This time last year, we were getting ready to take The Grocery Girls to London. After two successful events in Manchester, we couldn’t wait to go down south and start varying the locations of our events. It felt like our first step in a clear direction.
Fast-forward a year and we’re in an unimaginably different place. We haven’t hosted a single face-to-face event in 2020, and most of the goals we set for the network have been missed. That being said, we’ve achieved things we never expected, like launching a podcast and hosting a month-long virtual festival. And now, we’re bringing you another virtual event – this time it’s festive networking!
One of our previous guest speakers, organisational psychologist Fiona Murden, spoke on her podcast about the fact that we often don’t properly reflect on our achievements. With our busy lives, it’s so easy to constantly look forward, focusing on the next task or setting a new goal. But if we don’t stop and take note of how far we’ve come and congratulate ourselves for what we’ve achieved, we risk never seeing how much we’ve learnt and appreciating who we are. This year, reflecting and feeling like we’ve made progress is harder than ever.
We really want to bring our community together again before the end of 2020. Firstly, we want to celebrate the festive season together and bring some positivity to our second lockdown. But also, we want to help our members acknowledge that, despite unprecedented challenges, we’ve all still got a lot to be proud of. The goals we set may not have been hit, but we’ve succeeded in unexpected and wonderful ways.
On Tuesday 1 December, we’ll be logging back into Zoom and hoping to see as many of you as possible entering the waiting room. For 75 minutes, we’ll guide you through exercises to help you acknowledge what you’ve learnt and how you’ve grown over this year. Connecting with other members of the network in breakouts, you’ll come away with a fresh, positive perspective and hopefully some new faces to strengthen your community.
All you’ll need to bring is a brew (or something stronger – up to you!), festive snacks of your choice, and the willingness to come away calmed and uplifted.
The event has just gone on sale, so book your place now to avoid disappointment. Tickets cost £10, and part of that cost covers a little something we’ll be sending out to you after the event. We’ll also be donating 50% of all profits to two charities we’ve selected this time round:
- Beat, an eating disorder charity that operates a confidential 24-hour helpline, plus a whole host of other useful resources. Demand is soaring for support from them at the moment, and over Christmas it’s especially difficult for people with mental health issues around food.
- Centrepoint, a charity that supports over 15,000 homeless young people, providing emotional support and life skills, as well as housing. While most of us are fed up of being stuck in lockdown, this made us think about how lucky we are to have safe, warm homes to hide away in.
We’re twinning this event with one in January, focused on setting goals, which we’re equally excited about. Stay tuned for more on that one, and hopefully see you in a few weeks!
As always, send us your questions or get in touch for a chat at hello@grocerygirlsuk.com.