Episode 3 of our new podcast is out now. And ever since we finished recording, I've been having those classic 4am wake-ups, the kind where your brain goes, "Why did I say that? Should I have cut that bit?" You probably know the feeling, right? When you bolt awake in the middle of the night with your heart thudding, replaying something you said or did - convinced it was too much, too messy, too honest. That "oh god, should I go back in and fix it?" kind of feeling. The thing is, when I'm recording the podcast, I'm not really [...]

The other morning I stood in the kitchen at 7am, still cold to my bones. I was still in my scruffy outdoor layers from feeding the horses — muddy leggings, an old hoodie that smelled faintly of hay, and my favourite yellow beanie. I just stared out at the garden. There was a robin on the fence post right in front of the window, all fluffed up and looking really pissed off. The frost was thick on the grass, the sky was that greyish-blue that makes you feel like the sun’s never going to fully arrive, and the only signs [...]

A dear friend messaged me yesterday inviting me to her Christmas party in a couple of weeks. She's German, so I know it'll be a good one: There'll be an outdoor fire, fairy lights, woolly blankets, delicious food, great music, and plenty of Glühwein. Everything you could want from a proper winter party. And still, I said no. Not because I’m busy. Not because I’m at breaking point. Just... because I don’t really want to go. Big gatherings aren’t really my thing anymore, especially here in Germany where my conversational Deutsch is...enthusiastic but unreliable. I can hold my own for [...]

Last night, on the eve of going back to school after the autumn school holiday, my son and I were cuddled up in bed when he said, “What’s the point? You just go to school, have a holiday, go to school again, have another holiday, and then at some point you die.” For a second, I just stared at him, wondering if this was a normal thing for a ten-year-old to say or if I should quietly Google “child existential crisis” after he fell asleep. As a parent, there’s no handbook for these moments. You’re just lying there in the [...]

It's only October and already Christmas has crept into conversations with my coaching and therapy clients this week. Not the lovely, cosy parts: the walks in the crisp cold with a hat pulled down over your ears, permission to wear pyjamas all day, the cheesy films. But the weight of it. The pressure of being the one who makes Christmas happen. It's usually the same poor bugger every year. The one who ends up planning the food, buying the presents, keeping the peace. Meanwhile everyone else is on the sofa, half-asleep in paper crowns, waiting to be told when to [...]

We’re back in England for the summer, and only a few hours after we'd arrived, I found myself caught up in a situation involving a man, a bin, and a stuck mouse (which I know sounds like the start of a terrible joke, but bear with me). Now, I really do love animals, but mice? They make me very, very nervous. It’s something about how fast they move, how they dart out from nowhere. Which is not at all ideal when you live on a farm, where they’re part of daily life whether you like it or not. So, as I was [...]