{"id":1634,"date":"2025-06-14T16:41:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T15:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/?p=1634"},"modified":"2026-02-10T15:29:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T15:29:59","slug":"let-me-re-introduce-myself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/?p=1634","title":{"rendered":"Let me re-introduce myself\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e51050e54331f6490be0bb1692a18c5f wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s been a minute since I last posted anything and a lot has happened in that time so I think a re-introduction is warranted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-04c3fa6ec9d27e87ded5bfa3392f7562 wp-block-paragraph\">Hi, my name is Jennifer. My friends get to call me Jenn. I am 44 (yikes, 45 in July 2025) and currently reside in Cranleigh, Surrey. I was born in Northern Ireland in 1980 and my parents decided to move to South Africa when I was 6 weeks old. What was meant to be only a year or two ended up being 25. After finishing Matric (the South African equivalent of A-Levels) I spent a year in the UK working and doing some travel before going home to study at the University of Pretoria, completing a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting Sciences. I moved back to the UK permanently in  September 2005. I started off on Northern Ireland but after 14 months found it too small for me and moved to London in November 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-494ae1c5b28d5c68e5b7ef045d174983 wp-block-paragraph\">In 2008 I took the plunge onto the property ladder and lived in Greenhithe, Kent for 10 years before life took a turn and I took an unplanned intentional pill overdose in January of 2018 (you can read some reflections <a href=\"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/?p=514\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>) which led me to moving to Surrey in May of 2018 and I have lived between Farncombe, Haslemere and now Cranleigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1f48437945bc1adf178245104b68f59b wp-block-paragraph\">Along with battling (and winning) my mental health I also battle fibromyalgia, a frustrating chronic illness that has me in constant pain and led also to developing social anxiety. In 2020, despite the physical challenge fibromyalgia would pose I climbed Kilimanjaro (<a href=\"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/?p=35\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more here<\/a>) and then the world shut down. The first lockdown was a war never mind a battle for me and waiting to get Amani, my emotional support cat is what got me through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-cb2eb0b112b8671c6fb14231bb58883c wp-block-paragraph\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"200\" class=\"wp-image-1638\" style=\"width: 150px;\" src=\"http:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_7069-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Amani, a seal tortie Ragdoll cat sleeping on top of a cat climbing tree\" srcset=\"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_7069-scaled.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_7069-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_7069-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_7069-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/IMG_7069-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>To help manage the social anxiety I developed following the pandemic I got Amani, a Ragdoll cat who has been my constant companion since June 7, 2020 and I have loved every minute of having her. She has been the ice breaker to conversations raising awareness of hidden disabilities and accessibility as well as some new and amazing friendships.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5225a1a8a35b0b2fa0bb5bfa200a5b0f wp-block-paragraph\">As part of my fibromyalgia management I took up Pilates and then in January 2023 I qualified as a Level 3 Matwork Instructor. I also taught myself to crochet for my mental health and have ventured out in to selling my crafts, which is why the flashy new website and logo have been born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ea6122452c16e0c6c09c4035cdb12dd0 wp-block-paragraph\">I can be a bit rubbish in terms of blogging but for all things Pilates and crochet feel free to get in touch. And if you have any questions on my journey thus far, fire away. I am always happy to help people understand what life is like with a hidden disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-78aa1d92440caba7f834b08be4f5789c wp-block-paragraph\">Welcome to the journey, I hope you enjoy the ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-bba32253d221cdc2107c3c8888d074eb wp-block-paragraph\">Jenn xo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been a minute since I last posted anything and a lot has happened in that time so I think a re-introduction is warranted. Hi, my name is Jennifer. My friends get to call me Jenn. I am 44 (yikes, 45 in July 2025) and currently reside in Cranleigh, Surrey. I was born in Northern [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[12,13,18,14,23,32],"class_list":["post-1634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-disability-access","tag-emotional-support-animal","tag-fibromyalgia","tag-mental-health","tag-social-anxiety","tag-suicide-attempt-survivor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1634"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1650,"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions\/1650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/overcomingmountains.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}