Category: Work
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Here’s How I Overcome My Self-Doubt About Writing
My self-doubt is related to my fear of rejection – the curse of many writers – and after a decade in the industry, there are still many times I get the jitters when I file an article or publish a new post.
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Those Bloody Crises of Confidence Part 1
You may have sensed it in my writing of late, but I’m going through a bit of a crisis of confidence at the moment. I’ve tried to buoy myself up by trawling through all the memes on my Inspirational Shit board on Pinterest and drinking more wine than usual, but any writer will tell you…
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Time to Tear Down Mia Freedman
I needed to write this piece in defense of Mia Freedman of Mamamia, because she has been an inspiration for my own writing. Whatever her detractors accuse her of in connection to the debacle yesterday with Roxane Gay, I refuse to accept that her intentions in her approach to their interview were anything but respectful…
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Health Anxiety And The Ability To Identify When There IS Something Actually Wrong
Even though I have a massive health anxiety issue and spend most of my day counting the different ways I will contract cancer on Dr. Google, I rarely go to the doctor. The good news about having a potentially broken finger means that I can give the old man the finger whenever he asks me…
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Food Goals When You Work From Home
One of the main benefits to working from home, aside from the greater job security than that currently offered by the FBI, is the 24hr on-site cafeteria. I have instigated Google’s food policy in our house. They don’t allow their employees to be further than 200 feet from food at any time – a strategy…
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When You Use Your Age As An Excuse Not To Chase Your Dreams
I went to a workshop on freelance writing on Saturday. Pursuing the dream, seizing the day, there are a number of clichés I could come up with to describe my final charge into a job that I love. I learned that journalism is not for the faint-hearted these days, with cutbacks and job losses and a…
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Change, Anxiety and Crazy AF Dreams
There are some exciting changes coming up in my life in the near future. Or at least I’m pretending to myself that they are wildly exciting even though inside my organs feel as though they’re dissolving in acid, something that happens each time I go through such changes and my anxiety goes into overdrive. The…
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I’m Learning About ‘Privilege’
‘Privilege’ is a word that crops up increasingly in conversation at the moment – as it should – to make every one of us question our attitudes towards different races and genders. As a middle-aged woman with some free time now that the kids are older, I have noticed a reignited hunger and enthusiasm for…
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How The Conversation Changes With Middle Age
My pet peeve, aside from slow swimmers and water waders hogging up the fast lane at my local pool, is when I go to a dinner party and no-one asks me about my job… or indeed anything about me. This has happened throughout my adulthood, since the very first time I was invited to my…
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2016 Will Be About Me
I’ve decided that New Year’s resolutions are just so 2015. Ambition Key On Keyboard Meaning Target Aim Or Goal Have you noticed how women often link theirs to self-improvement rather than ambition? How we focus on the stuff we don’t do well? Probably because we are continually reminded that we are not perfect. And I’m…
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And Do YOU Have A Life, Like Your Husband?
Controversial, I know, but would there have been as much media interest if Phillip Hughes had been a woman, my daughter asked me in the car this morning? ‘Harsh’, I responded, secretly proud of her inner feminist sensitivities. http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/176640394 Being the complete cricket ignoramus that I am, I’m ashamed to admit that I’d never heard…
Louisa Simmonds 