Let’s talk about guilt baby….  Why is it that it takes me three weeks to justify a (holy moly WELL overdue) $5 eyebrow wax (yes I went to the cheap place, don’t judge me!), but when anyone else “needs” anything I’m happy to throw money at the problem?!

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Successful, smart women can often have complex relationships with prioritising themselves.  Especially if they are mothers.  I know because as you can tell from my overgrown eyebrows…. I live it, breathe it.  I was 15 years in corporate Financial Services working long hours and travelling at least every fortnight.  With a young family I felt I never saw and omnipresent guilt about everything, I was spreading myself too thin.  Self-care consisted of brushing my teeth.  Most of the time…

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And it all got a bit much.  While on paper, there were lots of ticks in lots of boxes, mental and physical health was a bit, well, compromised.  And it’s not just me, it’s almost everyone I know.  Stories about women hiding in their own closet with a glass of wine for five minutes peace started to surface.  A 20-year-old bra still being worn because the car needed a service… come on ladies, we can do better than that!

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Of course, some of the time it’s real, but most of it is in our complicated wee heads!  Some of it boarders on ridiculous, but to us it makes sense.  With so many demands on our time, finances and emotional reserves, I wanted to do something to tip the scales – just a little bit.  I wanted amazing women to have a moment of joy – just for themselves, a sliver of selfishness (ooooh what a taboo and loaded word that is) and feel bloody good about it.

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And so, I left the corporate world behind and established Society of Lovely.  I can’t fix your work life balance.  I can’t stop your partner spending obscene amounts of middle-aged-crisis cycling paraphernalia.  I can’t reason with your toddler who insists that “SHOES ARE LIKE JAIL FOR MY FEET”.  But I can encourage you to put your own oxygen mask on first.  I can encourage you and women that you love to give yourselves permission to indulge.

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Jo x