Hello Friend! I am Ria, the writer of this Blog. Please know, that it means so much to me that you are here. In my little piece of some place, that I hope will feel like home to you.

The Sweetest Life… As have I… has changed so much since I started writing here a good few years ago. In its infancy, this blog was a complete highlight reel which reflected the best parts and often, the superficial elements of my life at the time. It is highly unlikely that I will solely write a review about a lipstick or perfume anymore… while I like to look nice… When my kiddos let me… that just isn’t really ‘me’ anymore!

I guess what I’m trying to say, is that it took me a little while to find my rhythm. My thing. What really matters to me and what sets my soul on fire. The past few years have been the biggest learning curves of my adult life so far. Much more than I ever could have imagined for myself. The most complex, intricate quest for self discovery and growth that there is… (I can imagine I say, quite naively).

I started writing a blog as a married mother of two and then three beautiful children. I was a little lost in the haze of it all. Not the intensity of motherhood. A love that easy, unconditional and fierce wasn’t and isn’t complicated or in any way confusing. Motherhood was a gift and a blessing bestowed upon me, which I have embraced with my whole being… BUT trying to manoeuvre around it as a young wife while figuring out who I was, am and want to be as a woman, was tough. I think I was desperate for a little space to call my own. My woman cave, where I could hang pretty words, exist and just try and figure it all out… Life that is! I loved it here, stealing little moments in time, to touch base. To document the profound, life altering truth of becoming, being and thriving as a Mama… While finding myself in the blur of it all.

And then, as life does sometimes… It broke my heart temporarily. The family unit that I used to write about here, wasn’t the same anymore. My marriage came to a sudden and screeching halt and I had to navigate life in the reality that the person I created a family with, a home with… It wasn’t a forever love. Instead it was a hard lesson. So the version of me that used to belong here… Well, she just didn’t exist anymore.

I had to roll my sleeves up and be completely present in the real world. To heal, to grow, to make peace with change. And really, there is no way of writing this part of my story without it sounding sad or like I’m tragic… but stay with me… I’m not great with sympathy.

I mean…

‘Life will hit you hard in the face, wait for you to get back up, just so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air’

-Sarah Kay

And with that being said, I soon came to realise, that it really wasn’t as horrifying as I once upon a time thought that it would be. It really was a small bump in an otherwise beautiful life… An interesting, winding, country road that took me home. It was haunting, painful and scary some days… but my life had to fall apart for me… so that I could put it back together again, the right way around.

I found heartbreak completely humbling and I found strength within the bits that hurt. I remained the best mother that I could be and for the first time in my adult life, I was truly myself. I was thriving. I threw myself into yoga…and friendships…and running… and living well. And I loved doing life on my own, with my sidekicks… on our terms. Life became an absolute blast. My children believed in me, trusted in me, loved me hard and at the same time as me loving them back, even harder… I figured out how I like my eggs (ten points if you know what movie I pulled that lesson and nugget of wisdom from).

It’s empowering, you know? To find the beauty in this! To be able to say that I am better for this happening to me. To know now, more than ever, that I am enough. That I’m strong. That I’m bold. That I’m kind and caring and loving…. and found.

That I am here.

And because I love a Sarah Kay quote it seems…This one really speaks to me.

‘Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away’

I feel just like the ocean. When it comes to being knocked down or knocked out. I’m not one to give up. I keep trying, continue striving… For better days, happiness, freedom… Love. I fight for myself… To overcome my personal obstacles… To be the best person I can possibly be in this life. I never want to stop wishing and hoping and knowing that there will always be good things, good people and a reason to keep an open heart.

Perhaps that’s how I managed to fall in love again (I say with a whisper)?! More on that another time though. No doubt in the continuously unfolding chapters of my life story which I am excited to share with you.

And now… I guess this is where I leave you with your thoughts about my happy chaos… because that is ‘almost’ everything that got me here. That is ‘almost’ everything that made me this. A woman. A flawed, vulnerable, honest, messy-hearted, over-emotional, strong-willed but eternally compassionate human being. Devoted to ‘what comes next’ but accepting the present with abundance.

I hope you come by here from time to time, that we find a little missing piece of ourselves within one another, that we talk or grow in some way, for the better. But if not, if life takes you on a different path, I hope life is kind to you. You deserve everything good.

With Love,

Ria x