Let’s talk about something that’s been on my mind lately… How often do we find ourselves reacting in ways we later regret, especially when we’re overworked, tired, or stressed out? It’s like a switch flips, and suddenly we’re snapping at people, saying things we don’t mean, and just generally feeling irritable. There are times when...

“My love, my child. When you are sick, rest. When you are tired, lie down. When you are sad, weep. When you need nourishment, eat. When you are lonely, reach for people. And when there are no people, reach for me.” I came across these words today, in a ‘Letter from Love’, by Elizabeth Gilbert...

This weekend, Father’s Day falls on my dad’s birthday. Seven years ago, it was his birthday on the Saturday before Father’s Day, but I couldn’t come home to Wales that weekend because I was on duty at the Summer fete, at the school where I worked. Twelve days later my dad died. I can’t tell...

What a road trip!! Last weekend, I treated my fiancé to a birthday weekend at a forest retreat, just forty minutes from where we live in Mid-Wales. I liked the fact that it had no mobile signal or wifi, just a cottage surrounded by trees, birds and tranquillity. After half an hour on the main...

I have a thing about words. If I hear one I’m familiar with but I’m not exactly sure how to use it, I have to Google its meaning and read all the examples until I’m clear. The last two I heard were ‘hubris ’ and ‘detritus ’, thanks to Lucinda Riley novels. I learnt many...

General anxiety is not a mental illness. You are not weak, abnormal or going out of your mind. Anxiety is a lack of confidence in our own ability to handle our bodily sensations. Our symptoms are real but they’re not due to any physical illness. Our body is simply in ‘Fear Response Mode’ and we...

I just lost seven pounds in three weeks! I’ve been trying to lose weight between the ages of fifteen and fifty. Mainly to look slimmer and feel more confident about my body. Firstly, as a teen, I went along to Weight Watchers with my mum and enjoyed filling in little crosses on a tracker every...

I’m becoming increasingly aware of the ageing process and my own mortality. Possibly because my mum has now started to ‘try out’ care homes and my best female friend has just bought a mobility scooter. I’m only in my early fifties but catch myself working out how many years I might have left on this...

I don’t remember the first time I felt anxious. I experienced it from such a young age but only realised decades later that it was social anxiety. At the time, I just felt terrified. Often. To family and friends, I was just, “very shy and sensitive”. I’ve spent most of my adult life ‘fighting’ anxiety...

Did your week go as you planned? Or were there unexpected changes? On Sunday night I was all set for the week ahead but then I had a call to say my mum needed me. She’d had a fall the previous week and was in a lot of pain. So I’ve spent this week looking...