We’ve all got stories that we tell ourselves about habits we don’t like or wish we could change. Like – ‘I’m such a huge procrastinator’, or ‘I’m not very creative’, or ‘I never stick with anything’. I’ve been doing a…
Self
On learning lessons and getting stuff done
Why is it that some lessons have to be learned a hundred times before they stick? Even when they’re so utterly obvious that you can’t understand how you’ve got so far without taking them on board? I learned one of…
Is it time you wrote a new life story?
We all write our own life stories. We use stories to explain why we did things a certain way and to make sense of how we ended up living where we do, working at the job we’ve got, or falling…
What does midlife look like for a woman?
Downtown harks backHalfway through this lifeI used to feel freeOr was it just a dream?(Sharon Van Etten, Seventeen) I’ve heard this song before. But this morning I really heard the lyrics and they pinched me hard on the back of…
Why I’m setting gentler goals this January
We’re all feeling it – the first proper week back at work and a whole blank, beautiful year to create everything we’ve ever wanted from life. So many dreams, goals, possibilities. Too many, in fact. And after spending a couple…
In praise of female-friendly mechanics – a tale of everyday sexism
I hate getting my car fixed. New tyres, MOTs, dodgy exhausts – whenever something needs doing it fills me with dread. It’s not the cost. It’s the whole experience of going to a car mechanic that I hate. I find…
When it feels like that other mum is judging you
When it feels like that other mum is judging you, she probably isn’t. When you imagine her criticising you for doing whatever you need to do to get by, she most likely isn’t. Every morning I reluctantly drive my…
Sleep is (not) for the weak
I can’t function on less than 8 hours’ sleep. And I have to say that sleeping is now one of my favourite past times. In fact, I’d take sleep over most other night-time activities – hands down. I’m (thankfully) not…
Forget counting calories, it’s all about the fibre
Forget counting calories, it’s all about the fibre Well, kinda. I’m nearly finished reading the excellent: 10% Human: How Your Body’s Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness by Alanna Colleen and have learned so much from this book….
I’m crap at multitasking and so are you
Women are crap at multitasking. Whatever you think you know about the superiority of the female race and our innate ability to perform more than one task at once is, quite frankly, a debilitating myth. Don’t get me wrong, men…
Why I posted #MeToo and what it taught me
I posted #MeToo on Facebook this Monday. Along with nearly 8 million other women who used the hashtag to remember suffering sexual assault and/or harassment. I didn’t give any details. I didn’t feel the need to then. And I wasn’t…
One white wedding & two babies later. Am I still a feminist?
I remember arguing with a sixth-form classmate whose sole ambition was to get married and have children. “How can you want just that?” I screamed? “There’s more to life than that! What’s the point of you being here if that’s…