Sunday Thoughts

It doesn’t seem like five minutes ago since I wrote the last Sunday Thoughts blog post. It’s hard to believe that it’s the last Sunday in February, this month really flew compared to January that dragged on for what seemed like years.

I’ve had a good week mostly, I continued my birthday on a bit, and enjoyed a spa visit to Leitrim which was just amazing. I also had cake for breakfast on Monday, if you haven’t been to My Kitchen by Sham Hanifa in Carrick on Shannon put it on your list. The cakes are amazing.

There was one negative on social media, which isn’t bad compared to all the lovely positive people. I posted a photo of some of my birthday presents and someone said “You get too many gifts and I hope you give them to people who really need them.” I found that quite hurtful, like they don’t think I deserve birthday presents. I do as much as I can for others, whenever I can. This person wasn’t a faceless, nameless person, which was a change. I’m hoping the negative folk take themselves away from my page, and I’m glad they are in the minority.

It’s my work anniversary today.

Five years ago I was in a very different place. My confidence was at an all time zero and I didn’t believe I could really do anything. I saw an event taking place at the ATU Sligo, it was called Blooming Queens and it was an invent to inspire women. I signed up and I dragged myself to it. I’m so glad I did because it changed my life. I sat up and listened, especially to Laura who organised the event.

To cut a long story short, the event inspired me to contact Orla from Momentum, and to ask her if she had any jobs available. I went for a chat and left with a dream job. Orla is one of the most incredible, supportive people that I know and I’m very grateful that she took a chance on me.

On that first day, when I walked into the Momentum office in Leitrim Village, I was very terrified and wasn’t sure if I would be able for the job. It took me quite a while to gain confidence, and I was so lucky that the team were so supportive and helpful. Thinking back and after chatting to Roisin from RosieB, I’d encourage anyone to take a leap of faith and go for something that they really want to do. I don’t know about you but I would have a tendency to think of ‘What ifs’ in a negative sense – for example ‘What if I can’t do the job’, ‘What if no one likes me’, but the other side of the coin is ‘What if I love the job’ etc. You really don’t know how things will turn out until you give them a go, and sometimes a change can be the thing you need. I’m such a different person to the person I was five years ago, and in a good way.

The weather has been a mixed bag, but it’s February, so it’s to be expected. There have been some really lovely sunny days, and it’s felt like spring, with the birds singing and the daffodils appearing. Parts of Sligo and Leitrim had snow flurries on Thursday, we didn’t get any, but I saw some lovely photos on social media.

I went off exploring for a bit this morning, just to the Ladies Brae, I was hoping to see frogs and lambs, but I didn’t see either. It is a beautiful place though, and I’m lucky to have it on my doorstep. The photo at the top of the post is looking over Coolaney village and Knocknashee (the hill of the fairies).

Wishing you all a good week ahead, and if you do read the blog, I’d love it if you left a comment. I see so many people reading the posts, but I get very few comments and I love to hear from you.