What I have learnt as a result of starting Mindful Discoveries...

I haven’t written any blog posts in so long and I think it’s because I’ve just been taking it all in… starting a small business (or trying to) is fun, but it’s also difficult, but still rewarding and so much more. Even thought I had lots of ideas for blog posts, just enjoying starting this and taking everything in has kinda overcome the blog ideas I had. So today, I thought I would sit down and write about this journey as I think it will be so lovely to look back on as my small business (hopefully) grows!

I was really scared to start this journey and I thought about doing it for a really long time before I actually did it. I’m not sure why I was so scared but I think it’s because mental wellness or mental health can be such a ‘touchy’ subject, people still don’t like talking about and it and there’s still a huge amount of stigma surrounding it.

I was scared of saying or doing the wrong thing… to be perfectly honest I still am. However, I feel the fear and do it anyway. This is probably the first thing I learnt and I’m glad I did. Yes, I could say the ‘wrong’ thing, someone might not agree with something I did, but on the whole, I enjoy posting what I do and creating what I do and it makes me smile and hopefully a few others so why not keep going?

Nobody is ever going to have all the answers, and nobody will ever know them. Nobody knows how BEST to support peoples mental health, doctors are still learning things, therapists are still learning things, people actually suffering with their mental health are still learning things and developing… nobody has all the answers and that’s ok! This was the second thing I learnt.

I know I’m not a qualified mental health worker (yet) but I have studied a lot about it and feel like I am ‘fairly’ knowledgeable. However, I got stuck in a rut of thinking that people wouldn’t care what I had to say or take anything from it. Getting out of this rut and realising that people sharing their experiences and their opinions is one of the biggest ways people can grow and learn and understanding that nobody has all the answers, was definitely one of the biggest things I learnt on this journey.

Something else I have learnt was how minuscule ‘followers’ and ‘likes’ and stuff are. This one took me a long time to realise and its only recently that I have really come to terms with how insignificant this is. Obviously, it’s nice to know that my stuff is helping people and have a lot of people interact with what I’m doing… but I fell into the trap of needing lots of comments/likes/interaction to feel validated and that I was doing something worthwhile which IS NOT and SHOULDN’T be the case at all. If I post something now and only one person liked it or one person commented on it I would still be happy that just one person found it useful or it made them smile. Also, reflecting on the fact that Mindful Discoveries was set up just as much for myself, for my own mental wellbeing and happiness and that I don’t need to impress anyone is enough. Everything I post makes me smile and I enjoy doing it. Everything I create, I use myself and I had so much fun creating it. I am doing this for me, I can validate myself. This was the most important lesson so far.

There are loads more things that I’ve learnt, being part of this community has taught me so much about self-confidence and having a positive mindset. I have turned Mindful Discoveries into a small business and learnt lots about how to do this. I have even published a children’s book which is on Amazon and I have done this all by myself with the lessons I have learnt to guide me. I could ramble on for so much longer but I’ll stop here! All I can say is…. starting something, whether it be a hobby, a career move, a lifestyle choice, whatever it is, appreciate all that you can learn from it and reflect on it and how far you have come and, if your starting or thinking of starting something just enjoy the journey (as cheesy as it sounds).