Tag Archives: writing

Creating My 45 Before 45 List: A Year to Look Forward To

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Back in October, I had a simple realisation: in November 2026 I will celebrate my 45th birthday. The thought didn’t bother me in the slightest – as I have aged my mindset has very much become that ageing is a privilege, and despite having my ass kicked by perimenopause I actually really enjoy being in my 40s. What it did make me think about, however, was how I wanted the coming year ahead to feel. I know myself well enough to recognise that I function best when I have goals and the sense that I am moving forwards and making progress. The problem is that for the last few years, most of my goals have been professional ones, focusing on work, productivity and getting things done, rather than about doing things simply because they matter to me as a person. 

So, I feel it is a good time to shift the balance.

Image credit: Royalty-free image karolinagrabowska (Pixabay)

I decided that I wanted things to look forward to, things that would make the next twelve months a bit more intentional and a bit more enjoyable. Turning 45 doesn’t feel like a big dramatic milestone, but it is a good moment to check in with myself and decide what I want the year to be about.

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Slowing Down to Move Forward

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At the beginning of the year, I made a deliberate effort to take back control of my life. I had become aware that the pace I was keeping wasn’t sustainable, so I took some fairly extensive steps to create more balance and structure. I wanted to be more intentional with my time, to focus on what genuinely mattered rather than getting caught up in the constant state of being ‘busy.’ 

For the first few months, it worked well. I felt calmer, more focused, and was far better at managing my time and energy. But gradually, without really noticing, old habits began to creep back in. One small commitment led to another, and before long, that balance that I had worked so hard to create had started to slip away.

The last time I sat down to write a blog post was back in July. As I have done so many times before, I told myself that I would get back into the habit and post more often. Then, as life became more hectic, it all became a bit overwhelming. 

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Perspective: When the Bad Makes the Good Better

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The last week has been BRUTAL.

Not long ago, I was informed of a situation that would require me to be elsewhere for several weeks. This couldn’t have come at a worse time – I’m self-employed with nobody to cover me and it hit right at the start of prepping all the festive season posts for most of my social media clients. I wouldn’t be able to do much during the day and would physically be out of the house, so admin would have to be done extremely early in the morning, and then when I got home in the evening (as well as attempting to monitor a whole bunch of social media accounts if I had a few moments of free time during the day).

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I Hear Sleigh Bells

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Christmas. It may be early November, but the sleigh bells have started on the TV adverts, the stores are already heavily into their festive marketing strategy, and I’m getting messages from family asking what I would like as a gift.

For the last few years, Christmas has followed a similar pattern. I start the month of December with the concept that I want to make this year the best Christmas ever, and then I get slammed with work as everyone starts freaking out and needing ALL THE THINGS NOW NOW NOW as everyone, including myself, is taking a little bit of time off. Inevitably, by the time it gets to a few days before Christmas I’m fed up and exhausted, and I’m not in the mood.

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Comic Con, Old Friends and a Blogging Month

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A week ago I met up with two friends, Sacha and Helen, in London. Both of them are authors – Sacha is absolutely killing it in the indie author world and Helen’s book has just been released across the UK with One More Chapter, part of Harper Collins publishing – but we actually met through blogging nearly ten years ago. 

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A Peri-Menopause Schedule

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Despite it being a Sunday morning, I woke up at 6.30am feeling super-motivated. Perhaps it’s because the weather is glorious, or that I have the option of doing nothing if I want to, or perhaps the fact that I slept for about six hours yesterday afternoon has helped – either way, I jumped out of bed, got dressed and was raring to go. 

As things have become more busy (particularly this year), I have started to change my working patterns to try and avoid burnout – something that I have experienced multiple times since I started working for myself. Previously, I had developed strict daily routines and checklists to help myself become more organised, but over the last six months I have found that it has become less and less helpful. 

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Press Review: Murder in the Dark at the Alexandra Theatre

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⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

What happens when the lights go out?

From the acclaimed writer Torben Betts and directed by Philip Franks, this psychological thriller brings a seemingly endless twists and turns throughout, with plenty of jump-out-of-your-seat moments, interspersed with an unexpected sprinkling of wit.

Similarly to The Mousetrap, it is requested that the audience ‘spread the word but not the spoilers’ once the twists have been revealed, so there is less to say than I would perhaps like, particularly because I thoroughly enjoyed it!

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Time for a Change

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On 1st January 2023 The Bloke and I sat on an enormous couch in a suite in a nice hotel. We were surrounded by our favourite snacks and were watching a film while talking about our hopes and expectations for the coming year.

“It’s going to be amazing, I can feel it,” I remember saying, and at the time, I believed it. After the world shut down in 2020 things had plummeted, and 2021 had been tough, so had 2022. Surely 2023 couldn’t get any worse, could it?

As it turns out, yes it could. 

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Ten Years and Counting…

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Just over ten years ago I was writing furiously in my journal after having a crappy day at work. I was into my seventh year of teaching, hated almost every minute of it and as a result had become severely depressed. One thing that eased the dark cloud was writing my thoughts down and I had developed a habit of buying notebooks and spending hours of my evening scribbling down my frustrations of the day. 

The Bloke, perhaps a little overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of my ever increasing collection of notebooks that had started to litter the house, suggested that I start an online blog. My knowledge of blogging was minimal, but I signed up for a free WordPress account and began to write. There were no expectations behind it – I was careful not to use my real name and avoided including too many personal details and discussing anything that would get me sacked should the school discover it.

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2022: A Year in Review

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At the beginning of 2022 I set up a double page spread in my bullet journal titled ‘Memories and Highlights.’ This created a space where I could record all of the individual exciting things I experienced throughout the year and served as a reminder that this year hasn’t been as bad as I thought. 

Because let’s face it, in terms of the year from a national perspective, it’s been a dumpster fire with a dose of accelerant thrown on top. Three prime ministers in a year, the worse economic position in decades, food, gas and electric prices skyrocketing to the point where people are having to choose between heating their house during the winter or feeding their children while utility companies boast about record profits, workers from our postal service, trains, nurses, paramedics have been forced to strike… and to top it all off our Queen died. So many of us are tired, worried and angry. 

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