Breaking the mould
Whether you conform to society’s current physical ideal or not, you can only gain from opting out of the rush to look like the latest image of perfection and taking the time to find your own beauty – whatever it looks like. Hungry but chic. What does that mean to you? Think about it for […]
Seeking inner strengths
We may not always see the qualities other people value in us, but our strengths are there – we just need to see ourselves from the right angle. If you had asked me what a manga was nine years ago, before I had lived in France, I probably would have guessed it was some inedible […]
The Motherhood Diaries : Living with Chronic Fatigue
You know he’s tired when your husband confuses you with your daughter… of eight months. Last week, I plopped down onto the sofa, baby in arms ready for a feed, and asked my husband to pass me a bib. Ever obliging, he brought it over and proceeded absentmindedly to tie the thing around my neck. […]
Make it easy on yourself
Acquiring just a few good organisational habits will help your day go with a swing rather than a bang – because life doesn’t have to be so hard. It’s a commonly held misconception that life is hard. That it’s a struggle, a war, and that, even in the comfort of relatively peaceful first-world countries, we […]
Bloom where you’re planted
Faced with difficult circumstances, you can choose to struggle and wilt or make the most of where you find yourself and bloom, right there where you’re planted. I recently found myself at a party making small talk with a woman who had just moved to Germany. Following her husband who’d found a job there, she’d […]
The forgotten commandment: Thou Shalt Not Whine
In the long grey winter months, it’s easy to be negative and hard to act cheery, but just as you are what you eat, so too you feel what you focus on. Choose to change your focus. You can’t really argue with the Ten Commandments. I mean, as rules for happy and harmonious living go, […]
The Motherhood Diaries : Facing Unwanted Advice or Worse, Scolding
When I was pregnant, my mother offered me a single piece of priceless wisdom about raising a child: “Everyone will have an opinion on everything. Don’t feel obliged to listen to anyone.” I heard her advice while huge and happy on pregnancy hormones. Now, with an active 16-month-old, I heed that advice on a daily basis […]
Tales of the unexpected
If life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans, it’s wise to keep a few gaps in your diary… I am definitely one of life’s planners. I like making a list, checking it twice, then typing it up and keeping it on file. I enjoy feeling organised and like things are under control, […]
Reasons to be cheerful, 1, 2, 3…
Get happy: give thanks now to shore up your soul for days when reasons to be cheerful seem few and far between. My beloved, who’s a lofty and well-built 6ft1, often ribs me about my somewhat more dinky stature – I’m a whole foot shorter than him (if you’re reading this on the continent, 1m84 […]
The lesson of the leaves
As the trees let go of what they no longer need this autumn, carpeting the ground in their golden foliage, take a look at what you’d be better off without… I love the autumn. I always have. It’s a time when I’ve always felt hopeful, optimistic and energetic. I have always enjoyed that “back to […]
