Looking back, looking forward, looking inward, looking outward

Today I am 32. Tomorrow I will be 33. Pretty old, pretty young, depending on your perspective. Or maybe just right, for me, right now.

It has been quite a year. 

1. I quit my job
Some say change is stressful, I say it is energising, important, refreshing. Quitting my job was hard. It wasn’t a boring, draining, rat-race type office job.  It was an uplifting, challenging experience that taught me so much and I loved it. I had five amazing years at UNICEF, the world’s biggest organisation working for children and children’s rights.It took me to the edges of humanity, introducing me to amazing people shining brightly in the darkest of situations. I travelled the world, venturing far beyond the urban jungle out into the places where life happens for so many.

Photo: Francois d'Elbee

I met children with bare feet, guns, no parents, ambition, hope

I met world leaders, religious leaders, and gang leaders

I travelled with sports stars, famous actors and cabinet ministers
I dined with a prince, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner

I learnt how to shoot a camera,
how to shoot a handmade football,
how to shoot a bow and arrow,
how to shoot an AK47*

*obviously not at people or animals

Photo credit: Francois d'Elbee

We shared childhood games
We shared long bumpy car rides
We shared untold secrets
And we shared our stories

Photo: Francois d'Elbee

I saw pain, beauty, courage, love

I questioned and I listened

I changed and I grew

It will stay with me always

2. I started my own company
Shortly after my last birthday, I finally recognised that although I loved my job, it ate all my time and there were other things I wanted to do. I took the plunge to start my own company and set off in a new direction. It has been a fantastic roller coaster full of unknowns, challenges and new experiences. I love this delicious freedom.

3. I moved house

Enjoying a cup of tea in my new studio in (quite often rainy) Yorkshire

4. I learnt to surf… (well kind of)
(no chance you are getting a picture of that!!!)

5. I watched a moon rise in the Sahara Desert, and welcomed in the new year from the top of a giant sand dune with my man

photo by me, dunes by some mysterious natural phenomena

6. I became an auntie for the third time, and experienced the magic of meeting her the day she was born

Photo: Chris Nicholls

Photo: Chris Nicholls

7. I bumped into my old friend ‘me the artist’ at a mountain retreat in California, and we have been hanging out a lot together ever since

with teachers Kelly Rae Roberts & Mati Rose McDonough and my An Artful Journey sisters

...and much more besides.  I loved it all, and I have a feeling there is a big year ahead. Join me on the journey!

Photo: Francois d'Elbee

”When you are in your 30s you are old enough to know better,
but young enough to do it anyway”
Bridgette Bardot