my world is something I never want to take for granted, they bring joy and warm my heart!
Challenge of the week: Think the hardest part of this week was driving in the dark in London whilst the kids wanted to chat about city life… I SO wanted to take them down memory lane and tell them fab stories… but every ounce of my concentration was on trying to navigate city traffic in my very muddy country truck!!
Lesson learned: Make the most of every moment with the girls… they are growing up SO fast!
4. Adventures with ADD
Classic ADD moment: I’m not going to focus on this… but I showed up in Exeter for a haircut I’d booked at the hairdresser’s home 40 minutes away… I realised how burnt out I was feeling when my reaction to this was totally disproportionate… how was I ever an award winning lawyer… I must learn to read the small print but in my defence, the hairdresser’s booking app is SO non-ND friendly!!
Coping strategy spotlight: Breathwork… I’ve never managed to understand it before. I mean, I’m breathing… so what is all the fuss about… BUT I found out that a big in-breath is energising and a big out-breath is relaxing… so, this week has needed a LOT of out breaths!!!
ND silver lining: The spark… the dopamine-loving crazy side of me that’s only emerged as we arrived inside the M25 in London… something about being back in the Big Smoke is SO exciting!! I just need to watch that the social battery doesn’t run out!!
5. Widow's Corner
Memory Lane: Being in London… it’s where I was living when I first met my late husband… there are SO many memories I’m not sure where to start… walking home alongside the Thames, him visiting me in West London, visits we made after his diagnosis with the kids to do some bucket list stuff…
Grief self care: It’s important to me that one of his big dying wishes happens… he never wanted to be forgotten. How that’s possible when he was so awesome I’m not sure, but hopefully the business also keeps his memory alive. But this is all SUPER emotional at times… so I’m wearing his wedding ring round my neck, and I’ve got my wedding ring and eternity ring back on… so I can remember he was my soul mate who believed in me… and if he believed in me then just maybe I can do this.
Bittersweet rainbows: Rainbow Hunting would not be here if he was still alive… this whole business is created from my pain and my desire to help others. Don’t think much more needs be said on that… it’s so bittersweet.
6. Horse Tales
Update from the stables: Thankfully better weather but we’ve been so busy that the poor horses haven’t had much fun this week… but we did have one fab rainbow…
Horse Rainbows: Last Sunday I employed the help of someone who is a bit of a horse-whisperer… she did a session with my elder daughter and our filly to help with some ground-work manners… and to teach us a bit of “horse speak”… fascinating does not come close… it was almost magical. I hope we can manage to put it into practice!
7. Sadmin Check-in
Weekly paperwork win: I managed to prioritise those important phone calls… I re-booked the smear and spoke to the consultant’s office about the orthodontist appointment… I did have to sit on hold for a while, but it’s done!
Current Sadmin challenge: First world problem but one that’s really irritating… our fridge is a bit broken… there is water pooling in the bottom (yes I’ve already tried to clean the thing that drains away water) and a sealant keeps falling out onto us when we open the fridge door… next week’s big life admin (rather than Sadmin) challenge is sorting out the fridge!!
Tip of the week: Just pick ONE thing at a time to deal with… otherwise it can get overwhelming and you might risk doing nothing!
8. Looking Ahead
Next week's goal: Trying to look after my social battery which I fear might be exhausted this weekend… and next week I’ve got more 121 coaching sessions, as well as prep for the Will Challenge which is creeping up at the beginning of November and it’s half term for the kids!
Self-care plan: Definitely continuing to focus on the basics… sleep, healthy food, exercise and drinking lots of water. When I hit survival mode… ironically these are things I can forget or I do badly… I want to role model to my kids that when life speeds up we need to learn to slow down!
As ever, thank you for taking time to read my ramblings… if anything has resonated please send me an email or message me on social media and let me know.
Finally, please remember… however you are feeling… you are not alone… there are amazing charities out there who can support and if you want to make an investment in yourself I’m here for coaching. Please listen to your gut and reach for the support you feel you need.
Until next week (presuming I can remember to keep this up!), keep hunting for those rainbows!
Take care of your gorgeous selves!
Emma x
PS Don’t forget to check out the 1:1 coaching packages, as well as being the most popular, the six session package is where great work is done… more details are here.