Thursday, March 16, 2017

Why Positivity Pays: Guest Blog for Tour- Full Circle by Natalie Savvides



Why Positivity Pays - the power of keeping faith and hope in the future based on my own experiences

By Natalie Savvides

The UN’s International Day of Happiness is on March 20th. Author Natalie Savvides is lending her support to this vital awareness day as part of her mission to help every girl, teenager and woman feel less alone, and happier, by living their life their own way and being true to themselves. Her book, Full Circle (2016, Pegasus), is a refreshingly honest and raw account of growing up, and includes a series of unedited diary extracts taken from her journals from the age of 13 to her 30s.




"Keep believing darling, destiny has a plan for you just like it
 does for everyone."

These are the words of my beloved grandmother that rang through my mind on so many occasions, especially when I did feel like I was losing all hope in achieving my dreams. Every time I began to fall into the realms of doubt and despair; doubt that I'd ever find the right partner, the right job, the right home, the right harmony within myself, and the despair that I'd ever be truly happy - I remembered these words. I told myself with conviction that whether it be destiny, fate or whatever other seemingly hard to believe term, there had to be something out there for me – there just had to be - and I would keep on trying until I found it!

With the help of numerous uplifting books, other positive reading and conversations, I always strived to maintain a positive attitude and to retrieve it when I felt it begin to slip away. As I did this more and more, 'picked myself up' so to speak, I noticed a rise in positive occurrences! It was almost like whenever I felt sorry for myself, or allowed myself to spiral into a darker place, more things happened to cement that feeling… or perhaps it was just my perspective of the glass half empty? The minute I switched, however, I perked up and yanked myself into a more positive frame of mind, every time, unfailingly, events began to reflect my thinking, opportunities arose, helpful people came my way and more smiles appeared on my face. It really was a dramatic correlation. "When life throws you lemons make lemonade" - and that is how it works. 

A great example is when I was made redundant. Once I'd wiped away my tears and dusted myself off, I signed up for a teaching course, which led to many happy years of teaching abroad.

I returned from my travels to the harsh reality that walking into my dream job was unlikely. After weeks of desperately feeling sorry for myself and struggling to get out of bed I decided to temp! Why not? I'd do whatever came my way and learn from it. I took the first job offered to me, determined to make the best of it. It turned out to be the best job I've had to this day, it gave me financial security enabling me to save a deposit for the flat I'd dreamed of. 

On another occasion, I had been banging my head against a wall trying to please the man I thought I wanted to be with, and then, when he ended the relationship, I crumbled.  I took a good look at myself in the mirror - asked what I really wanted from life, who I really wanted to be. As I started to get more upbeat and began to live the way I truly wanted to, I stumbled across the man I was to marry, who is now my husband and father to my children.






Full Circle
Natalie Savvides

Genre: Biography, Self-Help,
Women’s Lifestyle

Publisher: Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie

Publication Date: Jan 2016

Book Description:

We join Natalie on her mission to find true love and harmony. She allows us to read her diaries as she tells how her life unfolds, giving a unique insight into her enjoyable but mostly unfulfilling encounters with men - and all that life throws at her. Will she find what she's looking for?

Natalie holds many things dear: family, friends, Italy, parties, Tarot, and God. But what she wants most is a lasting, meaningful, loving relationship.

Despite her difficulty in finding "the one" she does get to know herself better, and lets us watch and learn from her experiences.

She asks many questions of herself, and encourages us to do the same, helping us realise that we all take similar journeys of self-discovery - and that this is normal and necessary.

"Each relationship we have changes us in some way and some have the power to change us forever..."

About the Author:

Natalie Savvides is married to a wonderful man and lives in South West London with their two children under five. She works from home, mostly writing and being a Mum, and has written diaries since the age of 13, documenting almost every thought, feeling and experience since then. Natalie is a self-confessed ‘observer and contemplator of life’. Her ultimate goal has always been to find true love and harmony. She has strived for what she calls ‘perfection’ for many years believing it to be the key to happiness. This has often been incredibly draining, even debilitating, but time taught her that perfection is neither the answer, nor entirely possible.

Natalie is regularly called upon for advice both within her own network in London but also further afield via her social media platform and blog, and now specialises in supporting women and teenage girls in their pursuit of happiness. “I don’t judge and I believe that the way I have lived my life until now, and what I have learnt, put me in a credible position to write the book and to help people live a happy, fulfilling life”.



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