Welcome to my blog!
I've never written a blog before so bear with me as I navigate the dos and don'ts of sharing my personal thoughts with you.
My name is Aneesa, I am somewhat of a lost soul finding herself through her creative art. In 2021, I found out I was pregnant, something my husband and I had been trying for for almost 3 years. Woohoo!
But let's start with a bit of a backstory...
In 2016, I started a Virtual Assistant business that quickly grew to 7k followers, making £7-10k per month and was always booked out. From a virtual assistant, I became an online business manager and then a coach. Tech was my expertise and compassionate accountability was my super power.
I worked with clients from various backgrounds such as coaches, OBMs, social media managers and dieticians.
But something was missing.
I added website and brand design to my repertoire.
Thinking that it would heal and fill the hole I felt even with so much success. Joke was on me though because it didn't.
All my life, I found myself constantly in 'creation' mode. I veer towards it. I crave it. I feel lost without it. So when I stopped creating for me and started for other people, it felt suffocating and limiting. It just gave me another string to my bow and another skillset which I was incredibly good at but it didn't quench my thirst for creativity as I thought it might.
Fast forward back to 2021...
We were pregnant and expecting a beautiful baby girl in March 2022 so my business had to change.
Instead of adapting my business or growing it or scaling my team, I closed it down. I felt so burnt out and uninspired.
This decision was the most terrifyingly satisfying decision I had made for my life but it led to intense depression once my little one was here because I felt I had no identity or purpose outside of motherhood.
The business I had built that broke me felt distant and I was no longer the woman I used to be. I could barely remember dates, figure out tech and sleep deprivation was my main, middle and last name. It was HARD!
There were nights were I had NO sleep because my baby was ill and needed to lay on me as I sat upright. I remember countless nights where I looked at my phone, opened Canva, went to go create content for a business that I felt so distant from and I had nothing. No inspiration. No words. No motivation.
I had days where life felt so hard, I wanted to leave it all. I love and omg do I adore my little family, so the guilt of wanting to quit felt worse then the guilt of not being able to 'handle' it all.
The game changer.
June 2022, my husband encouraged me to take my coaching certification program to pre-empt my return to the entrepreneurial world and to give me something to spark my energy and uplift my mood. He encouraged me to find a certification that would inspire me and to take the time to figure out what I wanted to do before jumping back into anything heavy with clients.
Since I already had life, business, confidence and mindfulness coaching certifications to my bow, I decided to take a therapeutic art coaching certification.
It changed my life.
It taught me to use the same art I always found myself creating but be more PRESENT and MINDFUL as I was creating it. It taught me to pause and express my emotions through my art. It taught me to be seen and allow myself to be heard through my art.
It saved me.
It helped me communicate my depression through art and allowed me to release the anger, frustration and uncertainty I felt.
By taking a coaching certification with the idea of helping OTHERS and going back into a service based business, it helped me navigate my depression, my loneliness and helped me realise that I didn't want to coach (yet) or go back into a business as I had once had but rather...
Opal and Thread was born.
A place for the creatives, the every day woman, the mums, the entrepreneurs, the change makers.
A place online where you can buy handmade decor, jewellery & gifts while kitting out your wardrobe with fashionable statement apparel and handbags.
A place where you can book a therapeutic art session with yours truly and learn to unleash your emotions through art.
A place for all of us to thrive.
I write this blog to share that you can be going through your darkest times but if you allow it, creativity really can become your compass, your North Star.
With love,
Aneesa Janering