This is for the days when everything is too much... ↓ Hey Reader, "Just now, putting on my shoes is winning." When a community member told me this, it resonated: I've been there. In fact, I was there last Wednesday, which was a particularly difficult day. It's what happens when your nervous system is so fried that basic human tasks require energy you don't have. Your brain is doing exactly what it's designed to do when resources are scarce: focus on immediate survival, not long-term...
about 9 hours ago • 3 min read
The intelligence you've been ignoring lives in your body ↓ Hey Reader, I'm not where I thought I'd be by now. In January, my life imploded. I lost everything and this newsletter was actually part of my plan to rebuild from the rubble - my first Odyssey plan (a potential future path where I could combine a passion with building a lil' one person online business). I thought by now I'd have it all figured out. That I'd be further along in rebuilding, earning the sort of income you see others...
7 days ago • 4 min read
You think you need a break. But what you really need…is a boundary. ↓ Hey Reader, I used to think feeling drained after every workday was just part of being an adult. Even when I had a part-time contract with Google - and in theory plenty of time to rest, recover, pursue my own projects - I was more exhausted than I'd ever been. I'd take long weekends. Sleep in. Do all the self-care things. But Monday would roll around and I'd feel that familiar dread creeping back in. Because here's what I...
14 days ago • 3 min read
The kind of success we don't talk about: choosing what matters. ↓ Hey Reader, Today is my mother's birthday. I haven't missed either of my parents' birthdays in over ten years. Not from guilt or obligation, but because I shaped my life around what actually matters to me. This is an example of what I mean by 'quiet rebellion': Living in alignment with your values when the world tells you to prioritise everything else. If you’re tired of performing.Of saying yes when you mean no.Of building a...
21 days ago • 3 min read
This one's just for you... ↓ Hey Reader, I need to ask you something that may feel uncomfortable: When did you stop asking yourself what you actually want? Not what looks good on LinkedIn. Not what your family expects. Not what feels 'responsible'. What you want. For your one precious life. If you can't remember the last time you sat with that question - really sat with it - you're not alone. Most of us haven't asked ourselves this in years. Maybe decades. We got busy. We got practical. We...
28 days ago • 4 min read
Clarity isn’t the starting point. This is. ↓ Hey Reader, Let me guess: there’s something you’ve been circling for a while. A decision. But you haven’t moved because you’re not clear yet. You're stuck in analysis paralysis because you think you need to figure it all out before you take the first step. I hate to break it to you, but this is how you stay stuck. You're never going to think your way to clarity. I know this because I spent years trying; thinking, is, after all, what I've always...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
The shame that stole a decade of my life ↓ Hey Reader, Not a single photo exists of me for TEN YEARS of my life. I was badly bullied growing up and it left me with zero confidence; I'd look in the mirror and feel ashamed that I was inflicting such hideousness on others just by existing. I'd put myself down in a way I'd never even dream of thinking about anyone else. Call myself terrible names. And even the sight of a camera would cause me to panic, as I couldn't cope with being reminded of...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
The do-over button you didn't know you had... ↓ Hey Reader, What if the reason you haven’t figured out your 'one path' yet is because...there isn’t one? Stanford University’s Life Design Lab confirm what many of us have felt but never had words for: You don’t just have one true life. Society tells us our lives need to look a certain way and the result is we feel pressured to have the house, car, family and job status that signals that we're successful. Introverts especially often find...
about 2 months ago • 5 min read
The most underrated mental health habit I know: ↓ Hey Reader, Here’s a thought: what if the thing that could make you feel better right now - genuinely, viscerally, better - isn’t fixing your life… …but shifting how you see what’s already there? Before you click away thinking this is going to be woo woo nonsense, stay with me. Because the data is actually wild. According to research published in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences, it can increase your happiness by 10% and...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
You’re not broken; you’re becoming. ↓ Hey Reader, 2pm, 27th April 2015. I was supposed to be saying "I do." Instead, I was sitting in a quiet pub, nursing a drink, surrounded by my almost-bridesmaids. An elderly lady leaned over, smiling warmly, and asked, "What are you celebrating, love?" I burst into hysterical tears. Broken. Cancelling my wedding felt like the end of my world. Within a few months, I also lost my job to redundancy and the home I'd fought so hard to own due to my own...
2 months ago • 3 min read