We live in a culture of constant change, and yet, moving with that ‘flow’ feels increasingly difficult, at least for me.
These days, there’s a bunch of science about how to get into flow state, and yet I find the best way really is to follow what you want to do and let your body and needs lead.
In a way, life forces us to flow with it: things happen and we respond. As humans, we’re wired to respond to the environment. We all problem-solve and make adjustments as we move through the days.
But that sense of ‘feeling in…
I began my self-development journey in the early 2000s, with a self-help book on Neuro-Linguistic Programming and a Yahoo Group Forum on Native American spirituality. Yeah. As you do.
Across the past fifteen years, I’ve been exploring the various threads that bring together identity, reinvention, sense of progress, and growth. One of the first “tools” I used was this Law of Attraction.
I learned about it via a movie called ‘The Secret’ at the end of 2006 when I was struggling with my mental and physical health. …
(And Why We Have to Talk About It Now)
TRIGGER WARNING: mental health, suicide, NHS, depression, austerity.
It’s a normal Monday night in 2021 and the cats are each chilling on the sofa and my desk-chair, respectively. I’m tidying up the living room because I meant to do it all weekend (and didn’t). I’ve put on a new album that came out on Friday — Icon for Hire’s Amorphous — to keep me company.
Little did I know the story those songs would form in the next few hours.
“How can I separate me from the remedy?
I can’t be sure, be sure — Am I the curse or the cure?”— Curse or Cure, Icon For…
Reinvent yourself without starting from scratch with meaningful goals.
One of the gifts I received from yuletide this year was a Bullet Journal.
I’ve dabbled in making spreads on plain paper and slotting them into my disc planner, but it’s never quite the same as having one place with a dot grid, and being able to actually use all of the paper (disc-bound involves cutting away some page sections to attach them to the planner.)
I’ve also been watching bullet journal spread video channels for YEARS because they are pretty, and as someone who likes to be creative but isn’t skilled (i.e. I haven’t practiced enough to be seen as good), this was another avenue for that creativity.
And now I felt I…
It was an ordinary catch-up Zoom call, as I’m sure we’re all pretty familiar with these days.
She was telling me all about her walks: 5 miles on one day, nearly 7 miles the next. And then she paused after listing all her achievements, and asked me, “how is your fitness?”
Let me put this in context for you.
I have had 3 weeks off — leaving one job role and having my first gap before starting the next since 2012. …
I haven’t been consistent in my writing blog since Jan 2019. I haven’t been a WRITER (in my own eyes) since before then. This is clear from my weekly posts dropping down to 18 in 2019, and only 8 this year.
But I am a Reinventor by nature: I craft my life, created my identity, and follow my inner fire. And at my heart, I’m still a writer underneath it all. But I had, at least in my actions and my thoughts, given up on this piece of myself.
Unbecoming a Writer
I have 16 novels.
To just give you the context, of…
I’ve recently begun watching Twitch streams of a game called Among Us. It’s been out for 2 years but has recently come to light and basically became a “hit” in the last few weeks online.
To summarise for the context of this article: You and a group of friends have tasks to complete, and there is a hidden impostor or two trying to kill everyone before they complete their tasks. Everyone is muted for the game, but un-mutes to discuss, interrogate, and question others when they experience something suspicious.
That’s a very basic, not-great summary but it gets the point…
Try this when activities seem to lose their sense of meaning or purpose.
A few weeks ago, I found myself lapsing into a low mood again. I use that phrase as a professional, trained to recognise the difference between a “lapse” and a “relapse.” A moment or short time of stepping back, and of falling back to square one again.
Being me, I tried to connect with my usual CBT tools, checked my caffeine levels, and made myself go outside a little more often. I have multiple degrees, years of experience, and am more self-aware than I need to be.
By the Wednesday, I had a group coaching call with my life coach…
Tonight I looked after myself.
Self-care is one of those buzzwords which has taken on a different meaning over the last few years. Some people think of it as eating chocolate and having a bubble bath.
For me, it’s putting on some meditation music, vacuuming the floor which was getting me down, and making myself eat some vegetables. But it’s doing so with compassion.
- I made myself pasta — a comforting and favourite dish, with added vegetables.
- I couldn’t bear the idea of seated meditation today, so I combined the activity to mindfully clean and tidy.
- I listened to a…
Something I see a lot in my work, and struggled with myself for years, was the idea of being broken, or failing, or of not being ‘strong enough.’
There was this sense that because I had experienced struggles, I had to ensure I didn’t revert back or get triggered 100% of the time, else I was “clearly unfixable.”
And this belief is only becoming more common.
Glennon Doyle put into words something I could never express before in her book Untamed:
“Broken means: does not function as it was designed to function. A broken human is one who does not function the way humans are designed to function…
Katy-Rose, MSc
Melding Neuroscience & self-help to teach curious lifelong learners to redefine their resilience, personal growth, and sense of control.
