Bring me Sunshine, in your eyes. Bring me rainbows, from the skies.

If someone had told you all the things that would happen in 2020, before we even saw its fourth month, would you have believed them? Every man, woman and child has been impacted in some way.

I was due to start a new adventure in my life, having quit my third job in a year (I was already taking some time to myself due to mental ill health and settle in to a more comfortable balance). In February I decided that I wanted to start a new career in children and young peoples mental health and well-being. I found an online distance learning level two certificate that was fully funded (no idea who by) so I applied, I went and spoke to the head teacher at my daughters primary school and we drafted up a volunteering / work experience plan, I started to fill out all the required paperwork. All the while things were un-settling in Wuhan but didn't seem to be of a big concern over here in the UK, *cough* Brexit *cough*. 

LEAP YEAR DAY. My Nana passes away. In New Zealand.

I was closest to my Nana as a child but having emigrated to the UK when I was 12 the relationship was geographically challenged, and as I got older, well, I was a teenager estranged from her family. But when she passed, I never felt so far away as I did those days in deciding to go to New Zealand for the funeral. So we all did, said our farewell to Nana, then found ourselves in a country smashing out a full lock-down and closing of borders. The travel home was anxiety fuelled and terrifying, especially transit through Dubai airport.

We arrived back in the UK the day before lock-down started here. And, here I am eight weeks later wondering what on earth is going on. I obviously couldn't work at the school, so I kept studying and ended up passing my assessments last week. So what now?

RAINBOWS. Rainbows of hope.

I absolutely jumped on that bandwagon. Anyone who has followed my crochet journey up to this point will know that other than when making amigurumi toys I struggle with colour. I naturally gravitate to soft natural earthy tones. Lord knows I tried bright colours but I felt phoney and weird - looking back now, I also suffered terribly with anxiety and depression for most of this time.

But here I am now, and I finally think I get it, haha! Surrounding yourself in bright colour is like a hug through the eyeballs and into the soul. An old friend asked me to make them a rainbow that they could hang in their ambulance (as they are now a paramedic) and I had to buy in all the colours! And so I bought in bulk. Made in bulk. Selling them with 20% net profit donation to Mind Charity for each one. I didn't realise just how popular they would be. They were selling faster than I could make them.

THANK YOU. 
Thank you to all those who bring the rainbows and sunshine to our lives. 

You gave me a purpose and a small feeling that I was helping in my small way. Wrapping up each of those rainbows and sending them with a hug card just felt so special. 

I want to hug each and every person on this earth. 

For those of you that are finding these times difficult (and trust me you are allowed to feel that - this is some tough and abnormal sh*t to deal with), all I can say is one day at a time. You've got this. 

You can find help and advice on the Mind Charity website. If you have the financial means, please consider donating to the Mind Charity Corona-virus emergency appeal.