It’s okay if you’re okay! Natasha Bucker

This guest blog is written by Natasha, @bustful.beauty, a customer and model at Brava and a passionate advocate for empowering and supporting women.

Did you start January 2020 screaming at the top of your lungs that “2020 is going to be your year”? because I did. Like all of us, I had plans and goals, I was going to take myself out of self-dates, I was going to reach financial goals, I wanted to build my future and now all of this has changed for me.

At the beginning of iso, I was lost, confused and concerned. I didn’t feel like myself and my “normal” was changing and I didn’t know what to do. Strangely, I had been given this extra time in my days and weekends and it really forced me to take some time for me and my mindset. By working on my mindset, I have really begun to see this time as a blessing in disguise. Yes, my goals have had to change, yes, I feel isolated, yes, I have lost income and yes, I miss brunch with my friends etc but amongst all of these things, I realise I have gained so much that I wouldn’t have if this time never happened.

More than ever we are hearing the phrase “it’s okay if you’re not okay.” This phrase is so important as it brings light to an area of mental health which often people forget or neglect. We are human beings, we are allowed to have emotions and even share them. We can now stop putting up the façade of being a happy go lucky person who is smashing out their goals and doing so well. However, during this time I have found it personally difficult to share that I am doing okay. Some of you reading this may not feel this same way and that is okay but I wanted to share my experience for those who feel it difficult to express that they are okay during this time.

Isolation has allowed me to move my body in different ways and no longer pressure myself with the way my body looks. I have re-read books and listened to podcasts again because I realise now, whilst driving to work and listening to these books, I had missed valuable and insightful information that has really pivoted who I am becoming.

I have begun to understand that my thoughts are just thoughts. It is not necessarily the truth, and how I define who I am is up to me and not anyone else. Learning this during isolation has pushed me to revaluate my goals, it has allowed me to connect with friends at a deeper level and it has shown me how I deserve to be treated.

I am grateful and honoured that I have been given this opportunity so early into my life especially as I entered a new chapter. Focussing on this new deeper level and surrounding myself with those of similar goals and desires I have been able to really fall into deep gratitude for this time. I would highly encourage anyone who has been feeling the opposite to take a moment and acknowledge and appreciate how you got here and all the amazing things you have done and achieved to get you to where you are. There is a fire in you that go you where you are right now and you just need to find that fire once again to see what I see in you.