The bravest things I have ever done – Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway

TThe bravest things I have ever done

Feel the Fear and DO it anyway was the very first ‘self-help’ book that I ever read shortly after starting work at my first job after leaving university. Since then I have always done things that have scared me, stepped out of my comfort zone into a new unknown world. 

Here are my standout bravest things I have ever done.

Quitting the employed corporate world and setting up Mrs Mummypenny

I took a huge risk in 2015 and left my corporate career of 16 years. Resentment towards my job and career had been building for years, particularly after my youngest son was born. My company relocated from being a local drive away to central London and an extra 1 hour away. I hated the extra journey time that I had been forced into. I also worked indirectly for a tyrant female boss who didn’t care too much for me.

The time was right to leave. I managed to negotiate a redundancy payment knowing this was the magic cash injection I needed to properly launch Mrs Mummypenny. And I went for it. I spent the first couple of years not earning much but building the business up into something big, a website to be taken notice of. A website making a difference to thousands of people lives.

It was a huge risk to invest 40k of my redundancy money into the building of my business, or rather the paying of the bills whilst my business earned nothing. But it paid off. Five years later my business is incredibly successful. I make more than enough profit to not only pay my bills but also to have nice holiday and to save for the future.

But it did have its consequences.

Telling my Husband of 11 years that our marriage was over

My life has shifted hugely in the past five years since becoming self-employed. I am finally doing a job that is making a difference and changing people’s lives. They save money and become financially secure. But it’s a very different job to being in the employed world. So much of me goes into Mrs Mummypenny, so much of my personal story, my financial story, my mistakes, successes. My mental and physical health struggles.

And I was building my business. Every penny counted in income and couldn’t be wasted in unnecessary spending. Part of my story involved my debt story, a repayment of debt that was created jointly. He couldn’t get the new life, the success, the public nature of my business.

A magazine article in 2017 was a catalyst that caused a huge disagreement, everything that had been slowly unravelling for a long time. An article that he didn’t agree with, an article that bought us 2 weeks of food for the family during a time when money was extremely tight.

I tried to repair things, time passed, I thought things might get better, we ended up in couples counselling. But things got worse. There was no communication. And the counselling we did seek just verified to me that the right decision was for the marriage to end.

That happened in June 2019. Now in March 2020 we finally reach the point of him leaving the family house that I now own outright. The money has all moved around, I am free.

Th past ten months have been hell on earth, to live with the person who you separated from, the anger, the hate, the lack of communication has been awful. I will write more about these months when I am ready. And will share key learnings on how to deal with divorce, how much things cost and how the process works.

But yes, telling my husband our marriage was over was/is the bravest thing I have ever done and will probably ever do.

Singing at a Festival

Gosh that was heavy. Let’s take it down a few levels to still very brave things but with slightly less emotion.

I have been to Standon Calling festival for the past three years in a row. And it has taken me three years to be brave enough to put myself forward for the famous rockaoke competition. Five finalists get through to the final on the Sunday of the festival and get to perform on the main stage!!

2019 I went for it. I put myself forward into the qualifying round and sang ‘don’t stop believing’ on one of the smaller stages. I sang to an audience of maybe 300. It was amazing, I loved it.

I got Josh to record the performance and watched it back with horror. I used to be so good at singing. At school I did solos always being perfectly in tune. I feel like my car singing is pitch perfect. Maybe it was the song choice, but it wasn’t the best of performances. And I didn’t make it through to the final and get to sing on the main stage.

But I loved it. God I was brave.

Appearing on The Chase on TV

I applied to The Chase in 2017, within a couple of days I was at an audition and was told that I would maybe get through to the actual TV show. In 2018 I did!!

****** hell it was one of the most stressful experiences of my life. I could handle the chatting bit to Bradley and the ‘say your name, age and job’ bit to camera. I even handle the quick fire 1-minute general knowledge cash builder incredibly well. So well in fact that I got every question right and had a middle offer of £9,000.

But then I fell apart as I face Jenny the Vixen on the Chase ladder. I fluffed the stupid easy first question. I didn’t read it properly and guessed it. Then I messed up the logical bible question that was also super easy, when I knew the answer.

We got the bottom rung of the ladder and it was a final question shoot out. It was an impossible question; my guess was wrong, and her answer was right. Gutted, I went out. My chase team did the final chase with two people and didn’t win the money. If I had been there, we maybe, probably would have won. Gutted.

But I was brave, I gave it a chance. And one day I will win a chunk of money on a TV quiz show!

What have you done that is incredibly brave? Did it work out, was it the right decision to do it? Let me know I would love to hear from you.