Reasons to be cheerful
Whilst honouring that somethings are still a bit shit!
I’ve made no secret about the fact that I’ve been having a rough(er) time of it of late.
‘Finding the positives’ is something my friend Julie taught me in 2021 when I was off sick with burnout and I find it a really helpful practice at times like these. It’s not entirely dissimilar to a gratitude list but there is something about the slight re-frame that makes it feel less like ‘toxic positivity’, less contrived.
I’ve got a lot more to say on all of this but as usual the tangents keep appearing, the essays getting longer, and I really want to stick to my writing goal of publishing a newsletter this week, which means today!
I’ve been leaning into finding the positives, and sharing them daily in my Instagram stories this week so I thought I’d share my favourites with you here. Some days it’s been tough, and it’s felt like I’ve been scraping the barrel. Others have been bountiful with small delights, such as pretty streaks of pink in the grey sky, and a cocky looking crow I spied proudly strutting around a lawn through a gap in the fence! I hope you can look back and find some of your own to share in the comments too!
3- Rail strikes here in the UK have gifted me commute conversations with a work buddy, which has been a nice change.
2- Had another beautiful walk along the canal on Monday and took a photograph that I’m super proud of, despite my SD card’s best attempts to thwart me!
1- The biggie! I had the photograph below short-listed for inclusion in the Eye Mama book due out later this year!
The project and resulting book are the creation of BAFTA nominated film maker and photographer Karni Arieli, and is a visual compendium of;
“The dark and light, the unsaid truths, and the undercurrent of motherhood all over the world“. Karni Arieli.
As written on the blog post which accompanied the call for submissions last year,
“At its core, this is a project about humanity. Care and motherhood are not exclusive to an audience of caregivers and mothers: this project for everyone.” Jenna Fite (Picter Blog)
You can read more about the project on the website; including links to articles in National Geographic, The British Journal of Photography and Vogue!
Visit the project Instagram feed here:
If you like what you see, show your support and treat yourself and/or someone you know by pre-ordering here:
With Alessia Glaviano, head of global photovogue, acting as advisor of this global vision, and painstaking curation of the images by a diverse international panel of judges, make no mistake,
“This is a serious photographic portfolio: don’t undermine it because it’s on the topic of motherhood.” Karni Arieli.
In this week, which has again had me in tears over the ways I am failing to meet so many of the expectations that life has of me, this has been such a welcome win! When I told my best friend about it and some of the other photography related sucesses over the past few months, I was able to take stock of how much I have acheived, despite it all, and see how finding the positives really can help.
So how about it? What wins, big or small can you take note of here today, so that the next time your brain, or the outside world makes you feel less than, I can remind you?
Ahhh such beautiful photographs! You deserve to be included in this project that seems so important.
My small wins the past week have been: listening to my body when it told me to stop running, calming a panic attack with deep breaths and a cup of tea, and reading a poetry book that’s so enchanting.
This is beautiful, Emma. I totally agree with looking for little positives and tiny moments that are lovely rather than trying to overlook or block out the hard stuff in the name of gratitude. And massive congratulations on being included in the book - your work is so gorgeous, it's well-deserved. The you capture the light makes me swoon. My small win lately: wrote and shared my first Substack this week! Lovely to see you here❤️ xx