A few years ago my husband went into hospital for a straightforward procedure that we expected to be done in a day. Instead, it uncovered a serious health problem and he was kept in hospital until they could do a major operation that saved his life. In the hospital, everything seemed chaotic and random, and… [Read more]
4 ways to stop catastrophizing, immediately
In last month’s blog, which was about something completely different, I mentioned my earliest memory of catastrophising something. When I was 8 I was out shopping with my aunt and somehow accidentally stood on the Liverpool goalkeeper’s toe. He pretended to be injured and, unaware of the joke, I suddenly became convinced that Liverpool would not… [Read more]
Why telling yourself you’re nothing special is hurting your confidence
A couple of years ago I had a client who would take a coffee break around 10.30 and listen to Popmaster on Radio 2. If I was there I joined in. I always did pretty well and they asked if I had ever thought of going on the show. I shook my head. They asked… [Read more]
Why you should ditch resolutions and make a life-changing list instead
Warning: this blog contains the f-word several times, starting in the third paragraph. If that offends you, please do not read on. For the record, I have a huge vocabulary and a very high IQ. There are times when only the f-word will do. So, we’re nearly at the end of the month. For those… [Read more]
Striving for the ideal Christmas? How to ditch perfectionism and enjoy yourself
As I sat down to write this blog I googled ‘perfect Christmas’. It threw up 32.1 million hits. I narrowed it down and just searched news, that gave me 16.7 million hits. All of the popular UK newspapers and magazines had recent articles about the perfect Christmas dinner, the perfect Christmas gift, perfect Christmas music, books,… [Read more]