The journey so far

Reflecting back on 6 months of Bloom and Grow. 🌸✨

I can’t quite believe that on the 15th October I will be reaching the milestone of being on Substack for 6 months. It seems so unreal, back in April when I arrived I was a wide eyed little cygnet eager to learn and absorb and 6 months on I’m about to publish my 24th piece of writing as a fully fledged Substack swan.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

Lao Tzu

It’s been an eye opening journey and one that has brought me so many experiences on so many levels. It’s truly made a huge difference in my life and has been an amazing presence during the rollercoaster ride I am experiencing at the moment of trying to find my new path.

The connection to like minded souls and discovery of poetry, books, films and art has widened my mind and life. The ability to be creative and write, to discover new things and belong to a wonderful little community where the connections are so pure and honest has been life affirming. Its opened so many doors but its also made me reflective.

When I first started writing on here I didn’t even give my Substack a name or a logo, then over time the name Bloom and Grow appeared as did the flower inspired logo, it seemed fitting and matched what I was going through. I felt like I was opening up like a flower in spring after a long cold winter and putting myself out there. Which was a scary thing at first, but I found that if I just wrote from the heart and not from what I thought people wanted to see it resulted in so many ideas flowing out of me. It also led to really meaningful conversations and alignments with people which has been lovely.

I feel being on here has also planted the seeds in so many other aspects of my life as well and this has rippled out in a magical and magnificent ways. The power of joy and following my intuition has exponentially increased over the last 6 months as well. The beauty of writing has also lead me to do more research and look into things with a more curious mind. It reminded me how much I love this kind of thing and that I’d completely forgotten about the importance of doing something that makes me happy.

Looking back at what I have written it’s really interesting to see how it’s evolved and that a lot of it involves growth and acceptance. It’s a real time journal of how far I have come but also includes the things I love like music, comfort tv shows, the ocean, change and the experience of jumping into things feet first. Bloom and Grow really is a collection of things that come from my soul, where I am in my life good or bad and sparks of inspiration.

I have gone at my own pace, taken breaks when I’ve felt overwhelmed with what to write about and also basked in others writing. It’s made me look deeper into myself and I feel like I’ve learnt a lot since being on here. It’s become another piece of the puzzle that now makes up my life. I have gained knowledge and advice from reading and interacting with the amazing people on here, which opened me up to new ways of thinking and perspectives on how to structure my writing.

Things have also happened on here at exactly the right moment, when I have felt lost or at an impasse which has taken my breath away. I am a habitual re reader, so I really appreciate what I am reading as each time it can mean something different or I can interpret it another way depending on my circumstances. It’s also been so nice to be able to dip in and out of newsletters instead of doom scrolling on social media.

I can also see how my attitude to writing has changed by the fact that I don’t feel pressured to make everything pretty and perfect and as time has gone by imposter syndrome has mostly been kept at bay. I look forward to seeing how my writing will further develop and what else I will discover and read on here.

Bloom and Grow will forever be something I am proud of and I hope in years to come I will see how pivotal it was in changing who I was and what I will become.

Thank you to those who have been here since the beginning and those who have joined along the way.

Have you reached a milestone in your life? Is there something you have started that has made a huge difference to you? I would love to know :)