Coat: & Other Stories, Shirt: System of Motion, Boots: ByFar, Trousers: Mango, Bag: Fonott
I recently saw a quote on Refinery29’s Instagram reading ‘remember when you wanted what you currently have’ and it really struck a chord with me and made me stop and think, for once, how proud I am of myself and how actually content and happy I am in my life at the moment (even though I constantly beat myself up about not being good enough, not having this that and the other blah blah blah don’t we all...). How often do you take time to actually just reflect on how far you've come and feel proud about things you have achieved? We (well, I definitely am) are far too consumed in constantly wanting more and not being good enough or not having enough. This time last year I was feeling a bit fed up in my job (not really doing what I was hired to do), was living in a box room that you could barely swing a cat in (well, not in a locked up prisoner way, I was free to come and go at my leisure and I was living with my besties so peaks and troughs for sure) and i’d been blogging for about two months and probably had about 5k, if that, followers on Instagram. I've always loved being creative and although was happy enough as a Merchandiser often felt like my creative juices were more ice cubes.
I’d be scrolling trough Instagram and think gaaaaad how good must it be to be a full time blogger, doing what you love all day, every day. But then my sensible organised side would always hit back with ‘yeah but it’s a bit unstable babes, the perfect thing for you realistically would be a part time job alongside blogging the rest of the time so you have some stability, no?’ Well, yes actually. A seemingly impossible situation at the time... Fast forward to a year later and here I am, doing just that. I’m a week into my freelance adventure working part time with & Other Stories and spending the rest of my time creating and sharing content with almost twenty thousand of you lovely followers. Towards the end of last year I also moved into a spacious (wellll as spacious as a one bed flat in central London that doesn’t require selling a kidney to meet the rent payments can be...) flat with my boyfriend that I can absolutely swing my Cat around in should I feel the need.
I currently have everything I wanted, and wanted to make a point of remembering when I wanted what I currently have. I feel like it’s a particularly British trait to not be able to take a compliment, to put yourself down and to generally take the piss out of any positive situation regarding yourself and your achievements, but I’m taking at least a moment (paragraph or two) to really appreciate that my hard work over the last year or so really has paid off, and I am content. Well, for now at least. As humans we will never be one hundred percent content because there’s always more - more we can do, more that we want and more that we can be, and don't get me wrong it's a great thing to always strive to be better - but hey, I’m happy with what I achieved in 2017 and the me in January last year is dead proud. So take a moment to give yourselves a pat on the back too - you are absolutely allowed to be proud of yourself and your achievements, however big or small.
Two-thousand-and-eighteen, I have high hopes for you. Rachael x
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