Tag: life lessons
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Flown the Coop
Last week our eldest child flew the coop. Empty nester stage looms large. But that nomenclature annoys me. I’m renaming it Graduated, and thinking of parenting as flight school, instead.
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Reflections on 21 years of marriage
It’s our wedding anniversary this weekend. From the vantage point of kids almost out of school, looking back across our lives together, I’m reminded that life is a winding, undulating road with ups and downs. And it takes commitment to the relationship, and respect for the individuals within it, to keep walking it together.
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Wise up chicken, said younger me to current me.
Something strange has happened to me since I turned 50. I feel quite disconnected from my old self. I’m finding myself breathless on occasion, struggling to work out who I am and what I’m good at. But then, my younger self said – wise up chicken, embrace joy. So wise, younger me!
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What is love, anyway?
The air last week reeked with overpriced roses and heart-shaped chocolates. Not in my house, as paying a $100 for 12 rose is legitimately ridiculous, plus it’s fun-free February, where champagne and chocolate are vorboten. … Still all these renditions of “love is in the air” got me thinking – what is love, anyway?
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How to be less anxious: Lessons in life from the ski slopes
Coming into Nozawa-Onsen we are confronted by a slope that sets my pulse racing. It’s below the ski lift, and although covered in deep drifts of white snow, it’s as black as they come. Immediately, despite having zero intention of going down a black run, I’m swamped in anxiety about this whole skiing malarky. Before…
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New year, new resolutions, new you?
New year… new resolutions, new plans, new you? Even if you don’t tend toward that sort of thing, there is an impulse to think about starting fresh post the midnight fireworks. Of course, every day is the start of a new year. Each new dawn a full twirl around the sun since the last time…
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The power of perspective – refocusing on the upside.
Last month it was my dad’s birthday. This is the first time since he passed away (11 years ago) that I haven’t written some sort of a birthday tribute to him. I’ve been wallowing in a funk of negativity that has made it hard to write something meaningful. All around us humanity seems to…
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The times they are a changing…
This week our eldest child graduated from high school. There are still a set of exams to complete, but formal schooling is done and dusted. It is a momentous milestone in the life of any child. But it’s also a pretty huge “WTF??” for us. You don’t really notice time passing. You just notice the…
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Everything Changes
Everything changes. Acceptance. Gratitude. Things I’m learning, or at least trying to.
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Rituals, blessings and lessons in happiness from Bali
We are on a small island off the coast of Bali. Remote times two. It’s nice and warm here. The sea and pool both a balmy 27 degrees. The sun warm enough to make Sydney’s cold winter grip feel like nothing but a distant memory. If we leave the poolside, it’s to watch the sunset…
Reflections from Middle Age 