if someone was to ask me in which moments my heart feels most like it will burst with joy, i would respond, trying to describe something like this. ⊹ Day 100 living in @wheresmolliesvan 🏠

⊹ Hi new branding ⊹ 5 years into the Wheres Mollie? brand and I officially have a logo LOL. Thanks to this talented bean @lucybaileydesign. We’ve got a couple more lockdown projects up our sleeve but excited to share this one first. P.s. ask me a question, any question you fancy in the comments below. Lil Q+A to celebrate 🥳

give yourself permission, right now, to feel whatever it is you’re feeling. give your emotions a home. 🏠 Acceptance of what is surfacing within us is often the greatest hurdle to face. No one that has been in pain / grief / heartbreak can deny it. Emotions can be damn difficult to work through at times. We’d all be lying if we said we hadn’t tried to avoid, to plaster over and to not think about our emotions along the way. Healing is hard work. Showing up for yourself is hard work. Sitting in the puzzle and trying to work it all out is uncomfortable and confusing and testing but it’s bloody beautiful when you start piecing it together. I know the key to a lot of my healing this year has been acceptance. Allowing myself to be exactly where I am. Validating every texture that surfaces as an intelligent piece of my puzzle. Honestly... It doesn’t matter how long it’s been, how much it still hurts or how much you’re still feeling. Those emotions you feel are still here for a reason. They are part of your essence and they are attempting to communicate with you. Emotions are signals, they point to the places that require healing within you. Difficult emotions will lead you to the places that need more love. By pushing emotions away when we aren’t ready, we bury and hide from what will ultimately resurface. We cannot clear, dissolve and heal those parts of us that hurt through avoidance. Healing happens by feeling, and there’s no time frame on your journey. You will heal and release the pain only when you have learnt everything that your pain came here to teach you. Give yourself permission to feel everything you’re feeling. 🤍

At least I got changed for this briefing call. Last week I didn’t make it out of my wetsuit in time. Loooool. 🏕🌲💻 Day 96 living in @wheresmolliesvan

OKAY. WE FOUND PARADISE. Paradise instructions: 1. Grab a friend. 2. Pack some granola, yoghurt, fresh berries and a beach towel. 3. Rent a kayak for 2 hours (€20 each). 4. Paddle to a secret cove before the world wakes up. 5. Go for a dip and warm up on the beach with a breakfast bowl. Portugal travel guides coming soon to wheresmollie.com #MollieInPortugal

No WiFi, news broadcasts, face-masks or lockdowns here... just a kayak, a secluded cove to ourselves, fresh ocean air, morning sunshine warmth and a fresh fruit and granola breakfast. You could say i’m in a bubble but I LIKE THIS BUBBLE and so does my mental and physical health. 🌼 What are YOU doing today to make space for your own peace and joy? Now more than ever, we must create boundaries around media and consciously remove ourselves from the collective fear to give ourselves space for presence and joy. Here’s your reminder and your permission. 🙏🏼

Yesterday we drove east on the coastline and made friends with some random Portuguese rapper (lol) on the side of the road, who went on to agree to letting us rent a kayak from him before the tourists descended onto probably the most touristy spot on the Algarve. At 8.30am this morning, to our surprise, he turned up. 🚐 #MollieInPortugal

And someday you’ll stumble across someone willing to swim out there with you. You’ll find yourself with someone that you won’t even need to ask. And so promise me, please promise me this, that you won’t ever stay on the shore when you crave the depth of the ocean and that you won’t ever spend your energy convincing someone else to swim out. ⊹ #MollieInPortugal

On the darkest nights, you find the brightest stars. 🌟 Day 88 living in @wheresmolliesvan: I decide it’s about time I try some night photography. #MollieInPortugal

There are miracles everywhere, every day. Look for them 🙏🏼🔥 (I knew there was a reason I built a roof rack on @wheresmolliesvan ) 🚐 #MollieInPortugal

There’s no shame in your pain, allow it to be here 🤍 I feel so passionately about this. Pain is often demonised as ‘unwanted’, as ‘bad’ and as ‘negative’ but my gosh, pain is the key to our freedom. Pain is our most beautiful ally. The presence of pain this year has been the golden gateway to unlocking so many of my core and unconscious beliefs. We are driven by 95% unconscious content! Get your head around that for a second. Welcoming pain and giving it a home in your emotional spectrum doesn’t make it any less challenging to experience but the more you become familiar with it and how it shows up, the more you’ll find gratitude in the process of holding it, knowing you can move through it. Being in pain and being upset doesn’t make you small, weak or less human. We have got to stop shaming it and pushing it down and away. That is if we want to truly dissolve it. Being in pain takes courage, it takes bravery and it takes strength. Being in pain can be confusing, overwhelming and frustrating. But pain is part of the human experience and without it we wouldn’t experience the joy of growth, healing and alignment. To cover, avoid, plaster and repress our difficult emotions when they arise is sometimes what’s feels good (easier) on our journey but ultimately it IS the easy way out. By ignoring and turning to coping mechanisms (we all have them) we may feel like we’ve removed the pain but truly, the ONLY way to work through pain, clear it and heal it is to work through it. To feel it, to give it space to breathe, to listen to it and to understand it’s message to you. Sending love to anyone that has pain showing up today. 🤍 Not for sympathy but for IG transparency and because I’m human too... I had an old wound resurface this morning. My girlfriends held a safe space for me to express and release some tears before I adjusted my day to allow for extra self care and to move through it. I journaled, I breathed, I sat with it and I reminded myself of all the things I deserve. I love making space for pain that arises these days, it’s a beautiful opportunity to know and love myself a little better 🤍

Who’s coming for lunch?🍴 Cooking my new favourite dish... coconut tofu and veggie curry! 🚐 @wheresmolliesvan