Live Your Best Life: Jody Page

Live Your Best Life: Jody Page

 

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The next instalment in my Live Your Best Life series sees me chatting with the lovely florist Jody Page of Country Wild.

Living your best life isn’t about having a perfect life. It’s about being the best version of yourself that you can be at this time. It’s about recognising what’s good in your life, sharing joy in the world and making the most of your one, valuable life. By talking with inspiring women each month who are figuring out how to live their best life in their own way, I hope we can all be inspired to do the same.

Hi Jody, tell us about yourself and how you got to where you are today…
Flowers came into my life at just the right time. I studied fine art at A-level and college before going to university and beginning a career in PR and marketing. I waved goodbye to my arty and creative side for a while at that point.

I worked in retail marketing for many years and really did love it, however I always had an underlying desire to be more hands on with the design side of things. I spent many hours in the creative departments at agencies, working with designers on new concepts and ideas. I suppose deep down I always wanted to be more involved at that end of the process.

I’d always loved flowers but it wasn’t until I was planning my own wedding in 2011 that I started to look closely at colour combinations and the composition of bridal bouquets and wedding flowers. Many of the types of flowers and colours I loved didn’t seem to be used in bouquets. I thought there must a reason why and so came away feeling that although I loved flowers, I didn’t really know how to ‘do’ flowers.

A short time later I was lucky enough to win a place on a course run by Tallulah Rose Flower School. It was a fantastic way to learn and the biggest eye opener was discovering that there is no set way when it comes to flowers. Those colours that I thought couldn’t go together for weddings, and the foliage that wasn’t right for bouquets? Well, they were fine all along.

I’ll always be grateful to Rachel and the Tallulah Rose team for guiding me and giving me confidence to get started.

My floral journey has been quite a whirlwind but one which I am thoroughly enjoying. There’s always something new to learn, a new colour or texture combination to try or a new plant or flower growing which I’ve not used before. Each wedding is totally different and I love getting to know brides and grooms and working with them to bring their personalities and visions together in a unique floral interpretation for their special day.

What mantras or quotes hold meaning for you?
I love a good quote and have a Pinterest board dedicated to them in fact. I think it’s so important to stay inspired. As far as my favourites go, I’d have to say it’s the one I kept close by when I was making the huge decision to leave behind a very safe, secure and well paid job!
“If your dreams don’t scare you they aren’t big enough.”
I looked back at all the times in my life that I’d felt truly felt terrified and it was so true. I’m the kind of person who likes to be out of their comfort zone and now I get to experience it so much more.

How do you recognise that life is getting on top of you?
When I’m spending too much time over thinking. The downside of being a creative type is that you have a tendency to overthink things. During wedding season I’m far too consumed with flowers to overthink anything (another benefit of working with flowers) but when life gets a bit quieter I sometimes find myself over analysing.

And how do you get back to how you want to feel?
The first step is recognising that I am overthinking and then being kind to myself and accepting that it’s a normal human behaviour. The worst thing is being cross and beating yourself up. Everybody is wired differently and just because you’re more of a sensitive soul, doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I then take stock and put plans in place to keep my mind busy. That might mean curling up with a good book in the evenings, signing up to a workshop or short course, taking a walk with the dog or chatting things through with my husband. He’s great at helping me get back on track! I think the most important thing is to recognise that you are getting into a negative pattern of thinking.

What are your plans, hopes and dreams for the future?
I’m looking forward to seeing where this floral journey takes me. It’s funny how when you are stuck in a routine, opportunity doesn’t seem to knock in quite the same way. Once you get out there – and away from the comfort zones, all sorts of magical things happen. I hadn’t quite appreciated that until I did it myself. I do like to plan and have a notebook with a few goals in and a Pinterest board of aspirations. But really my main dream is to stay healthy and happy, and hopefully inspire others to do the same.

Final question, Jody, what does living your best life mean to you?
Definitely appreciating the little things and trying not to get bogged down with worrying and stressing about things which are beyond your control. I have to work on this all the time as it doesn’t come naturally to me. The product of being the eldest of four children I think, and the natural desire to nurture and care. Family is important to me and always has been.
On a professional level I’d like to continue developing my cutting garden at home, move my studio into a bigger space to house my ever growing collection of props and I’d like to do some workshops at home. That would challenge me in a whole new way and would be so exciting.

Jody Page is a wedding and event florist specialising in bouquets and floral designs that evoke feelings of the great outdoors, and look like they are freshly picked from the meadow. Often they are. To find out more about Jody and her wedding floristry business, Country Wild, visit her Facebook page and she’s also on Instagram. You can bridal inspiration on her Pinterest boards. Jody’s website is in development and you can read more about her on her blog, Country Pages.

Fed up with over-worrying? Get your mini guide to mindfulness now

2 Comments

  1. Helen Orrock on 10th November 2016 at 10:18 am

    I follow Jody on Instagram she always inspires me with her beautiful images and the goings on of her gorgeous boxer pup. Lovely read xx

    • Gabrielle on 10th November 2016 at 1:39 pm

      Jody’s photos and flower creations are just fab, aren’t they? So glad you enjoyed our interview.

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