I’ve finally decided to start uploading my blog to here on my website.
It’s been almost two years since I started my blog, Moving Molly on Facebook.
The support I’ve received from People on there has been immense and helped me so much.
I honestly believe that starting my blog was a turning point in my life.
I’ve always found communication hard with my family, friends and professionals when it came to my mental health.
When I moved away to university at 18 I hid my real feelings and struggles from everyone, especially from my family. I think, having struggled with my mental health in secret since I was 15, I thought moving away was the perfect opportunity to completely hide from everyone.
But hiding from your problems and bottling it up doesn’t help at all and honestly if id have carried on like that I wouldn’t be here.
Don’t get me wrong, writing a blog isn’t for everyone. But for me it’s been my way of communicating.
I think writing down my feelings and experiences from my point of view has really helped people understand how and why I feel/felt how I did and has even helped people in similar situations.
It’s not all been struggles though, everyone that has followed my blog has been through highs and lows with me and have been with me as I’ve grown.
A few years ago, I didn’t see a future for myself at all.
When I dropped out of university, I thought I’d lost everything. Not just because of not getting my degree but because I felt I’d lost the image of myself that I’d built up for other people. For a long time, I couldn’t get past this feeling that I’d failed, and I couldn’t see past the cycle I’d got myself in of going in and out of hospital over and over again.
When I first started writing my blog, I had no idea what doors I had opened for myself.
But since then I’ve been on a huge journey. When I left hospital, I decided that I wasn’t going to go round in circles anymore! I’m one of those people that when I decide I’m doing something I go all in.
This doesn’t always work in my favour but this time it has.
I had this idea about what I wanted to do with my life but wasn’t sure how to even begin, thankfully my occupational therapist I had while I was in hospital told me about the Prince’s trust and about how they help young people start up their own business.
A little unconventionally I first contacted the Princes trust while I was sat there on my hospital bed. They (rightfully so) had their reservations but did a risk assessment for me, and as soon as I left hospital I began working with them.
Not only did I begin on the journey with the princes trust to start my own business, but I also decided to push myself to get a job for the first time in years.
Within 6 months of leaving my last hospital admission I had a small part time job (just 4 hours a week to begin with), I had begun a mindful craft group in my local community and was on my way to running my own business.
Since then I’ve done so much!
I’m no longer running my craft group, but instead I am focussed on providing my mindful craft workshops to services, charities, schools and in health care settings.
In my part time job I was also progressing. First upping my hours, then to keyholder and then I successfully became deputy manager, all within a space of a year. But I knew that wasn’t my true calling, it gave me confidence and routine and showed me I could take on responsibility, but a couple of weeks ago I decided that, with my business growing I wanted to give my full attention to that.
So, I made the leap and left my part time job in retail.
I really want my business to help people, crafting has always been a great way for me to express myself, making things and the satisfaction it gives you is just so great. I experimented over the years holding craft workshops for the other patients in the hospitals I’ve been in, and it honestly gave both me and them a boost even though we were going through such difficult times. I knew it was something I wanted other people to access.
That’s a brief overview of the last few years. I will elaborate on some things another time and share more of my story, but I hope that tells you a little bit more about me and where Craft with me… Molly Bee has come from.
If you would like to read back over my old blog posts follow this link to my page (although there are a lot) I will be re posting some on here.
I hope to use this platform as a way of telling my story to more people, allowing you to follow my journey and I’m thinking I might even start blogging more about my crafts to!
Anyway, I’ll leave it there for now but thank you for reading!
Molly
3 comments
Molly, you absolutely amaze me, I am so glad that you yourself have realised that you are amazing and you are slowly reaching your dreams.
I knew from 1st meeting you that there was a tough little cookie trying to find ways. Your crafting has always been there to keep you busy x so proud of you lovely xx
Molly as an addition to what I’ve said. I also think you might start campaigning for somewhere in Wales to open to help. It’s not good that the nearest place to help you was Bristol.
Well done Molly. I know when I first met you, how difficult things were, not only for you but your family. It’s a difficult line to walk for others around you to know what to do to help and encourage you through such a difficult time. Perhaps you could also write a blog explaining what friends can do to help, especially through some of your really bad days. I never knew if I was saying the right or wrong thing to you. I’m just so glad to see you happy now xxx