Category: Health
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Do I Really Have To Give Up Drinking?
My choice to drink less has nothing to do with “seeing the light” in terms of my health, or because I’ve managed to avoid the dangerous lure of addiction that runs through my family tree. It is not even based on the advice of my doctor – although I’m sure she would back me wholeheartedly.…
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Ageing: Is 10 More GOOD YEARS Too Much To Ask?
The thing about the ageing process is that one minute you’re cruising along feeling relatively young for your years and the next you are using hand cream. And yet, despite my lifelong battle with health anxiety, death scares me somewhat less than the journey there and the “not knowing” exactly how and when my finale…
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Mental Illness: Why Love and Acceptance Must Be the First Line of Treatment
With love and acceptance – what I believe should be the first-line of treatment for people with mental illness – people like my son feel less isolated, judged and ashamed. Though “tough love” may be the gold standard approach to care for some mental illnesses, it is a risky choice and one that doesn’t necessarily…
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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…
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Here’s Why I’m Embracing The Menopause Belly
Despite eating less, dosing up on turmeric and exercising like Jane Fonda on Speed, there are many days during the month when my belly looks like I’m five-months pregnant
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7 Surprising Truths I learned From A Recent Health-Scare
Fortunately, on a scale of 1-10, my health scare was a one in terms of seriousness when compared to sufferers of terminal illnesses – especially now, as COVID compromises their treatments. And albeit invasive, my treatment was marginal in terms of discomfort. But it was scary enough to give me an insight into question we…
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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…
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The Truth About The Mask Of Mental Illness
It turns out I haven’t quite finished writing about masks. Today, however, instead of talking about clinical masks, I want to talk about a different type – the mask that society forces people with mental illness to wear. It is the mask of being well – that many of us expect them to wear, even…
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Middle-Aged Women: We Need To Talk About The Necessary Evil Of Exercise
Full Disclosure: As I write this post, I am sitting at my desk full of remorse at my complete lack of control around a wine bottle this weekend. Hence, I am probably the last person you should listen to about making the necessary improvements to your life to improve your longevity… I read somewhere recently…
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“Clear intentions” may help you focus in lockdown, but treading water is also fine
It’s very easy to get sucked in by the words on those memes about writing a novel or finding a cure for cancer during this period of isolation, especially if you’re a perfectionist like me. After all, who doesn’t want to defy the challenge posed by this pandemic and come out at the end of…
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Pity The Parents Whose Boomerang Children Have Been Forced Back Home By COVID-19
One aspect of COVID-19 that is rarely mentioned on the news is the impact on families who – due to recent job losses – have had grown children return back home. Some of you, I imagine, view the bounce back home of our Boomerang Generation as an opportunity to rebuild relationships, fatten them up and…
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How’s Everyone Coping With The Latest COVID-19 Isolation Restrictions?
So…how’s everyone travelling? YOU’RE NOT, I assume, and neither will you ever consider booking a cruise ever again, I would take a guess (if you’re of sound mind). Photo by Curology on Unsplash In the spirit of Gloria Gaynor, I am surviving, although as you can imagine, this is not a great time for hypochondriacs.…
Louisa Simmonds 