what you need to know about those happy snapshots 📸

Grab a coffee and let's catch up ☕️ Aimée Rebecca | 18th Sep ​​​​

Does it ever feel like everyone else is winning but you? When you scroll through social media, are you hit with photos of other people's incredible trips, exciting announcements, and amazing achievements and wonder why you're hit with so many setbacks?

Spoiler alert - it's not just you!

Hi Reader,

It's me - Aimée Rebecca- your internet bestie who's baaaaack! 🙌💕

I fell off the face of the earth recently and I apologise for that. Life has been a little bit hectic in the best way possible!

Recently it feels as though everything has started slotting into place all at once. And as much as I want to share all the good news I've experienced over the last couple of weeks, I want to share it in the most brutally honest way possible. Because things are going really well right now...but it took a while to get here!

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Awesome Thing #1 ✈️

First off I took a trip to Dubrovnik for my birthday and had the most incredible time! I spent my birthday at the top of Mount Srd, sipping prosecco in Restaurant Panorama and feeling like the absolute boujiest version of myself.

It was the most wonderful birthday I've ever had! The backdrop, the food, the experiences...it was simply picture-perfect from start to finish.

But this dazzling little birthday trip only came about because of last year's birthday...which was an absolute freaking disaster!

Last year, I'd arranged a brunch with friends to celebrate. To be completely honest, I hadn't wanted to make any birthday arrangements because I had a gnawing fear that nobody would turn up. I've said it before and I'll say it again, navigating friendships in your 30s is hard. My friends and I live very different lives, juggle vastly different schedules, and find our interests growing further apart year after year. I still love them but dynamics shift and change as people get older and take on new responsibilities. It happens.

Eventually, my mum convinced me to book a brunch and invite everyone a month and a half in advance to make sure at least a few friends could make it. But the universe had other plans. The morning of my birthday, all but one of my friends cancelled at the last minute and I was devastated. I felt like the kid on the playground with no one to play with.

I felt rejected and hurt and more insecure than I had in years. And I decided I would never feel that way on my birthday again. So I made the decision that from that point forward, I'd book a birthday trip each year. Dubrovnik was the first of what I hope will be many more incredible birthday trips to come. If it hadn't been for last year's disaster, my best birthday ever never would have happened.

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Awesome Thing #2 💼

And you know what else happened on my birthday, right as I was sitting down in a restaurant in the Old Town to sip on a glass of wine? I got a phone call offering me a job! 🤩

I've been applying for jobs since last year. Ever since my original TikTok account became unusable due to a system update, my social media income has been inconsistent to say the absolute least. I've been picky with the jobs I've applied for. I didn't want to throw myself into something I wasn't passionate about.

But I kept getting hit with one rejection after another. I couldn't understand it. I had all the skills these companies had asked for. Heck, one place even asked if they could use the marketing pitch I'd presented in my interview when they called to let me know I didn't get the job! Where was I going wrong?

Then I saw the advert for my new job and I felt a determination I'd never felt before. It was perfect! It's part-time so I can still work on my YouTube channel two days a week. It's marketing with a focus on sustainability and the environment. The team is small and friendly. I get to go on nature walks as part of my freaking job! It could not be a better fit for me.

But, prior to bagging my dream job, I was struggling to even get interviews some places. And, when I did, those interviews were always followed-up with bad news. It started to feel like I was doomed to never find the right job. But thankfully, things always work out in the end. Sometimes you just need a bit of patience.

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Awesome Thing #3 🏃‍♀️

And to wrap up my wild few weeks, I ran the Swansea Bay 10k last weekend! I started training for this thing way back in May and let me tell you - it's been a challenge!

I have zero natural running ability and, when I tried to run 5k last year, I ended up hyperventilating in a bush. Not great indicators of success!

For me, crossing that finish line was a really proud moment in my life. So proud, in fact, that I immediately burst into tears. This was something that I'd worked towards for months and struggled through right up until my final training session. It was hard. But that made the end result so much more rewarding. I felt absolutely unstoppable! Like...if I can run 10k on my dumpy little legs, you best believe that I can do anything I set my mind to!

So ultimately, all the blood, sweat, and tears (literally!) were worth it.

PS: If you'd like to sponsor my 10k run, that would be incredible! I'm raising money for Ty Hafan, which is a children's hospice that cares for children with life-shortening conditions. Any contribution you can make would be immensely appreciated by the team there!

But there's something I want to stress here. If you scrolled through my Instagram right now, you'd see me sipping prosecco in Dubrovnik, you'd read my new job announcement, and you'd see a gleeful photo of me holding up my 10k medal. And that's all. You wouldn't see the heartbreak, disappointment, and setbacks that have been interwoven with all of those positive experiences. You'd just see the happy snapshots.

And that's why I'm oversharing a bit in this week's newsletter. It's so easy to look at everyone else's happy snapshots and compare them to your 24/7 life that's full of ups and downs and frustrations and heartaches. But the truth is, everyone else has those too. Everyone has bad days, embarrassing moments, and major mishaps along the way. You just can't see that when you're on the outside looking in.

So whatever's going on right now, Reader, just know you're killing it. If things feel messy, you're not alone! But the good news is, everything has a way of working itself out in the end.

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I hope this email added a little bit of positivity to your inbox! ✨

See you next week!

Aimee xo