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One year after re-starting pole fitness, I’ve signed up for my pole studio’s Christmas showcase. This is pushing me waaaaay out of my comfort zone - learning a whole routine; building up the stamina to get through it in one go; and then performing it in front of a live audience. I am not a natural born dancer, and the first couple of practice sessions (building up bits of it) left me absolutely knackered and very bruised!

As most people know, maternal mental health is a topic very close to my heart. The year after William was born was the toughest time in my life, and I very nearly didn’t make it through. Many people don’t, and suicide sadly remains a leading cause of death in the first year after giving birth.

Re-starting pole fitness was such a positive step for my own wellbeing, and you can see that so many of the ladies in my group feel the same way, it seems like a very fitting mash-up of different parts of my life.

I wanted to pick a song to perform to that had meaning, and have settled for Tom Walker’s ‘Leave a Light On’ – as a symbol of organisations like the Maternal Mental Health Alliance who are doing vital work to ensure that no one has to navigate maternal mental illness alone, and that there are voices of hope to cling to.

If you could spare any donation, or share this fundraiser in your networks, that would be wonderful!