"Work hard in silence, let success be your noise" - Frank Ocean

"It'll be fine," he said. "Twitter tonight, Facebook tomorrow. Basically your face will be everywhere. I'll be in touch if the press want to run with it too." It's been a bit surreal.

I did not appreciate how big a deal it is for the Queen's Nursing Institute Scotland to reintroduce the Queen's Nurse title in Scotland.  Apparently it is.  I already appreciated the opportunity to take part in this development programme, but I think it has just hit me how big a deal this is.  The thing is, when I wake up in the morning to go to work,  I don't think I'm anything special.  I'm just an ordinary woman who is passionate about influencing others to believe in themselves.

A large part of my work is assessing the health and development of children, but its not the only thing I do, nor is it the part I enjoy the most.  Let me take you back a few years when I was just a young, married mother.

I was lost in motherhood and lost my identity.  Changes were happening all around me, no family close by but very fortunate to have a mother willing to travel for hours to help me where she could.  During one of my pregnancies and postnatal periods, I had 2 amazing midwives who I adored.  They just got me, whatever that "me" was. After each appointment that maybe only lasted 10 minutes, I felt ready to tackle the world.  I was devastated when day 10 postnatal came and I was discharged to the Health Visitor.  That feeling was short lived, as she was just as brilliant as the midwives.  She was the one who was there, a stabilising force when difficult times came and went.  It is impossible for me to put into words what she done, I'm not really sure it is anything that she physically done for me and my family, but more like how she made me feel.  I felt encouraged and eager to keep trying, even when life felt difficult.  She knew having 3 children under 3 would be a challenge. A challenge it was, but she believed in me and helped me to believe in myself.  I was empowered by this and I wanted to be able to do the same for others.  And so my journey in becoming a midwife and then a Health Visitor began.

Fast forward 7.5 years and here I am.  Continually trying my best to empower other parents to be their best self, trying something they thought they couldn't do, to achieve a goal or a dream.  There are so many aspects of people's lives that I relate to.  Life is great and life is hard.  Some people just need a little nudge to keep them moving along.  When parents are in a good and sound frame of mind, their children benefit so much more.  So yes, I love working with the babies and children, but it's the adults I enjoy working with more.

To empower an individual, is to empower a community.

Working amongst communities is so diverse.  You learn so much more about customs and traditions.  You develop a deeper understanding of what makes people who they are, why people make certain decisions. It is a privilege to be invited into their homes as a guest and tailor care and advice to their specific situations.  I have always been a community girl at heart, right from my very first community placement as a student midwife. 

It is an honour to be selected to become a 21st century Queen's Nurse, with community nursing at my heart.  I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing it for the people I work with everyday.  The publicity is not my thing, I was never cut out to be a super model.  The photographer asked, "So what does a Health Visitor do?" "How long have you got?" should have been my reply, but I'm not that witty.  All I know is that I want to make a difference.  Even if it is just to engage and empower in a small way, the potential is to influence generations.

(My son is hugely into genealogy. He is going to keep the newspaper clippings to add to his family tree)

ReSet 2017 - Week 4

So I have weighed myself 2 days early as its our anniversary on Monday and we are going away to Pitlochry for the weekend. I don't imagine it will be a ReSet friendly weekend, but I'm going to enjoy myself and looking forward to the lovely walks we have planned.

On Wednesday I tried Strong by Zumba for the first time.  Don't be put off by the "Zumba" name, it's actually nothing like it.  It is more like a HIIT workout with (what feels like billions) of squats, planks and burpees. By the end of the session, I realised that I had no strength in my abdominal muscles and had to sit out for 5 minutes so I could breathe.  It probably didn't help that I had been struggling to breathe anyway, so was quite proud of myself at lasting for most of the session. I'll definitely be going back and push myself harder.

So my final results are as follows:

Weight 14 stone 9.5lbs
Waist - 99cms
Hips - 109cms

Here were my starting stats 4 weeks ago:

Weight 15st 10lbs
Height 5ft 6.25in
Waist 114cm
Hips 120cm

I am going to post some after pictures next week as this week is star week and fluid retention is definitely happening. 

One of my favourite meals this week was the Chinese mince in lettuce wraps:

Ingredients:
lean turkey mince (lean pork mince is also good)
fresh chillies
fresh ginger
garlic clove
grated carrot
grated courgette
finely chopped mushroom
finely chopped onion
spinach
soy sauce

Brown off the mince, add the chillies, ginger and garlic and stir until coated. Add in the remaining ingredients and cook until soft.  Serve in lettuce leaves. Simple, but really tasty!

So not one piece of junk food has passed my lips over the past 4 weeks.  I still can't quite believe it.  My main purpose of this was to lose weight and to feel healthier, both of which I have achieved. I have also learned how to listen to my body, expanded on the variety of foods to include in a healthy diet, improved my intake of water (I still don't enjoy it, but I do it), increased my activity level and have a better sleep pattern.  Clearly there have been lots of benefits for me, I've been trying to think of any negatives and genuinely can't think of any.

Writing this blog has been great for me. A couple of times recently when I've not appreciated the differences made, I have read back to see where I've been and how far I've come. Some days I have felt fatter than I did at the beginning.  I guess I have lost weight in some areas, more than others which for me, has just exaggerated those fatty areas.  By reading back and looking at my starting pictures, I have been able to see the difference which has kept me going.  This is no easy ride for me, it is emotionally, mentally and physically challenging but I will continue to power on as I make changes for the better, at a pace that is right for me.