“Just checking you’re right to send me the article today about mums of teens being overwhelmed,” emailed the editor of a magazine last week, the day my promised article was due. I was 10 days off a huge book deadline and I’d completely forgotten to…
This is how scared I was
I had another radio interview last week, this time about flexibility in the workplace and related things, and it was great fun. There’s a sense of being enveloped in the cosy, sound-proofed acoustics of the studio, and a feeling of camaraderie with the announcer while…
Is your lifestyle stealing your legacy?
On the weekend, my 83-year-old dad sang a solo at the very last service of the tiny country church that his grandfather helped to build 150 years ago, in the village of Kangaloon in the Southern Highlands of NSW. It’s the church where my great…
When you let yourself down
After dragging my 5-year-old through yesterday’s Mother’s Day Classic for 5km (4km of which were pure whinging), I told him how proud I was that he made it, and asked if he was proud of himself too. “No,” he said. “I’m disappointed in myself, because…
Embracing the YONGI
“I was going to comment on that post,” I said to friends over dinner. “But it’s my YONGI.” They put down their forks. “Your what?” “It’s an acronym I invented for my Year Of Not Getting Involved.” No unnecessary drama. No buying into controversy. No…
It’s the places you least expect
My best friend was shopping in our local Big W a few years ago when an unexpected announcement came over the PA: “Best-selling author Diana Gabaldon is currently in the store and signing copies of her books.” This is the Diana Gabaldon who wrote the…
Life meets us where we honour ourselves
I spent all of Saturday doing a beginner’s photography course with two friends. It was fun and educational and, after years of pointing and clicking on ‘auto’ we learned how to use the functions of our cameras properly. In one day, we improved out of…
I really needed to hear this
It’s been probably the most challenging couple of months I’ve had in the last ten years, with some big worries and significant stress. I’m still trying to sort out some health problems that have been exacerbated by the worry. When this stuff happens, what you…
All the signs were against us…
Maybe it’s my Irish heritage, but I’m always on the lookout for ‘signs’. Good signs that I’m on the right track with something. Signs that things will work out. Positive vibes. Serendipitous coincidences… Last Monday, I needed some. My colleague, composer Sally Whitwell and I…
I read my friend’s harrowing book and I cried…
I started reading Kristen Holzapfel’s story, “Selfless“—an account of trauma, Depression, Anorexia, self-harm and recovery—over my scrambled eggs on Saturday morning. I planned to indulge in the first few chapters, fold the washing, write my newsletter and see if there was something I could take…
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