September 2021
I reject the hustle lifestyle
If you know me, then you know that I’m mostly laid back, very organised and anal about time. But I’m not one of those rush-rush anal about time people, I’m more the laid back perfectionist type, the one who likes to make sure that I’ve overbooked a little extra so that I can enjoy the process, not just rush through
August 2021
Cancel culture needs to be cancelled
I should be writing a blog post for work, but today I’m just too worked up to focus on that. This has been brewing in my mind for so long and it’s about time we start talking about this: cancel culture needs to be cancelled. I’m going to use an example to frame my overall point about cancel culture. The
June 2021
Moon cups are game changers. Period.
We do not talk about our periods enough. In fact, most of the world doesn’t talk about it at all, as though it’s this disgusting, taboo thing that only happens to a tiny population of people with bad hygiene. If men had periods, we wouldn’t even be entertaining this conversation. Frankly, body odour is a natural occurrence and that doesn’t
May 2021
30 brings an existential crisis
Time is not unlimited. It’s the most precious resource on the planet, and it’s so precious that once it’s lost, it is lost forever. Unfortunately for me, I am very aware of this fact. I look around at my life with every passing year and think, “what the hell am I really doing with my life?” Sometimes I’m on track,
April 2021
What do you want to do with your life
And how do you get on track? Everyone has been here: you’re either standing in front of the mirror at the bathroom sink or sat at the edge of the bed after a shower, contemplating the state of affairs that comprise of your life. Head in hands, you ask yourself what the hell you’re doing, because for whatever reason, you
March 2021
That time I was denied help: I was suicidal and sexually abused at home
This week, the entire world has been talking about one thing: the Harry and Meghan interview. It was an interview that rocked the world and is one of the most telling interviews since Princess Diana’s landmark Panorama interview. I’ve seen the interview twice: once when it aired, and again this morning, but what is really interesting to me is the
Focusing when your own mind is a distraction
Distraction is my biggest life foe. My curious nature allows my distraction to derail every attempt at being productive, and it thrives on my inability to complete tasks… This becomes one of those vicious cycles where I’m distracting myself with feelings of dissatisfaction for not being productive, which leads to further distraction and down the rabbit hole of self-destructive inner
The ongoing battle of a writing career
Writing for yourself is harder than writing for a client. Sometimes it feels damn near impossible to squeeze the words out, like being severely constipated, and there are a million and one distractions, ready for me. It’s television, my parrot, my stomach, my allergies, social media, and even the allure of other projects not related to what I’m supposed to
January 2021
The origin story of my sexual abuse
Yes, you read that correctly. I have alluded to this before on this blog, but I haven’t really given the full story about it, or how it started. This is the tell-all some have been waiting for. I have enough material to write a book about this, and I am but today, it’s just going to be an article, detailing
Perfectionism is the secret to unlocking genius
When we talk about the Greats, these people of magnificent prowess in the highest ranks of their respective fields, we think about them being born into their roles, as though their success was somehow preordained, fated. We have been taught that genius comes from those exceptional people who are born that way, but the fact remains that these people were
Can anyone be a brilliant writer?
Anyone can be an average writer, but being a talented writer, that’s something special. Writing is hard work, requires a lot of time, an ability to brood and ruminate, and can be a praise-less job until you hit the bestsellers list. Society looks down at writers with a sense of disdain, because of the parasitic starving artist stereotype, and they
November 2020
Chapter three: finding the writer within
Stuck. Frozen in perpetual frustration, the moment my eyes look at my blank manuscript, littered with a sparse outline masquerading as something substantial. This is every time I open a personal scrivener project. For six years, I’ve felt the cold chill in my bones of writing something that might become a book. Finding myself as a writer on this scale
September 2020
A time of transition
I never would have thought that I would actually be a career writer. I never had that dream as a young girl, reading all those books and dreaming of spending my days clacking away at fiction. In fact, I thought I was good, but average at best. To be completely honest, I still don’t feel like my writing is anything
January 2020
Story from a successful startup founder…
About three years ago, I wrote Advice from a Failed Startup Founder. Back then, life was very different for me, and I was determined to paint another picture for you: the rarely ever seen picture of failure. You see, most people only ever speak about their successes because they are ashamed of their failures, or they are afraid of the
December 2019
Asbestos in Makeup
How does Asbestos end up in makeup? It’s a very surreal thought, having a material as dangerous as asbestos in makeup, the stuff we put on our skin, specifically our faces and around our noses. A more stomach-dropping thought is that in 2017, asbestos was found in children’s makeup products… Imagine someone playing with makeup as a kid and suffering
November 2019
Self-branding is hard.
Marketing is my thing. Like this is what I sell to my clients every day. And I’m so impossibly shit at doing it for myself; it’s really pathetic. So, what did I do today? I planned to rectify this situation a bit. Let’s just say that I’m my worst enemy sometimes, and my harshest critic. I am terrified of social
Managing Anxiety
Stop on your way to work for 30 seconds and look around you. What do you see? The postman is out delivering mail, people are rushing past you on the busy street to get to work, Amazon delivering a midnight order of nappies, construction workers continue to toil on, a child is throwing a tantrum with a frustrated parent, cyclists
October 2019
The Writer who doesn’t write
I believe that everyone who writes professionally and has a full time job has this issue with writing on a personal level. We just don’t have the time or energy or willpower for it. So the passion suffers, and then the work suffers because the passion is suffering. It’s a chicken and egg scenario, really. We work because we have
July 2019
Forever at War with Myself
Every single day, without fail, two sides of me are at war. I’m programmed, be it by society or my own high standards, to want to build a successful business and that is supposed to make me happy. Just that singular thing. But there is a whole side of me that just wants to breathe and relax and enjoy life,
On gratitude: The things we often take for granted.
I spend my life in a state of not-satisfied, not because I’m not content, but because I am afraid of getting comfortable. I’m always working. Nothing is ever good enough. My best work is ahead of me still. There’s still more to be done. But I am very grateful. Always grateful. This blog post is to remind you, and myself,
April 2018
The Isolated Life of an Introvert
As far as I can remember, I’ve always struggled to make friends. In school, I had a couple friends, only one of whom I really stayed in frequent contact with; checking in on each other every week or so, until a couple months pass and you’re like “Where the hell have you been, update time”. I never really made friends
I’m An Immigrant In My Own Home Country
It sounds like an oxymoron, but I am an immigrant in my own home country; a native immigrant. When I left England at the tender age of seven, I would have never imagined the twenty year journey I would have to embark on just to get home. I’m not from a war-torn, drug-infested, or communist country, but I had so
December 2017
The War of Art
For years, I’ve been at war with myself, fighting to get my head to believe that my heart beats to the sound of prose, and not one of a cash register. I’ll admit that I’m materialistic to a point; and we all are. You need food to survive. You need a roof over your head. You need internet, a smartphone,
April 2017
Feeling like you’re fighting an uphill battle? Resistance is the problem.
Eight years ago, I started writing this blog. Year after year, I’ve found myself repeating like a broken record, “I need to take my writing more seriously” or “I need to write more consistently.” Last month, I made the decision to write 2000 words every day. Guess how many I wrote? Possibly about ten thousand words. Across the entire month.
March 2017
Advice from a Failed Startup Founder
This business took everything. Two marriages. Two cars. Homes. Money. Sanity. Everything. How ready are you to open a business? There is no founder on the planet who has lost absolutely nothing in the process of gaining success. If anyone has ever told you that, call bullshit immediately. I refuse to believe that someone opened a business, and shot to
