Halfway through year 11, I had a mini-breakdown. The intense pressure I put myself under to be ‘perfect’ academically became too much and coupled with what turned out to be an iron deficiency, I crumbled. I blame maths.

Mindfulness and putting your own oxygen mask on first mean different things to different people. For some people it’s meditation; for others it’s binge watching Suits on Netflix or having a long hot bath. For me, it’s exercise.

I was prompted to write about this after a conversation with friends about my work. A couple commented that working at night must be awful when I could be relaxing in front of the TV. (For the record, I barely ever watch TV. If I wasn’t working I’d be reading or writing instead; or *shudder* doing housework.) […]

Ladies! Gather round, lean in, listen up. We need to talk. You need to stop. Stop dismissing your achievements, talking yourself down, brushing off your success, and diminishing the results of your hard work as simply ‘good luck’. STOP IT! It’s hurting you. It’s hurting all of us.

On my eighteenth birthday I sat my driver’s licence. And I failed. It was the most mortifying moment of my life.

What would I do if I wasn’t afraid? It’s a question I ask myself often. It’s a question I want you to ask yourself now.

When I was 21 I travelled around Australia. On my own. For a year. In my little red three-door Hyundai with a tent in the back. I went up the centre and worked in a remote roadhouse in a small Aboriginal community; I sold movie vouchers door-to-door in Darwin; I meandered across to Broome and […]

“Do you ever fall apart?” That’s the question someone asked me recently and it’s one I really want to answer.

Yesterday I had knee surgery. An arthroscopic clean out and lateral release of the knee cap. It went well and the surgeon’s happy. It was the third operation I’ve had on that knee and I’ll get the same procedure on the other knee in about six weeks, for the second time. The surgery was minor […]

I’m good at being kind to other people. I’m friendly, forgiving and empathetic. When I did the VIA Institute on Character’s strengths survey recently, forgiveness came out number one, followed by kindness.   But when it comes to the way I treat myself, I’m nowhere near as nice.