About

 

my 15 minutes

How others perceive you is far much more a part of you than most of us might care to think. I started this blog in 2013 as an antidote to that: I no longer liked who I was becoming, or – at least – I no longer liked who you thought I was.

In the years before this blog, I embodied all the cliches of a 20 something with the ‘successful’ career. The only juggling I was required to do was the laptop and the large latte. I recall a filofax. I thought life was hard sometimes, but it wasn’t really.

Weekly, my patch could cover a radius stretching from the south coast, to Edinburgh, with detours via Canary Wharf along the way. But as my belly and then my babies grew, the rest of my world shrunk unimaginably. Where previously I’d quaffed fizz in various airport lounges in various continents, now I struggled to get myself and the double buggy out of the door, across the road and to the parent and toddler group. Once while at the baby group, I fished a piece of plum out of my 18 month old’s mouth to find it wasn’t a plum at all. It was a slug. I calmed myself on a lidl brand hob nob and finally accepted things had changed.

Not only had things changed, but you thought I had too. You knew who I was and I hated how you had me down, so I decided to put a few things down for myself. At the age of 37 I started to write, and out of from beneath the nappies emerged Cogito Ergo Mum.

It wasn’t a desire to be a blogger, or an influencer, or a writer that brought me here. It was a need to connect with the world on my terms. Not only did Cogito Ergo Mum allow me to do just that, but she then nudged me towards doors that I was never meant to go through. We snuck in together.

Through those doors, I’ve chatted with Mary Poppins, found joy in a steam cleaner, and had a poem I once wrote set to music and appear on a stage somewhere in Sydney. I’ve spoken alongside some of my heroes and been introduced by one of the nations anti-heroes – Piers Morgan – when I did a bit of Vox-Popping on GMB. I’ve written guest posts and featured many times on the front pages of many parenting websites. Once I went out sans pants.

Cogito Ergo Mum’s never gone viral (although she once caught quite a cold) and she will never make me rich, nor famous, but she’s shifted the world’s perception of me a fraction: that’s all it took for me to like what you see.

In my small, supporting role in the theatre of life, Cogito Ergo Mum helps me like the part that I play.  I hope she can help you too.

 

 

 

38 thoughts on “About”

  1. BulgingButtons says:
    Reply

    I’m glad to have found you and look forward to reading more of your writing. Please stop by my bit of the blogging world when you have a chance. I’m one of those crazy ones attempting both NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo. Madness, really.
    BB

    Like

  2. Soraya Cotwal says:
    Reply

    Just followed your link from Mumsnet Blogfest thread. Haven’t read your blog yet but like the description so far. The work bit reminds me of myself when I left my job but very different reasons though still the same feelings being a mother of one and a carer of my mother with dementia. Anyway 2 years and it was the best thing every. Am sure you will live up to the challenge admirably. Look forward to reading your blog in more depth.

    Like

  8. Skub [skhoo:b] says:
    Reply

    Hi Abby, I’m from the pool. About ‘blog title’, I think it’s personal. So if you really like it, stick with it and enjoy yourself. Yes, making what we like enjoyable is an art indeed. 🙂

    Since I’m already here, I’ll bring this up as well. Just checked your homepage. The loading time takes forever (tried a few times, same result). I find many pics there link to gettyimages. My point is: third party connections like this will make the loading heavier (especially if the links are aplenty). And I wonder what size your header pic is. Is it big? If so, I suggest you resize its width to no more than 640 pixels (I believe this is recommendable for the Adelle theme).

    Oh, one more thing. If your post is going to be a long one, then I guess you might want to consider using the ‘more tag’.
    Cheers! 🙂

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    • Abby Boid says:
      Reply

      Wow. This is such a helpful comment. Thank you for taking the time to look through and respond. I had no idea the pages took so long to load – when I check on my devices it is always so quick so I assumed it was quick for everyone else looking at it too.

      I keep meaning to introduce ‘more’ tags. I think I’ll get to that a bit quicker, given your comments.

      Thank you again

      Ps the header photo has to go. It is a ginormous picture of me and it makes me cringe every time I look at it!! Just haven’t found an image yet that sums the blog up nicely. 🙂

      Like

      • Skub [skhoo:b] says:

        No sweat. Now about the load time. If your targeted readers are only from countries like UK, USA, Canada or some developed European countries, then worry not. But if you target the world, well, many don’t have the connection quality like those of the aforementioned countries. Take care.

        PS: about the header, I’ll make no further comment. :mrgreen:

        Like

  9. Deanna Herrmann says:
    Reply

    Hi! Thanks for following my blog. We have very similar stories except we stopped at one child. I look forward to reading more and hope we can get to know each other better!

    Like

    • Abby Boid says:
      Reply

      Thank you Deanna. It’s so great finding people with similar experiences all over this big wide web! Love what I have read of your blog so far, and looking forward to reading more too.

      Like

  10. amforte66 says:
    Reply

    Great bio. It’s funny how fast everything happened for you once you decided you weren’t going to have kids. My husband and I hate housework too…not a great combo with a house full of kids. 🙂 It’s interesting that you ended up in the financial world with a degree in philosophy. Two of my daughters are very interested in philosophy, but think they may double major if they decide to peruse this as a major.

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    • Abby Boid says:
      Reply

      Thanks for your lovely comment. It is funny where life takes you – I think philosophy gave a good foundation for pursuing many careers, so I would highly recommend it as a degree. Although I am biased. It goes well with many other disciplines, including maths, music, linguistics and the sciences. Let me know what they decide to do!

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      • amforte66 says:

        Right now, my daughter at Brown is going with Math and Econ. I have another who is getting ready to start at West Point and she may pair Philosophy with something else. Both do love philosophy and I enjoy listening in on their conversations. 🙂

        Like

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