How it started ….. How it’s going

🎪 The Big Retreat Festival, Pembrokeshire

When we’re busy doing ‘The Work’ of self-discovery and personal growth it’s easy to be focused on what’s next, and forget to celebrate how far we’ve come.

This weekend I’m headed to The Big Retreat well-being festival in beautiful Pembrokeshire, South Wales

It’s my 5th year of working with founder Amber and the festival, and it’s been a heck of a personal growth ride.

And as I prep for the event I wanted to share some pics of how we started in 2018 when, despite having a deep fear of public speaking and very little belief in myself as any kind of expert in anything, I found myself interviewing a couple of authors in the first ever Talk Tent, which looked like a sofa and a couple of hay bales in a gazebo. (And god bless Marianne Power for trusting us with her first author appearance).

And what it looks like now, which is a space that hosts global best-sellers and well-being experts as well as an audience of 00s (often spilling out onto the grass in the sunshine).

Over 5 years at TBR I’ve hosted mental health panels, curated full weekend line-ups, facilitated meditation and laughter yoga sessions, helped run a sober bar, interviewed TV stars like Matt Johnson and Mr Motivator, run a full production team of Shelfies, and even run the sound desk for a Scummy Mummies comedy special (!!)

Working in and on the Talk Tent at The Big Retreat has stretched and pushed me in ways that I could never have imagined. And it's given me new skills, friends and memories to last a lifetime.

Feel the fear and do it anyway, people!

(preferably in a silver bumbag).

💛