Choose You: A Journey to Self-Acceptance

I have started writing this blog several times, and promptly closed my laptop. 

So much of what I share through Positano is colourful, positive and uplifting. I talk about confidence, connection and giving ourselves permission to LIVE FABULOUSLY. I honestly believe every word of it.

But if I am truly authentic, I also need to be honest about the seasons when life doesn’t feel particularly fabulous.

This winter has been tough. Retail is incredibly difficult right now and, if I’m honest, I am stressed up to my eyeballs. 

Behind the beautiful clothes, smiling pics and positive messages is a small business owner hustling, watching expenses, making uncomfortable decisions and trying to work out how to keep moving forward.

Running a business in South Africa is not for the faint-hearted. The cost of almost everything continues to rise while customers, understandably, are spending more cautiously. It's extremely tough times out there. Small businesses don’t have endless reserves or big corporate safety nets. Every salary, supplier payment and quiet day in the shop carries weight. 

And when your business is as personal as Positano is to me, it is difficult not to carry that weight home with you.

I’m not sharing this because I want sympathy. Nor is this a thinly disguised plea for people to buy something. I’m sharing it because this is also part of entrepreneurship, and I don't think we speak about it often enough. As a salaried employee for most of my career, I didn't get it. Yes, high-powered corporate jobs are stressful; there's no denying that, but it's a different kind of stress. When it's your livelihood, and your team relies on you, the pressure is overwhelming.

Right now, I am cutting costs where I can, reconsidering how the business operates and looking at new ways to generate income. That has also meant asking myself what else I have to offer.

The Next Chapter coaching programme was not created simply because retail is difficult. Coaching has been part of my story for many years, and helping women find themselves again has become central to everything I want Positano to stand for.

But I would be lying if I said the realities of running a small business had not encouraged me to look more closely at my experience, my skills and the different ways I could use them.

Perhaps I am living the very thing I hope to help other women do: recognising that something needs to change, remembering what I already have within me and finding another way forward.

I don’t know exactly how this chapter will unfold. I do know that I am not ready to give up on something I have poured so much of myself into.

And perhaps this is what living fabulously looks like in a difficult season. 

Not pretending everything is fine, but being brave enough to face what isn’t working, ask for help when you need it, and begin writing the next chapter before you feel completely ready.

Some products are born out of trends.

Others are born because someone you care about shares a struggle you never knew existed.

This collection began with my friend, Thelma.

Thelma had a mastectomy several years ago. She's one of the most positive, adventurous women I know and has been part of our Positano community from the very beginning. She absolutely loves joining us for our monthly cold water plunges. Watching her laugh, encourage other women and embrace every experience is exactly what LIVE FABULOUSLY is all about.

But she'd often confide in me about one thing.

Finding swimwear.

Like so many women after a mastectomy, she wears a breast prosthesis. Yet every time she put on a swimsuit, she never quite felt secure. She worried that one side looked different to the other, and she was always conscious of whether her prosthesis was sitting properly or might move while she was swimming.

Every time we met, she'd gently say, "Debs, you really need to make prosthetic-friendly swimwear."

She wasn't asking because she wanted another costume.

She was asking because she wanted to stop thinking about it altogether.

She wanted to arrive at our cold water plunges feeling excited about the swim, not worried about whether her swimsuit was doing its job.

As she shared her experience with me, I realised how little I'd ever considered the challenges women face after a mastectomy. It wasn't simply about finding a swimsuit. It was about finding one that allowed women to feel confident enough to get back to living.

Like so many ideas when you're running a small business, I kept saying, "Yes... I really need to do that."

Then one day I decided to stop saying "one day" and make it a priority.

That very same week, I received a direct message from a woman in Johannesburg called Nadine.

She'd never met Thelma. She knew nothing about our conversations.

She simply asked whether Positano made prosthetic-friendly swimwear because she'd been searching for something beautiful that would hold her prosthesis securely. She wanted to swim again without constantly wondering whether everything was in place.

I remember reading her message and getting goosebumps.

Two women.

Completely unrelated.

Asking for exactly the same thing within days of each other.

At that moment, I knew this wasn't just another product idea.

It was something women genuinely needed.

So we got to work.

Because Positano has never just been about making beautiful swimwear. From the day I started this business in my spare bedroom, it has been about helping women embrace the body they're in today. Not the body they had twenty years ago. Not the body they hope to have one day. The body that's carried them through life, motherhood, menopause, illness, heartbreak, joy and everything in between.

We wanted to create swimwear that looked exactly like every other Positano swimsuit. Beautiful, flattering and feminine. Not something that looked medical or made women feel different.

Behind the scenes, we've incorporated discreet internal pockets to securely hold a breast prosthesis while keeping all the features our customers already love: supportive construction, tummy control, side boning, double lining and flattering silhouettes designed for real women's bodies.

Because needing a little extra support should never mean compromising on style.

One of the things I love most about our Positano Plunges is watching women encourage one another to be brave. Whether that's stepping into icy water for the first time, wearing a swimsuit after years of hiding, or simply showing up exactly as they are.

That's what this collection is really about.

Not breast cancer.

Not prostheses.

But freedom.

The freedom to swim. To travel. To laugh. To make memories. To stop thinking about your swimsuit and start enjoying your life again.

Thelma, thank you for planting the seed.

And Nadine, thank you for reminding me it was time to make it happen.

With love,

Debbie xx

If you'd told me years ago that one day I'd be coaching women through life's transitions, I probably wouldn't have been surprised.

Long before I started Positano, I was fortunate enough to be trained as a life coach as part of my corporate career. I worked with middle managers, helping them gain clarity, build confidence and step into their potential. It was rewarding work, and I absolutely loved it.

There was something incredibly fulfilling about watching someone realise they were capable of far more than they had ever imagined for themselves.

When I started Positano, I thought I was creating a clothing and swimwear brand.

What I didn't realise was that our Live Fabulously philosophy would become the catalyst for some of the most meaningful conversations of my life.

Over the years, women have shared so much of themselves with me. In the store. At the markets. During our Positano Plunges. Over coffee. Through messages and emails.

I've listened to stories of burnout, divorce, menopause, empty nests, online dating, changing careers and changing identities. I've met women who have spent years looking after everyone else and have slowly lost themselves in the process.

And I've met just as many women who aren't sure they've ever really known themselves at all.

Women who did everything they thought they were supposed to do.

Built the career.

Got married.

Raised the children.

Ticked all the boxes.

And still found themselves wondering:

"Is this it?"

I felt that burning question myself over 8 years ago when I made the decision to move from Johannesburg to Cape Town.

What followed was the start of one of the toughest, most rewarding journeys of my life.

One that humbled me in ways I wouldn’t want to repeat (thank you COVID!), but also paved the way for a more purpose-driven, authentic way of being in the world.

If you had told Joburg Debbie she would be modelling swimwear on the internet, I would have never believed it. Having been employed my entire career, becoming an entrepreneur wasn’t ever on my radar.

And yet, here I am hustling and tap-dancing as only a business owner knows how! And there’s nowhere else I would rather be… well, except Italy. On a beach. Sipping a cocktail! I digress…

Turning 50 has been a pivotal chapter in my own life. It's a new season of stepping fully into my power, caring less about what everyone else thinks, and continuing to focus on creating a life I don't need a holiday from.

It's also made me realise that many women are craving the same thing.

They're also craving connection.

Real connection.

Not another social media follower or WhatsApp group.

Someone who will genuinely listen, ask the hard questions and create the space to explore what comes next.

Not a different life.

A more authentic one.

A life that feels aligned with who they are today. Not when they were in their 20’s or before they had kids.

A life where they feel excited again.

Inspired again.

Alive again.

The Next Chapter was created for those women.

Women who know there is something more waiting for them, even if they can't quite see what it is yet.

Women who want a safe space to dream, explore possibilities, gain clarity and create meaningful change.

Women who want to stop existing and start truly living.

My hope is that every woman who joins this journey leaves feeling seen, heard and empowered to make choices that honour who she is and what she wants from this next chapter.

Because after spending so much of our lives being who everyone else needed us to be, perhaps the greatest gift we can give ourselves is the courage to ask:

"What do I want from this next chapter?"

And then give ourselves permission to find out.

Debbie xx