Hi everyone

I thought I’d say a quick hello and share a little story with you all.

My partner kindly bought me a bag for the gym recently. This was such a lovely thing to do and I’m sure most people would be very grateful and thankful for the gift. End of.

However behind my immediate smile and thank yous, and appreciation of the thought behind the gift, my brain immediately went into panic mode 🥴

If you overthink everything, you might relate to this – I’m a huge overthinker and my second thought was “The bag is yellow!” Not just a pretty banana Instant Whip or Angel Delight yellow, but fluorescent hi-vis jacket yellow, fluorescent “you’ll find me on a building site operating a crane” yellow,  fluorescent “am I joining the highways agency?” yellow.

The sort of yellow you can see from space.

The kind of yellow that says:

 “She’s going to the gym… and she wants the entire village to know about it.” 😎

Now don’t get me wrong – it’s a fabulous bag. Beautifully designed, sturdy, practical, great quality, good little compartments and can fit absolutely everything I need for a visit to the gym with a swim after. Some of you might be wondering what I’m making such a fuss about. It is after all a great gym bag.  

But my brain? Oh no. It instantly spiralled:

✨ Will it clash with my gym tops?

✨ Will people think I’m silly because it’s so big?

✨ What if people think I’m showing off?

✨ Can I be a fluorescent bag person?

I nearly asked if I could swap it. I even asked for opinions on my stories. 

But then I caught sight of myself in the hallway mirror – bright bag slung over my shoulder, halfway through a “what shall I do about it” mutter and I thought:

Why shouldn’t I stand out?

Why not be the woman with the sunny bag who’s showing up for herself – loud, proud and glowing like a human highlighter? 😁

And actually if I’m honest most people won’t be looking at me anyway…

And the more I looked at my new bag and its Stella McCartney logo, the more I started to love it. In fact I now feel amazing when I have my beautiful, even if super bright, bag. It makes me feel confident and also proud that I’ve actually made the effort to go to the gym in the first place. It feels good inside to know that I’m trying to do something about being fit. 

So here I am. With my bag. And my overthinking brain. Feeling fabulous!

PS Wearing my brave pants here, as well as my super-power bag, as I don’t often share photos of myself, especially with no make up on and just been swimming hair! 😆