Here in Wales the start of the year has been very cold and this morning we even had a light dusting of snow. So close to the coast it rarely snows a lot, but the ice on the roofs I can see through my window as I sit at my desk is a good reminder that winter is here. In a few days, I’ll be back to work as usual, but for the time being…
Category: things I like
This is the last post of the year, and this one is for my most trusty office buddy, Posey! Posey turns FIVE tomorrow, and her adventures over the past year have been a big source of joy for me each and every month. I always dreamt of having a dog when I was little, and I am happy and grateful indeed that I have been able to fulfil that dream now that I live a…
It’s been nearly ten years since I started blogging about running 10k. Like many people I started running looking for balance at a very stressful time in my life, and ten years later I still run for mental health, to help manage stress and busy periods. I also love getting more outdoors and the headspace that comes with clocking up the miles. From the first beginnings of my running journey, that’s always been a distance…
It was bookshop day on 11 October, which got me thinking about books. This year I am working on changing small habits, making small changes, in an effort to make more ethical choices and also to support local businesses more, as well as finding more joy in small things. I wrote a post a few months ago with an update and since then, things have moved on nicely, specially when it comes to my favourite…
It’s Monday, it’s October 6th, and I am turning over a new leaf. Today is my first proper day back at my desk after a few weeks focusing on happy wedding celebrations with family and friends and a lovely honeymoon trip to Crete. The photo featured at the top of this post shows one of my favourite places we visited, the Minoan Palace at Malia. So today is the start of a new chapter in…
After a week away I have returned to my desk to write (freshly inspired thanks to the museums of Amsterdam). Progress on the book this month has been better, and I have found a new rhythm: read, run, write. Repeat. It helps me to read more to feed my creativity and find inspiration, and I am lucky that my recent haul of books from the library has been plentiful in both. The running gives me…
This year I got back into running, and regular readers will know that this comeback has been years in the making. I started blogging about it in 2022.. and in 2023. So I am pleased to report that I have finally managed to get there! From a personal perspective starting the day with a morning run is a joy for me, and the photo at the start of this post is a snap shot from…
New ideas have to start somewhere, and for me that’s always a messy process. Sometimes it goes nowhere and sometimes there’s a nugget of inspiration that can be spun into something extraordinary. This is why I have set myself up a new space, my percolator, which opens up somewhere for me to think out loud, and create ideas in the open. Some of these ideas will never go further, and some may be terrible, but…
I set out to change my working life about 18 months ago, starting my own micro business, and it’s been a while since I checked in with progress. I’ve previously blogged about my efforts to re-invent Mondays, but time flies when you are having fun, so let’s jump into the update. A bit like in a romantic comedy, career change narratives often focus on making a decision or leading up to a big change. Then,…
Since I first published this list of 25 obvious, yet effective, ways to improve your working environment, all the way back in 2022, it’s become one of the most read posts on my blog. Many of my coaching clients and course participants come back to this again and again, to find new ways to tweak their set up and improve their working environment. Given that we are once again in January, and given that this…