*In struts a fashionably late ✨MJC-mail!✨*

Surprise trips, new friends & keeping ourselves ok in these times 🌈

Hello loves! 💜 I’ve missed you!

It’s been a hot minute and when I dive into the details of October you’ll understand why this catch up is a bit delayed!

Basically, I’ve been places. LA, Turkey & NY, to be specific. And the backstory of how October turned into travel overload is a little bit what my girlfriend would call “woo woo”.

You might remember me taking Char to a wellness retreat on her birthday? One of the things we did there was a new moon manifestation meditation - we wrote down and really focussed on what we wanted the next chapter of life to bring, and later that night we burned notes describing what we need to let go of, under the full moon.

Now I can be pretty sceptical of this kinda spirituality for a number of reasons, but I thought what the heck, let’s give it a good go! And I wrote “adventure” as the number one thing I wanted to manifest.

I hadn’t left the country in over a year, and for a long time I’ve told myself that travel isn’t something I need - it’s overindulgent, it’s largely unethical, I don’t deserve it, it’s a waste of time that could be “productive” etc. etc. But in the interest of trying to be nice to myself, I figured it was time to give myself a break and allow myself to enjoy something that most people allow themselves at least a little bit of…

The next week, 3 different travel opportunities sprang into my inbox: two trips with Instagram, and one trip with Dove.

So I thought fuck it, and said yes to them all…

First up, LA!

The UK creators making themselves at home at an IG well-being event and yours truly at the top of Runyon Canyon (when in LA, hike!)

For World Mental Health Day, Instagram decided to bring a handful of their UK well-being creators to the US for some events and lots of good vibes. 🌞

I loved LA - every street looked like something out of a movie, the food was unreal, the sun was shining and the group of creators I went with felt like family by the end of the trip.

My highlight was probably going to Santa Monica pier at golden hour. The gang got me on a rollercoaster (I don’t do rollercoasters, I am scared of everything), which I hated until the first drop was out of the way, then I was just screaming with joy. Our friend David did some kind of muscle hanging competition and won a giant cuddly toy. We all crammed into a photobooth for a picture and I left with a sweet peach iced tea. It was pure wholesome fun at its finest and I felt so lucky to feel that. 🥰

In the 5 days we were there we also managed to fit in a trip to Malibu beach, Venice Beach, a comedy show on Hollywood Boulevard, we did some thrift shopping and ate a lot of dessert.

Oh, plus an IG Halloween party in a haunted mansion followed by a late night In ‘n’ Out. 🍔

I felt pretty smug about the fact that I was just wearing my regular clothes with heightened hair and make-up as a “costume” 💃🏽

Then I came home and jetlag kicked my ass for a few days. Seriously, if I didn’t have pictures I wouldn’t even remember what I did or where I went. But before I knew it, it was time to leave again!

Arriving at the retreat in Fetiye and my first experience of a full Turkish breakfast!

This time it was 4 days in Turkey with IG again (I shouldn’t have been on both trips but somebody dropped out last minute and who am I to turn down a universal blessing?). 😇

We stayed in a hotel nestled into a mountain and surrounded by the water in Fetiye - it was an unreal level of bougie and not somewhere that I’d ever imagine myself being able to go 😵

There was early morning yoga, a boat trip around the riviera, cocktail making, arts and crafts, and near constant food porn.

Another beautiful bunch of humans to spend time with 💜

I felt unbelievably privileged to be there, especially considering what was happening not too far away in the world while we were there.

Another highlight? Getting to hang out with the resort owner’s dog, Jupiter.

A green bikini and just two besties pulling the same facial expression over some lunch 🐶🍟

The time flew by and in a blink I was home and re-packing my suitcase to hop over to New York for a super exciting work trip!

I went over with Dove for an event to launch a new initiative that I am genuinely so excited about. They’ve built an entire programme for coaches & teachers aimed to build confidence in girls who play sports and stop girls dropping out because of bad body image.

We heard from experts, athletes, and got to try some of the programme ourselves, and I documented the whole thing here.

Moving our bodies for JOY and embracing our jiggle is something I’ve been advocating for since my first online dance video, so being in the room for this felt like a massive full circle moment (Dove are also one of the first brands I ever worked with as part of their self-esteem programme!).

After one more day in NY wandering around and eating everything, it was time to come home, tackle a mega pile of washing and get back to some kind of reality!

All three of the trips were beautiful for different reasons - and the most beautiful thing of all was allowing myself to go, be, see, and feel new things without being overwhelmed by guilt or negative ‘what-ifs’. That’s some big growth from me in the self-love department and I’m pretty darn proud. 🥰

Does life feel especially incongruous at times like these??

I don’t know about you guys, but whilst I’ve been having these incredible adventures, I’ve also been hyper-aware of the horrific things happening in the world right now. Now I’m home and doing things like going to meetings, washing dishes, making small talk in coffee shops, the feeling of things just not making sense is hovering over everything.

How can it be possible that life keeps happening here when life is ending over there? And how do we sit with the degree of powerlessness that we’re all feeling about it?

I don’t know the answers beyond the usual - we contact our representatives, we fundraise, we sign petitions, we protest, we keep ourselves reasonably aware whilst also taking care of ourselves and trying not to fall into despair - but I know we’re not alone in this feeling. And hopefully there’s at least some comfort in that. 💜

Transcript: Hello my loves, today’s reminder is that our brains can only hold so many things until we have to take a break and turn them off. I know there are endless things to keep up with and there are endless people to think of and there are endless things to do on a day to day basis. I know it’s so easy for our brains to get to the point of busyness where even simple tasks feel overwhelming and too much. We have more to process now than we have ever had in the history of our existence, and that is a lot for our limited human brains to deal with, especially without breaks. So this is your reminder that doing something that turns your brain off for a while is not irresponsible, is not selfish, is necessary. Because if any of us wanna be able to keep turning up in our lives, we need to be ok. Please keep yourself ok, and I’ll see you very soon. 💜

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That’s all for this time pals! Thank you SO MUCH for opening this mail, sharing life moments, thoughts and feels with me. As always the comment section is wide open for you to share your life updates, tell us how you are and please do keep sending kindness to each other if you have some to spare. You are such a special bunch and I love watching you support each other so much 🥰

Sending big big love to all of you,

M

💜