Reflect on some of your Monday mornings. It may look something like this: alarm - groan - snooze - alarm - expletive - get up and comment on unfairness of the world - Monday mornings should be banned - look in mirror - groan - expletive - mental list of every flaw/imperfection/excess flesh - shower - open wardrobe - groan nothing to wear - clothes are all meh! .... you get the picture? Sounds great, doesn't it? Er NO? How are we to maintain healthy bodies and minds with such a negative start to the day?
Positive Midlife Transition is not a Midlife Crisis?
All transitions can be scary. There, that's the truth. Midlife is yet another transition in life with physical and mental effects; however, remember puberty? Learning to walk? (probably not), your first broken heart? It is a challenging time when, as teenagers, we discover changes to our body and moods … yikes!
What Thoughts Does International Women's Day Ignite?
There are many good men in this world who claim to be feminists, who claim to respect women and strive, in their own way, to fight for women’s rights alongside them. However, I have yet to meet a man who actually ‘gets’ it. It is not in the big gestures, promotions, and declarations of respect. Most of these areas are like moving particles gravitating towards the magnet of equal status and pay in the professional domain or a conversation touching on domestic duties.
Minimalising
Oh my wordicles! Everyone appears to be decluttering, minimalising, scandivising and just generally chucking their lifetime’s accumulation of stuff into the metaphorical and often actual bin - yikes! Surely I will need that incomplete set of twelve cocktail glass stem rings that aunty whoever bought me for my twenty first?
The Instagram (Fiftygram) Party - How Our Authentic Style Can Be Compromised for the Gram
It often works like this: you sit on a Saturday morning in your fleece pyjamas (OK, your elegant White Company loungewear) and see an image of the perfect outfit on Instagram. ‘This IS ME!’ you declare to no one in particular. ‘This is SOOO me, I now know what I need to buy to make my wardrobe perfect and complete YESSS!’
Skin Brushing for a Beautiful Body after 50
Still Doing It After 50? Ooh la la! What could this be I wonder? Is this too much information? Of course not my lovely readers. I am, of course, referring to the practice of ‘Body Brushing’. This is something I have executed on a regular basis before showering, since my late teens. Apart from the odd blip, this has been part of my regular routine almost like brushing my teeth.
September
For me, this is the month of exciting anticipation. Summer is over, we have rested and warmed our bodies - some fried, baked or toasted even, and the freshness of Autumn is lifting our spirits. Often there is still sun, using up the remains of its warmth before settling down for the colder months of the year in the UK.
Being Yourself at Fifty
Are you in your 40’s or 50’s and feeling just a little lost? What is expected of you now? Maybe you have had a successful career so far or maybe you are finally ready to launch one but feel guilty investing time in yourself? Do you look at photos of a younger you and think ‘this is it, I’ll never look or feel that good again, just have to stumble on as best as I can’? Or are you optimistic about your future but wonder what is acceptable to pursue?
The 'M' Word and 7 Top Tips for Coping
Who wants to age? When we were children, we could not wait until our next birthday to be a year older, a year nearer to being ‘all growed up’. At what point do we say ‘actually, next year I would like to start counting backwards’? What makes us say that? Is it anything to do with how we feel, physically or mentally? Is it how we look? Is it how society makes us feel?
Turning Fifty and Embracing Vulnerability
Well that's three posts under my belt and the world hasn't stopped turning! See? What have I lost? What is the worst that could have happened? Sounds easy doesn't it? But wait …. was it really easy? Whilst the end result of the three posts seems pleasing enough, what about the journey? What about the moment you press 'publish'?
How I Dress at Fifty?
What then, does a fifty-year-old lady wear? Ooh, that already sounds hideous and has caused me to grimace so much that I will need some serious face stretching to iron out the cracks … Aaaah! My answer to pretty much everything is to eat green things … spinach, kale, broccoli, chlorella, kiwi fruit, savoy cabbage …. I digress. What to wear? Me? I shop anywhere. Really. It could be Reiss, The White company or the local Charity shop.
Becoming Invisible
A Fresh Start
So, I’m supposed to write. Having acquired a laptop, finally, I am sitting in a trendy café that is bustling with life. Easy chatter permeates the atmosphere with infectious good humour and limitless optimism. My attempts at invisibility are thwarted by the incessant yapping of my dog, who’s agenda is somewhat in conflict with my own.