As I sit here in bed sipping a hot cup of tea, eating a Wispa in a room with only our salt lamp for light. Listening to ‘Mama Kin’, and burning my beautiful essential oils. I am having me time, something a lot of us feel selfish for. But you know what, I have had a DAY, nothing bad happened there was definitely more good than bad but I am feeling a little overwhelmed; anxiety has creeped in a little, I’m tetchy and irritable for no real reason at all but hey our brains do that to us sometimes.

So here I am minding my self, indulging in a little self-care -that dreaded word ‘self-care’ that phrase is not only part of the new hipster generation, it is one of the most important phrases we could ever get used to saying. There is nothing more important than self-care. We can’t pour from an empty cup. We have to fill our light in order to share our light.

Every single human wandering this planet experience mental health challenges at some point. It takes hard work, constant hard work to keep your mental health in check. We all experience things which have the potential to negatively affect our mental health. The scary thing about mental health issues is it’s so easy to fall into and so hard to pull yourself out of. It is so important to catch yourself before you fall. This is where self-care comes in. as I said it’s one of the most important phrases you can ever get used to saying and more importantly get used to practising.

People meet me and say ‘Becca is always happy, she’s so positive, so bright’ and that saying is true… now. That has not always been the case, like so many people in this world. If we go back two years, I had my own mental health issues, I gave myself little to no self-care, and I was filled with anxiety, and felt like life was weighing me down. My life seemed to be one drama after another. I couldn’t see it at the time and it has taken two years and a whole lot of work to realise I was the controller of that, I let myself live on that manic hamster wheel. It wasn’t until I got so low that I was so desperate to feel better that I found self-care, I found HOPE.

I was willing to try anything, anything to escape the demons in my head, escape my reality that I truly believe I hit rock bottom and when I reached that point I realised I did have hope because the only way from the bottom is up.

This is where my journey began.
It has not always been easy in fact it was maybe the hardest thing I have ever done, I had to delve into places I didn’t want to, I had to be selfish with my time, I had to make my mental health a life value of mine. It has taken time, it has taken a lot of effort, determination, frustration and love to reach the point I am at now but you know what?… it is hands down the best thing I have ever done for me.

I am truly the happiest I have ever been. I used to hate the word content I thought it was just another word for settling but it’s not and I can safely say I am content in my life, content with who I am, content with everything and everybody in my life. In fact I couldn’t be more grateful for everything in my life. Every night before I go to sleep, I say 3 things I am grateful for and every day I can whip 3 things off the top of my head. That’s the thing with Hope, that’s the thing with self-care, that’s the thing with positivity and gratitude that the more you practise the more you see. I now find myself grateful for every little thing in my life, down to even things I used to dread and get anxious about. I am now grateful for the lessons it teaches me.

This leads me to where I am now. I truly believe in self-care, I am an advocate for minding your head and heart. I feel I truly understand the meaning of hope, I believe we can all get here; we just need a little guidance and a whole lot of determination, love and support. So here I am days off launching our HOPE bears something my heart is bursting with pride that we can do. I want to help people. I want to be that support and I can safely speak for Trish when I say she does too.

We have recently been affected by suicide not personally but a very dear friend of ours lost a family member to suicide. When I say it broke my heart in two that is not an understatement. There were so many elements of that week that was so heart-breaking. The thought of someone, feeling so hopeless that they choose to leave this earth was the saddest thing for us to comprehend.
The pain and sadness I saw in the eyes of their family left behind.The lack of services to help this lost soul before time ran out.The helplessness, the void left, the guilt the list is endless. We had this over powering need to do something, to help in the fight, to raise awareness, to help prevent even one more family from experiencing this pain, to try help in some little way to help prevent this from happening, to help with fighting the stigma around mental health issues.

This is where our HOPE bears were born. These little bears are a beacon of Hope, a beacon of brighter days, a conversation starter about mental health. They are our way of giving back, our way of helping the cause and our way of sharing our light and our journey with others.
Our mission is to share our light, to help people through personalised homemade gifts that bring joy, love and spread awareness to you and the people around you.

20% of every bear sold will be going to a mental health awareness charity and their quest to destigmatize mental health issues, to spread awareness and educate the importance of self-care, self-love and kindness to schools and organisations.
I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sharing our journey of positivity and wellbeing with us.

Rebecca,
DreamCatchingDuo xx