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If you know me, you'll know I have a love of what my husband would call cheesy eighties pop. As I've said here before, it is just eclectic. That's all. I like a wide variety of music (Ed Sheeran excepted - apologies if this offends you). And so when I need a catchy blog title, or email subject, my head often wanders off to the back catalogue in my head for inspiration. Thank you David Bowie!
The trouble is that at the moment, my head is in overload. Trying to be a mum to a real baby (she's eleven now), a fur baby (he's four, going on puppy); an imperfect corporate wife to the VeeP of Something-or-Another; a sometime project manager of all the unimportant bits that not many people care about right now but it contributes to my mortgage payment AND the super-talented CEO of my very own business empire has taken its toll on my marbles a little bit.
And that's just the bits that I'm happy to publicly share with you all. There's a lot going on besides that would apparently test the mettle of a greater being than I am. So it came to pass that I had to re-evaluate my priorities.
Number one - my family. I've spent several weeks hearing the analogy that if an aircraft was about to crash, what do they tell you? Look after yourself and fit your own air mask before you deal with the children. But would I? Would I really? Mini Me is pretty much my number one. Of course, the poor dog would either be in the hold in this scenario, or - more likely - hanging out with his dog-sitter at home. The Veep of Something-or-Another would take care of himself and the washing up (family joke). And then I'd don my own. Self care is much easier said than done.
Number two - my business. I absolutely love what I do. I am totally grateful to everyone for this opportunity. My family for putting up with my occasional cake-first, you lot later policy. My wonderful customers for putting their trust in me and loving what I do. My band of merry cake chums who live in my phone who motivate and inspire me on a daily basis. And all my followers who keep doing the hearty thing. All of this keeps me getting up in the morning. Well that and the dog who likes to be out for his morning perambulation before sparrow-fart-o'clock.
Number three - the day job. What most people don't see through social media is the juggle a small business has if they want to keep the wolf from the door AND do what they love. We're not all lucky enough to have a huge inheritance or the bank-of-mum-and-dad to rely on and so we work one or more other jobs to make ends meet. I'm lucky - it's one other job.
Number four - being an unpaid medical professional. I know more about how to keep my daughter alive than the average parent. Every day is on a knife-edge of will we get it right or could this end with a hospital trip. It sounds dramatic. Mostly it's not. But the slightest error of judgment against the roulette table of Type 1 diabetes and it can get messy. Very messy. This should be number one but has been demoted to a bit of noise because I refuse to let it entirely define us. Number five. Me. Yep, despite seeming all 'Me, me, me' I put myself here in the list. I'm the arch juggler of stuff. Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But I've had to learn to accept recently that I can't do it all. And so, if I want to keep surviving and doing what I love, I'm having to re-evaluate how this operation works and make some changes (see what I did there?). It means that I will be handing over the reins of some of my activities to a virtual assistant team who will be managing my social media activities, fettling my videos and downloads and managing my diary. But because I don't want to be totally removed, I will still be on the end of a DM and popping up in comments and stuff. Just don't be surprised if you see a new name or two. But, most importantly, it'll still be me doing the arty, cakey thing. And unfortunately for the hubby, he'll still be the Veep of Washing Up. Thank you so much for reading and to everyone for their love, kind words and letting me do what I love to do. Rebecca xo
