I just read Taryn Brumfitt’s book Embrace last week. It’s all about the amazing Body Image Movement she started a few years back, and about learning to love your own body – as well as how she learned to love hers. It really is a cracking read full of warmth and wisdom – I highly recommend you grab yourself a copy.
But one thing stood out to me above everything else Taryn talks about in her book, and that is the idea that you should find your sparkle. ‘Sparkle’ can mean many things to many people, but in this instance she is talking about the fact that as mothers, we often get a bit, ah, boring. We’re all about safety and sensibleness and being in charge of all the things that need to be done.
But then Taryn noticed that, when she broke out of that ‘ordinary’ life and did something that thrilled her – staying out dancing with girlfriends until 3am or leaping off a high jetty at the beach – she felt that sparkle reappear inside her. That feeling that makes you feel alive and excited and invincible. Remember that? How long has it been since you felt it?
Taryn also found that reclaiming that sparkle was enough to make her not mind being First Safety Officer and Master of School Lunches the rest of the time, so she resolved to schedule in ‘sparkle’ activities once a month. And as I was reading this, I thought, “YES!” This is me. This is what I need too.
We talk about taking time out every day here at Champagne Cartel (hell, we’re even running a Knotlace giveaway right now if you do – you should totally enter that), but this is another level. This isn’t taking 10 minutes to have a cup of tea under a tree, or meditating before work. This is scheduling in something that makes your soul feel alive!
Need some inspiration? Taryn’s first scheduled sparkle activity was a stand-up paddle boarding session with a girlfriend. The excursion happened to accidentally be in dangerously contaminated water, which surely added to the ‘danger’ aspect but I don’t think anyone would recommend this!
I have scheduled in my first sparkle activity: a day at Monster Slide when it comes to Brisbane. We’re talking turning a suburban hilly street into one gigantic water slide! Usually I would hand that activity over to my husband but I’ve decided to throw myself into it. Fun!
Other ideas I have for future sparkle events include:
- Climb Mt Warning with my husband (again – we did it for his birthday before we had kids, and we’d love to do it again)
- Try paddle board yoga (but maybe I should try regular paddle boarding first??)
- Have a deluxe facial
- Try rock climbing
- Go on a meditation retreat
- Take a cooking class in a cuisine I’m not confident in (so, pretty much anything!)
Whatever resonates with you – whatever thrills you and maybe even scares you a little bit – that’s what you should be scheduling in. Push your boundaries, thrill yourself, and make yourself come alive!
Tell us in the comments, what activities would you like to schedule into your ‘sparkle calendar’? And what is stopping you? Big fat extra points if you do them and share with us on Instagram @champagnecartel #champagnemoments
If you want to buy Embrace or support Taryn’s Body Image Movement, check out the Body Image Movement website. It’s full of great stuff about loving your body and embracing you in all your brilliantness.
Sparkle is definitely important. In fact I just had a conversation with my love about this last night. We don’t have kids but with the ongoing battle of work/study/stress etc etc we have been letting our individual and joint sparkles fade.
Sparkle is so important.
Yes! A dulling of one’s sparkle is certainly not exclusive to us parents – we could all do with more sparkle. Hope you both get your sparkle on soon. x
Ooooh I love the idea of finding my sparkle. We should all sparkle. I’m off to think of ways I can get my sparkle on!
Please let us know how you get on!
I’m all about sparkle! It’s been my word for a few years now and I think it captures our spirit and that happy feeling so perfectly. I love the idea of doing something once a month just for yourself to reignite the sparkle. For me, it’s a long lunch with a fabulous girlfriend, buying something I’ve always wanted to own, a decadent dinner date with my husband, and enjoying a bottle of French Champagne. Sparkle on, sisters! x
Those are all AWESOME sparkle-inducers! May you forever shine on, you crazy diamond! xx
Beautiful! Love this message. Sparkling does it for me LOL apart from a cheeky drink I need to schedule in some pamper time even if it’s a stroll round the block or time in the sun.
Absolutely – it all adds up to making us feel wonderful. xx
Yes! Sparkle is so important! x
I think so too!
Paddle boarding yoga? I have never heard of that but it sounds totally cool. I too would love to go on a meditation retreat. Actually I would love to do the whole Eat Pray Love thing but take my hubby with me xx
Ha, yep, that’s an important distinction! For those who find yoga and/or paddle boarding a bit passé, you can combine both. There are wonderful photos of Jen from Less Than a Pineapple (a great yoga overachiever) doing headstands on a board in the middle of the water. If she wasn’t so awesome I would hate her. xx
Love this – I need to make myself a sparkle calendar!!!!
Time with my best friends makes me sparkle. And carving out the time to write. And running. All these things make me more my ‘best self’ … and I think that’s what sparkling is all about isn’t it? Getting in touch with the very best side of your self?