I feel phenomenally wealthy right now - and not in the way you'd think
I feel phenomenally wealthy at the moment. You guessed I meant financially, didn't you? But actually, I mean socially wealthy.
A book lent to me by none other than local radio legend Nick Hancock, called The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom, explores the idea that we have five types of wealth: financial, time, social, physical, and mental. It got me thinking about just how rich I am feeling right now.
Having recently launched a career planner called ‘the VIBE Check’, I wanted to throw a launch party built around one of the book's themes. It's called your "Inspiration Inventory", the practice of writing down the names of people who inspire you and noting why, with the idea that you spend more time with the people who light you up rather than drain your energy. To invite people to the party, I decided to voice-note 50 people I knew locally and share with them, specifically and personally, why they inspired me. They were also allowed to bring a plus one, as long as they shared why that person inspired them as part of extending the invite. It felt like some kind of nineties chain letter of positive vibes.
What amazed me was how quickly I could reel off a list of 50 people who inspire me. That, in itself, felt like a testament to the life I've created, one full of genuinely remarkable people, and I have Working Women Club to thank for most of it. My original intention in starting Working Women Club was to make friends who shared similar values and aspirations to my own when I was new to Yorkshire. Over the last two years, I've amassed over 75 connections who have attended these events and consistently shown the very characteristics I find most inspiring.
They are courageous, resilient, and juggling the invisible load. They are often managing life as working parents. They are creative, kind, thoughtful, funny, and determined.
Every person on the invite list received a voice note that was very specific about exactly what I find inspiring about them. Some were about navigating hard times in business but coming through the other side stronger. Others were about a relentless strive for excellence, in how they show up, in the products they create. Others still were about the kindness they've shown to fellow members of the group: the genuine friendships formed, the care offered freely, and the much-needed belly laughter shared at just the right moment. There were messages for people who had navigated real heartbreak - parental deaths, infertility, caring responsibilities, poorly children- and others for those who had made the courageous leap into starting their own business or changing career entirely.
What struck me, looking back at every single message, was that not one of them mentioned appearances. How someone dressed. How thin they were. How their hair looked. All the things so many of us women feel annoyingly self-conscious about, every single day. Instead, every message was about character and about how we've shown each other our lumps, bumps, messes, stresses, and successes along the way - and that’s more than okay!
What surprised me even more were the responses that came flooding back. So many women were brought to tears by hearing what was being said about them, by being seen through someone else's eyes. One friend told me she'd been having a particularly hard morning, genuinely questioning whether it was all worth it. Hearing that she was inspiring someone else, just by being herself, gave her the motivation to pick herself back up and keep going.
The feel-good didn't stop with them. The act of sharing those positive observations had a very real knock-on effect on my own mental health. I could barely sleep that night, I was so overwhelmed with joyful endorphins it felt as though I had run a feel-good marathon.
So if I can send you away feeling just a little more socially and mentally wealthy today, message someone and tell them why they inspire you. Make their day, and in doing so, you'll fill yourself up too. If you're not sure who to start with, come along to Working Women Club and start building your own Inspiration Inventory.
Originally posted on Huddle Online.