My 30’s have been truly life-changing. At 29, I was crying and having an insane quarter-life crisis at the thought of having a bond and living with a boy. That girl believed all kinds of things, and many of them were other people’s expectations of her. My 30’s saved me. They showed me who I really am & helped me make some of the best (and most challenging) decisions of my life, so far. But saying goodbye to people, ideas and expectations have freed me to be the woman I was placed here to be. And I’m so grateful to this decade for that…

Where I see negative self-talk have the most detrimental effects, however, is on our ability to trust ourselves to change. When we are trying to change something significant in our lives, and especially when we require that change to last, to be sustainable - talking shit about ourselves makes the process of change just THAT much harder. We become less able to recognise our wins, which slows down how quickly we learn and pivot when our plans for change don’t run smoothly, and the energetic toll of having to pull ourselves out from a cloud of negative self-talk takes a huge hit on our motivation.

In my experience observing the natural unfolding of change in my own life and the lives of the women I coach, I believe there are 4 key cycles of energy that we move through at any given time, depending on what is influencing us. And that whichever cycle we are in determines the kind of change or routine or practices we’ll need in order to help enhance our ability to take care of ourselves for that cycle.

Now the reason I believe that working women need to be more considered with their self-care vs self-employed women, freelancers, or contract consultants, for example - which I am well aware is going to rub some peeps up the wrong way - is because working women don’t have the same freedom to dictate their own time. And therefore, don’t always have the advantage of determining when and how they wish to rest when they need to.

The online space is always crowded with everyone’s best intentions at the start of the year. And this year, more than before, I’m noticing how the idea of “That” self-care routine has become super popularising.

We see gorgeous girls, drinking their fabulous green juice, in their perfect monochromatic workout sets, and perfectly minimalist apartments, going to the gym and taking walks. Now, I’m not hating on this. In fact, some days, I am doing some of those things too…

And this is exactly why I’m talking about it…

I feel like we’re making each other wrong for having a self-care ritual that looks different from our own. And in the process, making ourselves wrong for the routines we have.

Now, I’m obviously not a recruitment expert, but with my experience in pivoting most of my life, I am somewhat an expert in job ads and the descriptions attached to them ;) I noticed myself being A LOT more cautious than I used to be about applying to certain posts, because the job ad descriptions are just so damn triggering!

This year’s word is Goblin mode. The definition, I feel, hits a bit harsh: "a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations".

But I think this is also exactly the reason this word needs to exist.

The way I see it is, if you're a living breathing human woman with a family, a career, play dates, a growing business, and any semblance of a life, is every single day, not just a constant battle to NOT be in goblin-mode (often only leaving you feeling totally IN goblin mode, like ALL of the time)?!

This eggless veggie scramble has become a go-to for me. It hits all the right notes!

I embarked on a 3-Day fast in hopes of connecting more viscerally to my body. Here’s what happened.

Quantum Energy Coaching was recommended to me by my functional GP. And unless she had recommended it I would NEVER have found it on my own. So in the spirit of sharing for a new perspective, here is my experience with QEC.

And while I vehemently disagree with “We all have the same 24hrs in the day” and the narrative around developing a 5am-rule morning and a rigid, fixed routine perpetuated by white privileged men. I also believe that as women, we need to take responsibility for what it is that we are signing up for when we take on that extra load.

And I’ve been seeing a few anti-New Year posts and conversations about how the start of the New Year is just like any other time of year, and therefore, there’s no “magic” around this time of year to help kickstart change or some new habit formation.

And I have to say… I disagree.

Boundary setting is probably one of the most spoken about topics that comes up in personal development & emotional wellness. And certainly, a big topic of discussion brought into coaching with clients.

So many of us struggle to set and keep boundaries, we feel like we have no idea how to broach the topic with the people we’d like to set boundaries with and may not even be aware that we require some boundaries, in order to maintain healthy relationships with people.

Now, goals, by definition have clear & tangible specifics; a time frame, an endpoint and actionable steps to get there. Happiness, on the other hand, is an emotion. It’s not an end goal. It cannot be an end goal, because emotions (by definition) are instinctive or intuitive feelings that are separate from rationality, reason, or logic.

Some simple rules I live (and shop) by, in order to live & eat better