What makes us human?
4 Nov
Picture the scene: a fifteen-year-old boy talking in a class to twenty six other fifteen-year-old boys about loneliness. You could have heard a pin drop. Looking at the audience, the façade – and excuse me I am going to stereotype a bit here – of the teenage group as the masks they hid behind of, “I’m cool”, “I’m armour-plated”, and “I’m absolutely fine as I am”; slipped. He didn’t disclose any bullying or abuse, just a need for people to…
All I want for Christmas is… a million-pound advent calendar!!!
7 Oct
Have I gone mad? Do I want that for Christmas? Why am mentioning the “C” word in October?! I wrote a social media post about this recently, and wanted to expand on it in my blog post this month. I listen to the news, I do think it is important to keep up with national politics, have a view, vote with your eyes, heart and brain turned on. I enjoy listening to debate on the radio in the car –…
Doing the essential only, as a way of life
2 Sep
What books to take on a relaxing holiday – I love crime fiction, and I love novels, and I really devour them when I am on holiday. I try not to take books that are associated with work, however I am taking my copy of, “Essentialism”, by Greg McKeown. The subtitle is “The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”. Gotta be a good holiday read – no? Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin at home or at work? Me? Definitely…
Have you suffered from occupational burnout?
5 Aug
Have you ever found yourself slipping down that hole? What to do to stop the slip and rise up again? Stress in our working lives is a common thing, sometimes a bit of stress can be experienced as a good thing, a jolt of excitement. However, burnout is when you are under a huge amount of stress that isn’t exciting you, but instead, wearing you down. It is relentless. It is a symptom of prolonged periods of intense focus and…
Do you ever go over the top?
1 Jul
Do you ever go over the top? Now, this is a rather horrific over-exaggerated picture… of what my baby grandson Emile sees when I am looking at him!! Well, I did channel my inner ham actress for that one. I don’t REALLY look that mad. HONEST! It did occur to me, however, that lots of us probably do overdo the big wide face and smiley expressions for the benefit of babies; all sorts of contortions to get a smile! It…
Holiday Madness
7 Jun
So is this you? Before you go away, is there a mad few days, or even weeks, when you are working at twice the pace to get stuff sorted before you go away… so that you can go away? So when you finally come to the day of leaving, you are working right up to the minute of leaving for the airport, or getting away in the car, or catching a train… By this time you’re hugely stressed, even more…
Attention, attention, what has my attention?
6 May
I took a speed awareness course the other day. Like everyone else on it, I had been caught going a few miles over the limit, so I paid the 91 quid and took the course to avoid getting three points on my license. It was actually interesting and illuminating. Not only the bit where we found out how much longer it takes your car to stop if you are travelling at 31 miles per hour than at 30 if you…
Seeing red and the world going black
1 Apr
The power of someone else’s badly chosen words – that you can take and twist and torture yourself with, like roasting a piece of rotting meat on a spit. Or should you simply look at the piece of rotting meat, discard and move on? A bit dramatic? – well I am an ex-actor! This week at the Oscars, Will Smith acted on his fury at the words of comedian, Chris Rock, as he made a joke at the expense of…
And I went in anyway…
7 Mar
This was the day that I pushed through inhibitions and shocked my children to boot. I enjoy a swim, and on a Sunday morning at my health club you need to get there early to do a few lengths before the children arrive for “splash club”. So I duly trotted down to the changing room at 8:30am, only to discover that I had forgotten my bathing costume. Rats!! It’s time sensitive – I haven’t got any time to go home…
Do you suffer from jerks at work?
4 Feb
Whether you routinely work from home, or always in a public workspace, or are looking at taking advantage of new “hybrid” models on offer; how you are treated, respected and are able to “get on” depends on how you are spoken to, looked at, and how you communicate with others. Big time. You may have suffered, as I have, through working either as an employee, manager, or freelancer for organisations who allow and sometimes even promote a toxic way of…