Guess who's back...
by our founder Emma Tattersall
I cannot believe it is already the 1st October. In part because it means that our two-month siesta is over and also because it means tomorrow is my 29th birthday.
The last eight weeks have been brought with them mixed emotions.The first week I felt a weird sense of freedom - "I'm offline" I was telling people with a millennial sense of pride. The second week I was in withdrawal - desperate to know what was happening and to be a part of the never ending conversation online.
But after binge watching the latest series of Orange is the New Black I finally started to get into a new groove. I managed to carve out some time in my day to simply switch off and relax, without feeling like I should really be doing something more worthwhile with my time. And I finally found the time to hang up some pictures, plant some herbs and curl up with the books that have been collecting dust on my reading pile.
I’ve somehow managed to get back into a healthy exercise routine, and for the first time in months I’ve been sleeping properly. I’ve spent so much time in the wifi free zone that is my garden and have finally managed to detach my iPhone from its permanent position in my right hand.
My commute suddenly felt so much longer. I wasn’t scheduling calls around the edges of my work day, or having half conversations while attempting to write witty captions. Instead I was the mad lady on the train with a different headband on every day, in fits of laughter as I listened to back episodes of My Dad Wrote a Porno.
But I have always had an underlying feeling that I was counting down the days rather than ticking them off. I missed all of this - and I was eager to get back.
This platform is my passion and I am so grateful for the people I have met, the debates we have, the incredible launchers we have championed and the energy that orbits around it all. But that doesn’t mean that juggling a full time job, a social life, a house renovation, planning a wedding, life's trials and tribulations, my family and friends and LWL isn’t sometimes a struggle. At times I feel panicked that it's all got too much for me but then I remember why I am doing this, and that rising panic disappears.
But enough of the poor me show. I’m not in this alone, this platform is manned (or should I say womanned) by some incredible people. It's because of their hard work and dedication that this wheel keeps turning.
These two months have been a really important lesson in taking some space when you need it. And we all really did. We've let all the spinning plates stop. It’s given us a chance to unwind, refocus and get our ducks in order (I wish there was a fleet of actual LWL ducks) for the 12 months ahead.
So we are back, not with a bang (too zen for that) but with a plan. Endless doodles, mind maps, endless Instagram scrolling and day dreaming sessions have reminded us what we are here to do.
We want to celebrate you and the incredible women in your life. We are here to champion the stories that deserve to be told but go unheard. We want to inspire and ignite your passion. We want to help nurture your ideas and watch them grow. We believe in the power of creating tangible female role models and raising awareness about the challenges people face every day. We believe in supporting one another in any way we can. We believe in the role we can all play in making the world more equal, more kind and more inclusive.
We have recruited some fantastic new women to support us in this mission. They bring with them a whole range of skills and ideas. They will all be popping up over the next few weeks to introduce themselves and share their stories with you.
We have some incredible new launchers, some stories that have been waiting far too long to be told and some new submission. There's a whole host of exciting new initiatives - including a cross-continent collaboration and a p o d c a s t (gulp).
So this October we have a definite spring in our step. The evenings may be getting darker but we are back into HQ and the lights are ON.