Live within your means

Choose quality over quantity, buying the best you can afford; save something every month; and live within your means. These are the three most useful pieces of money management advice I have ever been given and that I intend to pass on to my children. Put together, they ensure you live as well as you […]

‘Tis the season to let go

The end of the year is nigh. And, perhaps coincidentally, or perhaps due to a subconscious urge I feel to take stock around this time of year, I have been feeling of late that a chapter in my life is ending. Or rather, that I am finally coming to terms with the fact that a […]

When the plan doesn’t come together, pivot

It is a common misconception that coaching is all about goal-setting. Put more comprehensively: helping clients figure out what they want, getting them to make an action plan with SMART goals, and then providing accountability as they implement that plan, step by step. While that’s not wrong, it’s not the whole story either. Yes, clients […]

Is it a great weight or part of the dance?

I have always collected quotations. Since I was quite young, I’ve kept a notebook of witty, uplifting or simply beautifully expressed truths I’ve heard or read; studying English Literature intensified my habit. Now, as a parent, I keep a journal for each of my children, noting down the funny, sweet and heartbreakingly wise things they […]

Are you juggling with plastic or glass? How to decide what to prioritise and what to let go

If your life were a circus act, what would it be? The ringmaster taming a lion? Knife throwing? Or maybe you sometimes want to trill, “send in the clowns!” Mine would probably be the act where a woman walks across a tightrope while juggling flaming skittles. It is the perfect metaphor for the challenge of […]

Don’t mistake the flowers for weeds: when a source of joy becomes a source of stress

Unseasonably hot weather and a spring resolution to make better use of the garden have resulted in my husband and I enjoying our breakfast in the sunshine a lot of late. We sip our coffee while the kids run about and water the vegetable patch, and for the joy we feel in that half hour, […]

Think before you binge – whether its food or film

One lazy evening this summer, feeling headachy due to a storm brewing, I came across the very first season of the television series ER on one of the platforms we use. No prizes for guessing what happened next. Yes, for the following two hours it was just me, some major medical trauma and, of course, […]