The blog
Drench yourself in words unspoken, Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins, The rest is still unwritten
NATASHA BEDINGFIELD, UNWRITTEN (LYRICS)
The trouble with certainty
Have you ever been certain of something, but it turned out it wasn’t true? That’s the trouble with certainty… I jumped in the car one morning before dawn for an early gym session. Living in rural Australia at the time, encountering kangaroos on the road was a common occurrence, so I flicked the headlights on high-beam. In a comical ‘cross-eyed’ fashion I could see one beam was pointing [...]
There’s no yellow brick road
We moved home to New Zealand in January after nearly 19 years overseas. We've done a few big, life-altering, relocations in our time. While there's always much excitement about what's ahead, change is rarely comfortable, or straight forward. There's no certainty, there's no yellow brick road to follow. But if you keep your eyes peeled, there are some useful lessons on the journey: 1 You won’t get anywhere [...]
Starting a new thing – advice from an absolute amateur
I’ve been in this blog game a whole six weeks. I know that doesn’t seem long, but the journey to the starting line was considerable. If you’re toying with a new blog or business idea, or any brave step into the unknown, I know well the battle to begin. With that fresh in my mind, I hope I can offer some encouragement. If you’re starting a new thing [...]
How creativity cured my perfectionism
Why aim for perfection when excellence will do? This was very wise advice from my high school English teacher, Mrs Brown. I was about 15 and my perfectionist self was devastated by a 94% on my Hamlet essay. Or was it 97%? I can’t actually remember, because only one thing mattered in that moment. It wasn’t 100%. It seems ridiculous, but that’s the cruelty of perfectionism, it’s unattainable. [...]
Is your past weighing you down?
I loved my mum’s charm bracelet when I was a kid. It was silver and heavy, crammed with charms from each of the cities in Europe she and dad visited on their honeymoon. Each one was different. There were tiny little buildings, landmarks and national symbols. I don’t remember her ever wearing it, but I’d pull it out and she could tell me which country each charm was [...]