From the seed of an idea - part 2

I was lucky enough, one day on scrolling through Instagram, to discover a workshop that sounded as if it could really help me move things forward. Facilitated by two lovely women, Fiona Humberstone and Elizabeth Cairns The Focus and Thrive workshop was a turning point and, looking back at the Instgram caption I wrote on my return, it is clear to see how excited and enthused I was. 

It was only my second ever Instagram post - the wonderful women on that course were so familiar and easy with the medium that I felt both utterly useless and very inspired. 

A potent mix for me it turns out as I haven’t looked back - I was on a mission to find my own way to use this amazing resource and it’s been a learning journey.   I dip in and out more than I’d like to and that’s just the way it is for me - I love Instagram - connecting with other creatives and having my eyes opened to so much that is going on out there - and though my following is apparently relatively small (though I don’t actually think nearly one thousand people really is small) I’m thrilled that it’s very engaged.  I absolutely love to connect with the same women over and over when I do post on the grid or share a story. 

What I got from that workshop was inspiration, support and encouragement from a group of courageous and, in some cases, already very successful women who were rocking it. 

It was so hugely inspiring, and informative, that on my return home I immediately started the branding process with a lovely family agency called Ditto.  The inspiring Hannah Belton asked probing questions and supported me to explore that same question my Hannah had already asked - but what is it you actually do? 

Working one to one with Elizabeth Cairns helped me to answer that, for then anyway and the brand was born and website launched. 

At first I emphasised the garden design/gardening part of the process without being so explicit about the wellbeing piece - afraid that what I was offering was too niche in the world of garden making and that people wouldn’t understand what I was talking about.  Also because, at the time, I couldn’t yet see how the process would actually work. 

Though Growthfully was out there - launched - I still felt unsure and dis-satisfied with the way I was describing what I did - and then I discovered Fiona Barrows, brand storyteller through her lovely podcast, There are Other Ways and recently launched mentor. She was offering an extremely good rate for a group of sessions at launch and I freely admit that, to begin with, that was what allowed me to invest in her. 

I had spent so much money getting myself going by this point that I had to stop.  And yet I am someone who thrives and develops through relationship and talking. Doing things on my own is just not the way I roll. 

So - low cost mentoring was what I needed. And I can’t tell you what a help Fiona has been - an ongoing ear, sense-checker and supporter. She has encouraged and listened and offered ideas that have been amazing. It is my work with her that has really got Growthfully to where it is now - with her encouragement I refined my website copy and decided to display my prices. I had been very ambivalent about doing this but it has really helped people to know that they can afford me.

Fiona was firmly of the opinion that I needed to ‘do’ in order to know what I did and she was right. My quick ‘Garden Experience’ - an initial two and a half hours with me in your garden followed by a half hour video call has been popular, and my more ongoing ‘A Year in your Garden’ is finding it’s feet. In the process of doing these sessions I have become, as Fiona predicted, very clear about what I do.

How strange that seems - it’s in the doing that I find out what I do - counter-intuitive - and yet not really when you think about it.   

So - what do I do? 

I help women, mostly, use their relationship with their garden as a mirror - to help them gain awareness of their hopes, wishes and dreams and to use this information to create a series of achievable action points. Both for the garden and themselves if they wish.  

I act as mentor, ongoing if that is what they want, or pop in if that suits them better. Even, sometimes, as a one off. That can be enough for some people to take the concept and fly. 

I am privleged to metaphorically hold my clients’ hands as they make the changes they want in their gardens, and in the process, take themselves that little bit more seriously - taking the plunge to put themselves firmly in the centre of their own lives. 

I make no apology for the fact that I don’t tell people what to do in their gardens, or do it for them - rather I help them explore themselves and what they want and then, together, we refine and finesse so that the garden they create is truly theirs. By keeping them so firmly at the centre of the process a space is created that enhances their life from all perspectives - functional, aesthetic, spiritual. And a way of thinking - ‘I matter’ - is reinforced. 

And this really satisfies me. It matters that we women take space in our own lives and fulfil the derams and desires we have. It is so easy, even in 2019 with all the talk of equality, to instinctively leave ourselves out of the equation or put ourselves last and this really helps no-one in the long run. As women we need to take our space and speak our truth - the world needs us to do that.

And, in terms of my work, I am happy to have come full circle - though I no longer sit with a woman as a psychotherapist to help her explore her emotions and struggles, I can nonetheless, through the Growthfully approach, support her to create her garden and help her to see her own beauty and value. 

And there have been others who have helped me on this journey - Clare at Opal and Co who showed me how to improve my social media presence and Maddy and Eleanor at Folk and Field gave me incredibly useful feedback on my website. And I couldn’t have got this far without the love and support of my precious family - Nigel, my husband and Hannah and Olly, my adult children. Thank you so much all of you.

Now this is starting to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech. Time to stop I think…