Welcoming in November

This is your monthly catch-up email showcasing everything that is coming up for Postpartum Matters CIC and The Women’s Health Hub in the month ahead. If you are passionate about our work, or if you want to keep up to date with events, do consider subscribing below.

Subscribe now

Hi friends,

Happy November!

And welcome to those of you who have recently subscribed, we’re always so so excited and do a little happy dance, every time we receive an email about a new subscription. So thank you!

If you are local, you can find the November timetable of events at The Women’s Health Hub here.

If you are looking to connect online, our next online community connection circle is Friday December 8th at 6:30pm on Zoom and you can read more about it here.

I really have not met my intention for October to be slower and calmer than previous months and, I have to be honest in saying that I’m entering November feeling incredibly tired and worn down. It might have been the global events unfolding or maybe I took too much on. Perhaps this is just the feeling of trying to do the things and achieve goals and ambitions whilst also parenting small children. In reality, it’s probably a bit of all of those things.

That being said, I always find the beginning of a new month a bit like starting a brand new page in your journal. And I’m really here for it.

My goal this month is to hand things over to others more. Especially when it comes to running Postpartum Matters CIC and the Women’s Health Hub Hartlepool. Starting any new organisation is a lot of work and is hard but doing it alongside a PhD and motherhood can be quite overwhelming! We have made such a beautiful space and the sessions we hold there get so much wonderful feedback, but running it all and doing all the marketing when you’re only two people is such a lot and so getting folks to actually come along and see us isn’t always going so well.

My plan for this month is to start sharing the load more. I’m meeting with on Friday to chat all about how she can help us as a virtual assistant. I’m hoping this will take some pressure off and help us to be more active on social media, so more people see our stuff and understand that it is for them. I’m also hoping to get her to make a Visual Story guide to visiting the hub - I’ve just found one from a local museum and think it’s such a great way of showing those with different access needs that a space is safe for them, without them having to just come along and hope for the best.

So, my question/ prompt for you this month is - where are you feeling overwhelmed in your life right now? Is there someone you can reach out to, to ask for help or support? Are there some things you can put down or put off to help ease this feeling?

Maybe you’d like to share in the comments of this post. Maybe we can keep each other accountable.

Leave a comment

Another task I am fully planning to hand over is handing out fliers and leaflets. I think it’s a really important task for a local venue and I absolutely hate it. I can think about and plan where to put them but I simply cannot bring myself to go to those places and actually ask if it’s okay. And so the pile of leaflets has mainly been sitting in our store cupboard for several months. I’m finally admitting defeat and plan to find someone to do this for me - let me know if you know someone who would love the task!

These things feel like scary things to do. It’s hard to plan to pay other people when you’re not in a position to take a wage yourself. Especially when you are working so so hard. But I do believe that investing in this way will help us to grow and flourish in the long run. I do believe it will open up space I so desperately need and so I have to believe it will be worth it.

And who knows what will grow out of that space but I am excited to find out as the month unfolds and the year rounds up and turns into a sparkly new one…

With that said, I'll leave you with some of my highlights from October, and the invitation to scroll back through your own phone and perhaps write a list of all the magic you have found in the month just past. I personally always find more to mention than I think I will.

Sending love for the month ahead,

Zoe xx