Category: gratitude
-
Surviving Christmas: 7 Top Tips For a Calmer Big Day
In my house, Christmas means dragging, kicking and screaming, the young adults in my family who have inherited the Grinch gene from my husband. And though I understand and respect why some people don’t like Christmas, my response to that attitude is not on my watch, and definitely not at my Christmas table. Hence, despite…
-
The “Little Things” That Make Life Beautiful
Nature’s gentle awakening is usually followed by my not-so-gentle awakening from my puppy as he springs onto the bed with his crazy, infectious excitement for life. I am not a morning person, but it is hard to resist the look of certainty in his eyes that the day will be a good one, no matter…
-
4 Important Life Lessons I Share With My Kids
That crazy decision was terrifying at the time but I do believe it made us stronger, more resilient, and gave us an incredible learning opportunity. It has given me more time to recover in the wake of family crises, more time for self-care and exercise – the best therapy for my brain – and the…
-
Life Lessons: Measuring Success Beyond Society’s Standards
At some point during the last few years, I experienced a light bulb moment and finally realised who I want to be during this next stage. I realised when I looked back, that society had indoctinated me to seek its narrow definition of success – where, ultimately, materialism is the most popular measure, in the…
-
The True Meaning of “Friends with Benefits”
If your friends don’t make the time to service their relationship with you, let them go to make room for the ones who invest A friend of mine who has an enviably wide circle of friends tells me she has an inner circle of only five special friends. Each represents a finger on her hand,…
-
Trusting the Journey: The Secret to Happiness in Middle Age
It is only now, in middle age, that I am finally accepting that I don’t possess the superpower (or indeed any superpower) to fix everything – no one does, not even those with the money to buy whatever they want or need. Money may be able to buy rockets, but it can’t buy you back…
-
9 Surprising Truths I discovered About Myself In 2020
Compared to many people, I was fortunate to emerge from 2020 relatively unscathed. Admittedly, certain elements of our brief lockdown in Sydney tested me, but because my job carried on pretty much as usual (and I don’t get out much anyway), there were few noticeable changes in my day-to-day life. However, I don’t think anyone…
-
COVID Won The Battle This Year, But Not The War
Three days ago, I was putting the finishing touches to a post about Christmas party dresses, of all things. To my shame, I was bemoaning the limited choice of dresses for middle-aged women who aren’t a size 8, don’t have legs as long as a giraffe, and who may not feel comfortable flashing their arse…
-
The 25 Best Feel-Good Movies For Lazy Weekends
Are you genuinely still socially distancing? Or just socially anxious like me, and pretending you still have to? If so, let me plan out next weekend for you because Angela at Heritage Films has asked me to give a shout-out for this wonderful, feel-good movie starring Renee Zellweger that they are premiering online between the…
-
C-Words like COVID-19 are never good, but most clouds have a silver lining
Historically, c-words have had a bad rap. For example, the c-word “c*nt” is described as a vulgarism for female genitalia on Wikipedia, and the euphemism for “cancer” used to be the archetypal c-word. That is until recently, when a far more sinister c-word entered our vocabulary. I suppose it is fortunate, therefore, that the negative…
-
20 Surprising Things I Am Thankful For This Year
Anger was the main topic of conversation during my last visit to my therapist for the year. Anger about stuff I can’t control, mainly, but also anger about the world stuff I talked about here in my last post, as well as some anger issues about the usual personal frustrations. Photo by Howard Riminton on…
-
The 7 Best Ways To Find Your Christmas Spirit When You’re A Grinch
In spite of my newfound, VERY mature thoughts about the insignificance of consumerism in my life at this time here, I have launched myself full throttle into Christmas. Living room with full of Christmas decorations. To be honest, I’m a bit of a Christmas tragic. We were fortunate to have a mother who made the…
LOUISA SIMMONDS 