I was married at 21. It was a bit late in those days, usually women got married at 18 or 19…There were no maternity laws back in the 70s. You were usually fired when your workplace found out that you were pregnant. My boss said I could work until I was six months and then I was let go.
In this week’s session, out first guest speaker was Bernie from the Women’s Organisation who came along and spoke about her experiences as a working woman. The Women’s Organisation inspires women to help start businesses hosting workshops in things such as confidence, tax, bookkeeping and also offers 1 to 1 meetings.
The theme of confidence ran throughout the time Bernie was telling her life story.
I stayed at home for six years, looking after the children. We had no money for petrol at times. I had lost my confidence when I went to my first interview.
Bernie suggested to do ‘anchoring’, a technique for remembering a time you felt really positive to overcome nervousness or not feeling confident. She also suggested to keep a journal and to stop worrying about what people think about you who aren’t important.
A lot of sad and personal things happened to Bernie throughout her life that impacted her negatively. But she persevered. She fought. She carved out the space that she rightly deserved.
That’s something that we should remember when we’re at our lowest; when we didn’t get the audition, or we didn’t get the funding for the project, or if that networking opportunity didn’t go as well as we wanted it to. We have to continue. Even if it’s a small task we do because how else can we develop as creatives?
We then looked at our action plans, filling in more details about what we want to achieve in the next six months. Are these goals achievable and not too overwhelming? If we do have different strands to our practice, what are we prioritising right now?
I came away from the session feeling inspired and ready to define what I wanted to get out of my craft for the next 6 months.
Alice Mason 8/12/19
