Following the road back to myself.

One step at a time.

Hello, it’s a rather gloomy, November afternoon and I thought I’d sit down and tell you about a few changes that I’m making here at Musings and Mondays.

You see, I’ve been feeling a bit lost recently. Both in my business and if I’m honest, in myself. Musings and Mondays was originally meant to be a stationery business. Selling planners, journals and other stationery designed to support wellbeing. But without any capital behind me and with zero knowledge or experience in running a product-based business, I quickly realised this wasn’t going to pan out quite as I’d expected.

I’d fallen in love with the name Musings and Mondays though. There’s something about it that just feels right. Musings, by definition, is a period of reflection or thought and Monday signifies the beginning of a new week. Not only do I like the alliteration, but the words combined have meaning to me. I’m a deep thinker. I spend a lot of time musing over things. And the idea of the regular passing of time, days, weeks, seasons and cycles feels very significant.

So, I had a business name but no business. And for the last few months I’ve been floundering. Trying things to see if they fit. Realising they didn’t and then feeling even more lost and frustrated. I started talking about supporting my wellbeing in my business and whilst this is something I’m passionate about, I still felt like something was off.

In my last post I mentioned being asked the question “What can you let in?” and feeling a deep sense that I wasn’t showing up as my whole self in my business. This led to some soul searching, many pages of journaling and a whole lot of musing.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I’d had an idea for another business. A second business or something to grow into in the future perhaps, but the spark was there all the same. Having fallen head over heel in love with gardening in recent years I wanted to study and at some point, retrain as a garden designer. My end goal being help people to support their wellbeing through gardening. Exactly what that looks like, I’m still not quite sure. But the seed of the idea was planted, and I wanted to see where it would take me.

I remember someone (and I can’t now for the life of me think who), sharing a journal prompt a while back and it simply said “wouldn’t it be awesome if…”

I took this and ran with it. And I went deep. I realised the only way to show up fully as me was if I really understood who “me” actually was. When did I feel most like myself? Where did I feel safest? What did I love as a child?

The answer I came back to time and time again was nature. As a child I loved horses and was lucky enough to ride from the age of ten until I had my first baby. My days were spent knee deep in mud and with straw in my hair. I no longer have horses, but we do have two dogs. Family days out are far more likely to be a picnic in the woods than at a theme park. My idea of date night is a sunset walk rather than a fancy bar and you’d be far more likely to see me in a pair of walking boots than in designer heels. Whether I’m pottering in the garden (when did I become of an age to potter?) or walking in the woods, I feel the most content in nature. It grounds me, soothes my soul and makes my heart sing. This, is the truest and most complete version of me.

And so, this brings me to the future of Musings and Mondays. I’ve decided not to wait for this second business but to follow this path now. My goal is to create offerings that help you feel well through finding a connection to nature. Whether that’s walking, gardening or exploring a more seasonal way of living. This goal feels aligned with my values and passions and with the version of myself I want honour.

I have quite a journey ahead of me. I hope to start training in horticulture and garden design next year. But in the meantime, I’ve already started training as a Natural Mindfulness Guide and will be offering guided nature walks very soon.

I’ll still be offering reflexology, although my offerings have been tweaked and will be embracing a more nature-inspired feel. And of course, I’ll be bringing with me all of the other holistic wellbeing skills and training I’ve done in the past, just with a slightly new focus. I still have plans for a journal too, that just might take a while longer.

I realise my content has shifted quite a bit since I set up this Substack (and then promptly disappeared) but if this something you’re interested in then I’d love to share the journey with you. If not, and your path doesn’t feel aligned with mine then no hard feelings. The biggest thing I’ve learnt in these last few months is that we really must listen to our own hearts.

Thank you, as always for your support.

Claire x

P.S I haven’t quite decided on my posting schedule yet. For now, a monthly journal entry feels right but there’s an idea percolating for something with more of a community feel.