“Our words, our stories matter and when we share our stories walls come down, we build relationships based on shared experience and we come together.”

— Josephine: a Creative Life

I’ve been a teacher for years now and while on maternity leave for what feels like two consecutive years (with a short break in between … I worked while pregnant with our second) I started blogging and kind of took a step away from my career. It’s funny though how life kind of carves out its own path for you and I somehow stumbled into the world of teaching again, almost by accident. The topic of workshops came up in a conversation I had with the lovely ladies of Assembly Toronto at their opening party and I hosted my very first writing workshop at Assembly back in March that focused on finding your voice through journaling. I kind of love this new blend of my two passions; writing/teaching, and I can’t wait to see where this will all lead.

Just last week I had the pleasure of hosting another “round-table” writing workshop with Smithery Style. We wrote, we laughed, we shopped, we popped champagne (because, why not?) and we connected through shared experience. Collaborating with Rena from Smithery Style was seamless and such a joy, we seem to be on the same wavelength with most things, so it felt effortless to connect and create with her! I also met some amazing women in person for the first time and I am so happy that we had the chance to do this.

Much like my first workshop, our table came alive with stories and even a few tears were shed, because we are human and when we let our walls come down and we share our humanness sometimes things get a little raw. I was reminded that words matter; stories matter and shared experiences bring us together. As a writer and a teacher being at this table made my heart sing, I could feel the emotion behind all of the stories and there was a sense of support and community that formed in such a short amount of time. Stories and shared experience will do this if we let it, if we let each other in.

I’d be lying if I said I walked into each of these workshops feeling completely confident and totally in control, it gets a little easier each time, but it took a lot of preparation and a “superhero’s” cape to help with that. While we were sitting at the table during the Smithery Pen-to-Post Workshop, the idea of dressing the part came to mind (writing a style post was part of the workshop). Anyways, we talked about that outfit you wear to help you feel more confident, more inspired, or more like you. Well I wore one of my favourite white dresses (yup I have a few of these lol), a brand new pink spring jacket, my Electra Necklace & Inspire Teacher Bracelet from Foxy Originals, two brand new Canadian made pieces that I am absolutely in love with! I’m not sure that I can call any individual item from this outfit my “superhero’s” cape, but putting it all together made me feel confident, comfortable, inspired and like me; everything you need for those days when you’ve decided to be a “superhero.”

I can’t wait to put on my “superhero’s” cape again and host another workshop! Will keep you all posted on the details when I do!

GIVEAWAY!

Foxy Originals, a Toronto Based jewellery company, and I have collaborated to giveaway an Inspire Teacher Bracelet. It’s the perfect gift to give to the teacher’s in your life who have inspired you or your children at the end of the school year! As a teacher myself, I am absolutely in love with this piece and know I would be so happy to be gifted it. Check out my Instagram page for giveaway details!

For an extra entry follow Josephine: a Creative Life blog here (follow button on the right sidebar).

Also, a huge thank you to Laura of Gooseberry Studio & Prints for these amazing pictures! I am so grateful for these captures of our day and your prints brought so much beauty to our table! Stay tuned for a full length feature on this lovely lady coming up soon 🙂