New beginnings

I don’t know about you but I always feel paradoxical emotions when releasing a piece of work into the world? On one hand I feel a sigh of relief knowing that I have finally accomplished the task and it has been set free, but on the other I feel extremely vulnerable knowing that others will have access to it - making me feel anxious or… excited? To be honest it is probably a confused mix of both with a garnish of fear.

Launching this website has been a labour of love for everyone involved. It started waaaay back in 2021 when I realised that Maria Manuscript (at the time) was worth the hard-work and dedication required to make it more than the bedroom business it was. Knowing what I know now about my business, Maria Elizabeth, and how far I’ve come since then is quite remarkable and will forever be something I’m so grateful for.

I’d love to use this space for you all to get to know me better and so in order to do that I am going to jump back in time a little to 2019 for you all. 2019 was my I don’t know what the f**k I am doing year! My, I’m meant for more, get me outta this job year! My, I’m in my twenties; what is an adult; travelling would be fun (but I have no money); maybe I should drive; let’s try cosmetic surgery, HELP kind of year. It wouldn’t have been my twenties if I hadn’t travelled through the long winding “self discovery” road which I am sure most of you can relate to.

At that point in my life I was in the weeds of some serious personal trauma whilst in obsessive search of the person I wanted to become but didn’t quite know who that was. I was constantly experimenting with my inner and outer identity - figuring out what was and wasn’t me via experiences. Some stuck and others didn’t but many were had. You see, my parents had recently separated, and under really unique circumstances, and as time went on the situation got very much worse. I constantly felt like I was drowning in responsibilities and wanted to stop being a parentified child to not only my younger siblings but to my parents. So to explore the load of emotion I would take to nature. Travelling through Scotland by walking; I’d contemplate if the path I was on physically coincided with my life path? And then, one day, I went to a charity gala in Edinburgh, where I met the famous Scottish hiker, backpacker and mountaineer Cameron McNeish, and my perception on my life, in that moment, changed.

He said and quoted the famous Robert Louis Stevenson saying, 

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move” followed by his own words which were “Remember what I have said about the journey. When you reach my age, you’ll look back on these challenges and it is the journey that you’ll remember; not so much the end point. The end point is important but it is the journey that you’ll remember.”

I remember a tear gliding down my cheek as he spoke these words to me like I was the only person in the room of plenty. I had been so lost for so long that his story felt like a guide. The exact one I’d been asking for on my walking trips through Scotland. I was so tunnel vision obsessed for an endpoint answer that I was missing the beauty of the journey and the grace of how the challenge was shaping me. When moments in life, like this one, happen to me it makes me feel like life is pre-written as it is almost too surreal. Cameron McNeish - Scottish adventurer - giving a speech about a challenging journey, at a gala I went to at the very last minute, after me spending years questioning my lost life on Scottish trails!? Come on! 

Fast forward nine months and we were all in the midst of a life-altering pandemic. Being stuck in the house forced me to get imaginative with my source of creativity and so I began sending calligraphy cards to my family. Through the power of social media it was noticed and very organically I started a business. With determination and drive I put my focus into it and once the calligraphy ribbons hit the market I had arrived. 

Now, two years on, here I am. Website arrived. It feels really official now. What I do want to make very clear though is that none of this would have been possible without you. Yes, you! Without you this dream of being an entrepreneur who creates for a living would still be living on the trails of Scotland. So, if you have a dream, any dream at all, then let my story be one to show you that it is possible. As Sue Monk Kidd says: “To know exactly where you’re headed may be the best way to go astray. Not all those who loiter are lost”. Journey on.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.

Maria xo

Photography Credits: Faye Wilde Photography