As we head into 2023, we at the Awesome Archie team want to say an enormous THANK YOU to everyone who has made our first “full time” non-profit year so incredible. Patsy and the team at the Dorset Children’s Foundation, the amazing staff at Autism Unlimited, the Winters family, all of our schools and all of our generous donators… WE THANK YOU.
A special thanks must go to Mr Harry Redknapp, our trustees (Elaine, David and Karen), Mr Simon Croutear and my husband… without whose support, this year would not have been as remarkable as it has been.
Thank you to each and every one of our website visitors, subscribers, likers and notification bell-ers on our YouTube channel and also to our ever growing social media family.
This Christmas I made a promise to stay “online” over the entire period and I was privileged to be in contact with our awesome families throughout the festive season. As a parent/carer, you can still feel incredibly lonely, even in a room full of people. This year my heart felt full and I felt truly privileged to be a small part of your autism journeys.
For this new year, I am continuing last year’s resolution. I want to keep growing our non-profit from strength to strength. I want to spread not only autism awareness, but autism ACCEPTANCE and I will NEVER stop fighting for correct, respectful and fully deserved inclusivity within main-stream… no matter how hard it might sometimes get.
I am however going to also be focusing on my mindset. Being an adult with undiagnosed but definite ADHD, I have spent some of this previous year doubting myself and hating the parts of me that I cannot change. I am so pleased that I am working on my self-belief and will be following the Japanese thoughts of kintsukuroi. Kintsukuroi means “to repair with gold” and is the art of repairing broken pottery with a precious metal and understanding that the piece is far more beautiful now for having been broken.
I hope that by sharing this post, anyone reading who may feel or has felt broken this year, may take solace in the fact that it is those moments of brokenness that push us forwards onto brighter and more beautiful times.
We would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2023!