On being scared.

Recently, I've realised that I spend a lot of time feeling scared. Really scared. About lots of things. About most things. I used to see being scared as weakness. That I was pathetic. That there was something wrong with me. Not anymore though. It's normal to be scared. Scared out of your mind. To experience resistance about doing something or saying something or going somewhere or changing or trying or doing or not doing. Being scared is a good thing. It is. Know why? Because where there is fear, there is courage. Courage is never far away. You can't have [...]

By |2015-11-15T11:02:41+01:0015 November 2015|

I’m sick of reading articles about how to ‘hack’ life.

My friend, Katie, is swim-coaching me at the moment, in the lead up to my 5-mile lake swim in 2016. I taught myself to swim last year, and well, I've got a lot to learn when it comes to technique and breathing and swimming with efficiency. I've just been kind of getting in the pool and going for it, and it's been ok so far actually - more than ok - I think I'm a pretty strong swimmer and naturally good at it, but you know, I could be a whole lot better. Especially when I'm 4 miles into a [...]

By |2016-12-29T13:32:02+01:0015 November 2015|

Your brain doesn’t know the difference between being attacked by a sabre-toothed tiger and turning down that second piece of cake.

It still boasts the same physical makeup as our ancestors, you see. And, ok, we do have a much more developed prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain that allows us to reflect and consider, but by and large, it's pretty similar to how it was way back then. And back then, our brain had one key driver: To survive. To do this it worked on a very simple process. Avoid pain and seek pleasure - which Freud later went to town on when developing his 'Pleasure Principle'. Of the two, avoiding pain, such as being mauled by a wolf [...]

By |2015-10-20T07:58:14+01:0020 October 2015|

Say yes more. And if you can’t say yes, just do a little nod.

Crying into my Patatas Bravas, she reached for my hand over the table and squeezed it. "Just say YES, Liz, to, like, everything!" That was the advice from a wonderful friend of mine. We were sitting in a bar one evening, the table full of wine glasses and plates of tapas and greasy napkins. My heart was broken and I was feeling lost and fucking terrified and everything else that crashes in when a relationship screams to an end. Just. Say. Yes. To, like, everything. Erm. No. To everything. No. No. No. I was in a NO place and that's [...]

By |2016-12-29T13:32:02+01:0020 October 2015|

Me and my meditation cushion.

I've skirted around the idea of meditation for several years now. I've given it a go plenty of times but for some reason or another, I've never really GOT it, you know? I'd sit, for thirty minutes or so, literally wanting to rip my own head off, completely overwhelmed with all the thoughts racing through my mind. The thoughts I believed I shouldn't be having that went like this: "I am so focused right now and oh, this feels so great, I'm meditating and hmm, maybe I should also do more yoga and drink green tea and I really need to add [...]

By |2016-12-29T13:32:02+01:0028 September 2015|

How to do difficult things.

Get comfortable being uncomfortable. I know I bang on about it a lot. But for a good reason. From running ultra marathons to quitting my 9-5 and working for myself to moving to another country, I wouldn't have done any of these things If I hadn't got comfortable being uncomfortable. I feel uncomfortable 70% of the time these days. And when I say uncomfortable, I'm not talking about discomfort that is emotionally or physically dangerous, or just plain stupid. I also don't mean that I walk around, day-to-day with a troubled expression on my face, not enjoying life and constantly pushing myself to [...]

By |2019-12-12T11:56:45+01:009 September 2015|

Have you noticed this too?

I slide further and further down my chair. Dreading the moment another person enters the room. Another person who is late. I'm sitting third row from the front. I'm at a leadership and development seminar. I never sit in the front row. Do you? The last time I sat in the front row of anything, I was four. First day at school. Sitting in assembly. I remember we were singing 'Puff The Magic Dragon' and I was messing around with a pencil. The headmaster dragged me from where I was sitting and made me stand facing the wall in front [...]

By |2016-12-29T13:32:02+01:009 September 2015|

I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.

I'm talking about my bullshit excuses. And I've got hundreds of them. How many have you got? I spent the last weekend moping around in my pyjamas. There were tears. There were also some very angry runs, especially up the hill back home. I hated that hill. I've been feeling sorry for myself because I feel lonely. I went to a wedding last Friday. My first German one. There were probably 400 people there, I've never been to such a big wedding. I sat there, on this long wooden bench looking around at everyone drinking beer and having a good [...]

By |2015-09-09T12:39:49+01:009 September 2015|

I had a bone to pick. With a city.

It was pretty stupid. To be angry with a city. Well, maybe not angry, but let's just say I had some big feelings going on with Manchester. Manchester is my home city. A city I turned my back on. I was always running away from it, you see. From all sorts of stuff. But mostly me. I did not like who I was when I lived in Manchester. And living in other countries, other cities, made it easy to disconnect somehow, to not have to face up to life and all that had happened in my past. Manchester was the place my [...]

By |2015-09-09T12:36:05+01:009 September 2015|

If you do this, you’ll never get what you want.

I sprained my ankle last September. A bad sprain. I couldn't walk properly for 8 weeks, and running. Ha. Running didn't happen for months and months and months. I saw a physiotherapist regularly during my rehabilitation. He gave me ankle strengthening exercises to do each day as well as stretches and standing on one leg, re-remembering how to balance and a stepping forward thing with a thera-band thing and God knows what else. I had a list. To do: 3x a day, 15-30 repetitions. At first, I followed the exercises religiously. I was motivated. I wanted to run again. And [...]

By |2016-12-29T13:32:02+01:0017 August 2015|
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