Aug. 1, 2023, 5:51 p.m.
Welcoming in August...
on sunshine and raindrops and everything in between
Postpartum Matters
Hi friends,
Happy August!
How are you doing? This is my monthly update, free for everyone to read & chat on so I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Fostering connection and community is a big part of why I like to show up on the internet and I think Substack is a particularly good place for it.
July has felt like a complete whirlwind for me, if I’m honest, and I’m hoping to invite more calm and intentional slowness into August - I think my autistic brain desperately needs it. And so I said goodbye to one month and welcomed the other over at The Women’s Health Hub last night in a beautiful Lughnasadh ceremony I held for my Mindful Bookbinding crew.
Celebrating Lughnasadh with fresh bread, friendly faces and a deep dive into all things creative journaling
I absolutely love holding workshops and supporting people but I am also realising just how tiring I find it. My lovely friend and autistic support person is really good at explaining the way autistic people need lots of time to recover after social events. I’ve tried to ignore that piece of her advice for a long time now but I am beginning to learn that even the fun things need to be managed and solitude and reset time always needs to be factored in. Which is hard to accept when you’re someone who just wants to do so many things all of the time.
I’ve recently seen this play out as I returned home from our first family trip abroad ever on Monday. We spent a week exploring Friesland in Holland and it was so beautiful and exhausting and so lovely and hard all at the same time. I for sure haven’t given myself enough (or any) time to recover from that much social output and I am definitely feeling it this week.
Finding time, having enough time, is hard when you have small children. So needing to take even more time to support my autistic needs feels slightly wild. Especially when we bring in the social expectation that to be a ‘good’ mother means I must dedicate all of myself to my children. I dealt with this internalised belief quite a while ago and had managed to build in a lot more alone time with my second postpartum compared with my first. The struggle has really came as I have returned to work and things have continued to grow and develop over here at Postpartum Matters CIC.
The juggle certainly feels very real right now but there is also lots that I am proud of and I have to believe the time thing will work itself out in the end.
July was the first time we broke even financially as a CIC and I am honestly so so proud and happy and grateful about it. We still haven’t been successful with any funding bids - though we are still applying and waiting for responses for quite a few. And, as the majority of our work is free to access, all of the costs for running the Hub and the CIC in general have fallen on myself and the wonderful Lottie. So being able to say that we didn’t run at a loss this last month is super exciting.
A large part of that is you guys supporting us here on Substack! As well as everyone who has joined in with Mindful Bookbinding so far and my lovely doula clients.
I even had a special email requesting I bring back my postpartum retreats and I’m really excited to tell you that the next one is being held this month.
It’s at The Women’s Health Hub on August 20th - a full day of honouring you and your postpartum experience. It will be full of lovely food, connection with others, relaxation practices and journaling exercises aimed at supporting you to move through and process your postpartum experience.
Everything was lovely and so generous in terms of quantities too, I felt very well looked after... I can't thank you enough for welcoming me along it feels like a turning point in my post partum journey and I didn't realise how much I needed to let go of and how much positivity there actually was in my journey ❤️❤️❤️
I held three of these retreats last year at ‘s beautiful Northumberland tipi space and they were all just pure magic. I’m excited to re-envision them over at The Women’s Health Hub and to support even more of you with your postpartum healing.
I’m hoping to be able to build on last month’s financial successes and I have put together a sponsorship pack for the Hub. It outlines three levels of sponsorship and the support would provide financial security for The Women’s Health Hub for one whole year. We provide free to access, daily support to women+ in Hartlepool and surrounding areas and would love to be able to grow and help even more people. If you’d like to know more, or if you know a company or employer that may be keen to show their support, please do send them the below link.
Opening the Hub has been such an uplevel in terms of how I’ve had to show up. The CIC quickly went from just me doing a workshop a month and posting on Instagram to a whole team of amazing women+ all working at building this amazing space. With all the extra finances, admin and organisation that comes with that. It’s been beautiful and also challenging at times but it is so so amazing watching it take off and grow.
And seeing the impact you can have by just giving someone the space to be heard - that will never get old.
I’d love to hear from you - what are you most looking forward to in the month ahead?
What are you most proud of from the month just past?
And, if you are North East based - why not pop along and see us in person?! You can find our current timetable here and you are always welcome for a cuppa and a listening ear.
I’ll see you very soon,
Love,
Zoe xx
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