Copyright Kay Underdown 2017

This blog has meant more to me than a place where I could get my thoughts on life ‘out there’.  It was born out of a need to have something else to focus on other than what I was dealing with.  It was an escape from reality.

Yet my posts were mainly about reality.  I avoided dwelling on the traumatic time I encountered during my weeks in hospital battling Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia but it simmered in the background.  I held on to my ties with positivity which although stretched remained a lifesaver.

Blogging gave me an excuse to write randomly about life because that’s what I chose to do.  I didn’t have to stick to any theme, it was about life, anything, and that felt very liberating.  I focussed on very simple everyday things, not serious topics.  It was lighthearted, occasionally tinged with a little sadness.  It was where I felt safe to share what were some very personal poems that very few had seen.

I made connections with people across the world.  I was both heartened and amazed that bloggers and others from so many different countries were reading my posts.  I never had many followers.   It doesn’t have to be about the numbers.  Knowing that I had made a connection with just one person made a difference to how I felt.  Getting a friendly comment from someone I didn’t yet know felt good.

Did I feel lonely during that time I spent restricted in what I could do?  My family and friends were wonderful but what I missed was being able to spontaneously go about my life however I wanted, getting on with my dream of a life at University studying what I loved, exploring and meeting different people.

Blogging filled the gap.  It didn’t put any demands on me.  There were no time pressures and my tiredness, lack of concentration and focus didn’t matter, I could just return whenever I wanted.  Yet when I was ready to return to University life I let it go, only to return sporadically.  Having found something so valuable to me, that drew me in, I left it by the wayside with little explanation.

Earlier this year my blog provided the right forum for me to vent my personal feelings about a personal situation that seriously threatened my wellbeing.  That situation became the catalyst for me to return to positivity, focus on my dreams and bring them to my reality.

I now return to bring my story up-to-date, to reflect on my past blogging and bring a fresh perspective.  Whilst it will remain random in nature, there is no doubt that it will be coloured by my new and exciting venture as a Happiness & Empowerment Coach living in the now and looking forward to a future filled with gratitude, positivity and love in its broadest sense.  I hope that you may choose to follow my blog and I look forward to renewing old connections and making new ones in the blogging world and beyond.

News:  This blog will be linked to my new Happiness & Empowerment website http://www.kayunderdown.com which will go live in December 2017.  I hope you will take a look and I welcome any feedback.  I am excited to be offering a unique combination of services.  In September I became an accredited coach with The Sue Stone Foundation.  Sue Stone is an amazingly inspirational and  positive person who I have known for a number of years and joining her Foundation as a Happiness & Empowerment Coach is part of my dream offering one-to-one coaching with support.  I will also be offering Life Story Workshops which have a coaching base and are influenced by sense of belonging and creativity.  They will provide the opportunity for people to come together at different places to explore life in a different way.  My dissertation was on sense of belonging and I became passionate about it, particularly in relation to people, place, nature and belonging through time.  (Yes I actually graduated in July 2017 with an Upper Second Class Honours Degree in Social Sciences, a very proud moment)  The third part of my service is to provide Life Wheel Coaching, which can be provided over the phone so I will be able to reach out beyond the area I live and work.  To get things started and launch my service, early in the New Year I am holding two introductory events in Broadstairs, Kent which is a beautiful seaside town with wonderful sandy bays.  It is both an exciting and daunting time for me, taking the biggest leap after a few years of uncertainty, yet it is bringing together everything I have wanted to do and I am living my dream by the sea.