Tomorrow marks the end of the 40 before 40 challenge I set for myself a year ago. I haven't achieved everything on the list but as I wrote about earlier this month, I have already decided to 'extend' the challenge and continue working on the goals I still want to achieve. Like any aspirational list,… Continue reading #40before40 – A ‘Ta Da’ list of celebration
Category: mental health
Forgive yourself
What is your biggest success and biggest failure? In a discussion around the nature of success with my Year 9 students, they asked me this question. After some consideration, I replied as honestly as I could that in essence my biggest success has also been the source of my biggest failure: my family. They were… Continue reading Forgive yourself
40 before 40- an update
As the end of May quickly approaches, I thought it would be a good idea to give an update on progress against my 40 before 40 list. I have managed to check a couple of items off the list completely. I completed the Auckland coast to coast walk with a lovely group of year 10 students… Continue reading 40 before 40- an update
Four steps towards contentment
Consumer culture tells us that we always need more. What we have is not enough. Who we are is not enough. I spent a long time thinking that I could only start to really live my life and embrace it, once I improved myself to the point where I was 'acceptable'. I was unhappy and… Continue reading Four steps towards contentment
Reach for the Stars
When I was a teenager I tried to be cool and to like music that I perceived as cool. I listened to Radiohead and Pearl Jam and desperately tried to love it but all the while I yearned for the kind of pop music that just made me smile. It was the same with movies… Continue reading Reach for the Stars
Head stands and bridges
It is easy to take our body for granted and focus on what we would love to change about it, but more fun to embrace it and focus on what you wouldn't change for the world! I had a difficult relationship with my body for a long time. For years and I literally mean years,… Continue reading Head stands and bridges
Sharing stories
Anyone observing my outside life day-to-day might assume that I do a great job pulling together the different strands in the fabric of my life. I am balancing work, study, family life, volunteering and running a home and most of the time I do it with a smile and lots of enthusiasm. My inside… Continue reading Sharing stories
Resisting grumpy
This morning was a busy one. I am tired at the end of a busy week and walking to drop Lucy off at before school care at 7:00 felt like a mini marathon. Then a forgotten bus pass meant a rushed trip home. It would have been easy to adopt my grumpy mum persona and… Continue reading Resisting grumpy
Why I am making May 2017 simply marvellous..
May 2016 was a low point for me because it was when I finally admitted that I was struggling to the extent that I needed to go back on medication. I sat on the floor of the bathroom and cried angry, scared tears because I didn't know how I was going to get through the… Continue reading Why I am making May 2017 simply marvellous..
Celebrate your body!
My body is amazing and so is yours. Today I want to encourage you to celebrate your body for the incredible, beautiful thing that it is. It's fair to say I have had some struggles with my body image over the years and if you want to, you can read about them here in A letter to… Continue reading Celebrate your body!