Category: Getting Older
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Exercise …and why I’ve stopped apologising for being slow.

Running and cycling made me realise that just turning up is good enough… so I’ve stopped apologising for being slow.
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Death and the Rituals we use to Navigate Life

Today my father would have turned 77. He died over ten years ago, not quite reaching his 67th birthday. It is somewhat alarming to think that in 16 years’ time I will be the same age as he was when he died. We are not very good at thinking honestly about death. But as I…
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The Joy of Getting Older…

Last month I turned 50. Fifty! A big number. Half a century. Centuries certainly carry some weight in the things to celebrate department. Just ask Steve Smith or anyone who got a letter from the Queen on their 100th birthday. We think of centuries as significant – as if standing the test of time. Maybe…
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The limits of energy

Of late, I’ve been thinking about energy. Not like Einstein of course. Notin an E = MC2 or “holy smoke, look at the price of gas” kind of way. I’m thinking more philosophically about our sense of get up and go. Our inner energy. The thing that fuels motivation and action and seems to be…
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Puzzling through life…

Doing puzzles might seem pointless, but they offer some interesting lessons on puzzling joy out life
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Letting go of my worry-list and hopping off the what-if train…

I’ve always been a worrier. For as long as I remember I’ve worried about what people thought of me, or whether I was liked. I’ve worried about underperforming, and not being good enough. Despite never being misplaced by my parents in the fruit and veg section of the local grocery store, I have a visceral…
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My watch is telling me I’m unproductive. But maybe that’s okay?

My new fitness watch keeps telling me I’m unproductive. It’s hard to not feel insulted, but maybe there is a lesson in the message?
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The problem with resolutions…

I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions. Did you? I’m pretty good at making resolutions. I make them all the time – monthly, weekly, daily. Sometimes even hourly. When I’m making dinner, I resolve not to eat any chocolate afterwards, but the moment Netflix comes on I find I’ve gobbled down half a bar of…
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A snapshot in time

Cleaning up, I found an old picture. A snapshot in time, unposed and unfiltered, framed in white edging now a little tattered and torn. In it, I’m about 3 or 4 years old, I think, which means the photo was taken about 45 years ago. Almost half a century. That’s a conception of time that…
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Lessons from the dog: Alpha males, love and the importance of making conscious choices.

In our house, my husband is numero uno, the king, the be all and end all… the alpha. At least if you ask the dog. If you suggested such a thing to the rest of us, theatrical bouts of gagging would no doubt ensue. It’s a strange situation, I think, given that I am the one that…
