I found the worm in the bottom of the tequila bottle.
Dearest,
How was your week?
The conversations from the gap podcast for this week came out yesterday, and I hated editing it and ended up with a vulnerability hangover and a headache from the conversation with Chloe. Often times I forget we are recording and chat to Chloe like it is just the two of us. The topic was staying open in business - like literally staying open in business and also staying open mentally, emotionally, creatively, financially.
I left the conversation feeling like I found the worm in the bottom of the tequila bottle.
I shared how I have not made a cent from my business in 2024, how I have taken leave from the hospital which felt like a natural progression and something I needed to do for my health and the clients in my business completely dried up. You can listen here. I have woken this morning feeling much better and actually a sense of freedom and as though I have had a mindset reset/shift to be so honest about where I am. In last weeks episode Chloe was saying there is this concept of appearing successful to be successful or fake it until you make it. Those ideas have never sat right in my heart, I know I prefer to be real and transparent.
I thought that if I wanted to mentor women then I needed to be booked out 100% of the time. I absolutely don’t - the conversations I have in my sessions are just that conversations like I would have with a friend, some are about business, creativity, motherhood, being a woman over 40. We are women with 100 million facets and the make us the whole woman, the conversation around motherhood can lead to new ideas, shifts in perspective about business etc. There is another quote about never taking advise from someone who has not been where you are. NO ONE IS EVER going to be where you are, we all have our own unique experiences. The themes/subjects of our stories or experiences will be common but our experiences are unique to our life and heart. This is why women in conversation, connecting and sharing stories is so important we learn so much from each other.
Leading on from how much we learn from each other, I have opened my calendar for April for
WOMEN IN THE FAMILY PHOTO sessions. These are portrait sessions for the women in your family - get your kids, your mum, grandma, aunties, sisters - the women and join me for a remote photo session. The sessions are in April, the delivery is 11th May (the day before Mother’s day) and the price is $550aud - this works out to $360usd. The website page is here.
Remote sessions are so creative and fun, they are about 45 minutes long. I could go on and on and on about how important I feel these sessions are but you know if you if this experience appeals to you and if I would be your pick of photographer.
I know if I was having a photo session with my mum I would book Amy Woodward
If my boys were younger I would book Niki Boon
If I wanted to book photos now of my boys I would book Rachel Larsen Weaver
and if I wanted a photo session with just Scott and I I would book Sunny Bishop
Email if you would love to chat about the remote photo sessions.
or book in
I am OBSESSED WITH remote photoshoots, WOMEN OVER 40. Over 40 means 40-100. We are important, our image is beautiful, our story is priceless. Why am I creating with women of a minimum age of 40? Well, it is personal, you are my people. I am 44, and for years (probably 4), I have noticed we become somewhat invisible. We are in the stage where our health, wealth, families, careers, goals and dreams change. Our tolerance for people, issues and situations morphs and becomes very short. We are caring for our kids, grandkids, our parents. It can be an incredibly lonely time - having teens was the hardest time of my life, way more than babies. There can be a restless energy to explore, change the everyday, travel, move, change, grow, go deeper. We have untapped wisdom, knowledge and life experience starts expressing itself. AND we rarely have photos of ourselves because we are unsure of our changing bodies, don’t have time, forget to acknowledge ourselves in that way.
The women over 40 photo project is available. I would love to create art with you.
If you would like to book a Women over 40 portrait you can book your session here:
Or
check out the gallery here
1:1 Private Mentoring conversations
Listen to the stories you are telling yourself. Love or fear?
In these conversations we expand on the things you love, we acknowledge and talk about the fears and say “thanks but I am going to keep going”. Where focus goes energy flows, and for a woman in her own business we need to honor what we are creating; not despise it.
BOOK HERE - THIS LINK IS DEPOSIT ONLY
Thank you to everyone that engages with this email, I am grateful and it brings immense joy when I get to reply to you in a conversational way.
Have a beautiful week
Love
Melinda
PS
Have you listened to the latest podcast - Conversations from the Gap.