When do you feel confident? When are you a good listener? When can you speak up and share your thoughts?
I love these questions.
They’re all about finding out when you can do or be something, and what helps you do it.
Have you ever realised you’re completely off track?
Have you ever realised you’re completely off track?
Recently a good friend and I were lost on the South Downs. We had set out to do a lovely 4.5 mile loop and ended up doing a hot, hilly and exhausting 9 miles.
It was not intentional!
We’d followed the signs, and it had looked pretty straightforward, and yet we got lost more than once. Even my beloved Maps app couldn’t help.
As we stood at the edge of a field, covered in scratches, hopelessly willing the path to emerge it was a brilliant example of how easy it is to veer off course.
Especially if you’re not paying attention (there was a lot of chatting), or if the sign you’re looking for just doesn’t appear and you keep going anyway (!).
Who can you celebrate your wins with?
There’s a particular joy when you achieve something special.
Perhaps a plan comes together, a long-held goal is realised, or something you hadn’t anticipated springs to life. Or you pause to look back and realise you’re exactly where you hoped you could be.
The sense of achievement can be enormous - and accompanied by a whole range of other emotions. Relief, delight, exhaustion, excitement, joy, sadness that something has come to an end, even though that’s what you wanted!
So it helps to take some time to bask in all of it, to let it wash through and over, to settle into it. To reflect on and notice all of the parts and acknowledge them. To celebrate the moment and the work that went into it before moving on to what comes next.
Which can be surprisingly hard to do!
It's the Summer Solstice | A lovely time to shine a light on your life
What helps you reset?
When I need to reset, one of my favourite things to do is Yin yoga. It’s a wonderful way to stretch everything out, and I love that I can choose from a range of options to match my mood.
Sometimes I want something more structured - being talked through a sequence step by step.
Other times I want something more spacious - being given the minimal possible cues.
In both cases, my brain knows someone else is handling the process and can focus. It’s the same result from different approaches - tailored to how I’m feeling and what I’m looking for.
What’s good in your life?
I’ve had many beautful examples of what’s good in my life over the last few weeks - the flexibility to expand my horizons and have new experiences, thoughtful gifts and messages, connecting with people who I feel most myself with, doing work that lights me up, and so much more.
It’s a wonderful dose of good energy, and a reminder to acknowledge and appreciate what I have - because it can be easy to forget!
And I know I’m not alone.
A (birthday) gift of pausing for perspective
It’s the week of my birthday.
The end of one annual cycle and the start of a new one. A time to pause and a moment to reflect, to celebrate, and to look ahead.
I’ll be doing just that - tucked away in a corner of the Lake District and at home.
So, in place of a reflection this Monday, here’s a birthday wish - with love from me to you.
Do you have too many "Bob's"
I absolutely love this book.
It’s one of my regular re-reads for many reasons, but one of the key ones is that the ideas in it have such wide applicability.
It’s a book about creating purposeful gatherings that also works for creating clarity and focus in our lives - so we can be clear on what matters most, and then organise our time and energy around it.
I have many of the key elements captured on Post-its, but my favourites are these: “Commit to a bold, sharp purpose” and “Close the door to create the room”.
And for that, you need to manage your “Bob’s”.
Would it be useful to re-read your story?
There are some books I re-read over and over.
The stories are so rich, and each time I come back to them I experience them differently.
They are the same words through fresh eyes. I’m in a different place in my life, and so I see them from a different perspective.
It’s the same with my own story, which changes shape depending on where I am in relation to it.
What are your 2025 highlights?
This photo captures one of my favourite memories from 2025.
It’s a selfie of me and my lovely husband Stu, taken in a pub garden in Grasmere.
It was the first time in a while that we’d been away just us - no teenagers, no dog - and this sums up the feeling of the experience.
When I look at it I smile - I can see our partnership, the fun, the team spirit, the ease and the love.
