As a life and career coach, I’m supposed to have my shit together. But I don’t. I don’t make enough money to pay my bills. I don’t eat right. I don’t have a life partner. I’ll never be in shape the way I was when I was swimming 4 miles a day. Or when I was training for a marathon. It’s beyond embarrassing to admit this—that I don’t have my […]
Sometime in the past few years a little phrase started to make its way into the vernacular around water coolers and on entrepreneur blogs everywhere. Lifestyle Creep is the term used to describe the phenomenon of spending rising in proportion to income. If your expenses rise at the same rate your income ascends you never feel as though you have extra – it’s already spent. The articles I have read […]
What is our fascination with luxury? Why do we love it? If you were to describe the picture above, what comes to mind? Beauty, comfort, relaxation, opulence, love, care, cleanliness, gleaming, quiet, attention to detail, rest, private, exclusive, soft, warm, safe, restorative, healing, special, unique, rare, pristine, perfect, highest standards of excellence……to name a few? I’ve been grappling with my relationship to the material world and pursuit of worldly goods. […]
Have you ever looked in the mirror and been surprised that the person staring back at you was so much OLDER than you feel inside? That cognitive dissonance could be the result of a poorly defined self-image, but more often that not it’s because our core being doesn’t really age. Even as time passes and life presents new challenges and opportunities, who we are at our core remains unchanged, timeless. […]
Sydney, Australia, 1989. So here I was… making it in the super-competitive business world. I was: heir apparent in a major multi-national ad firm, marketing writer, national new-business director, just voted in the top 10 across the country, blah blah. An ‘80’s Mad Man. And then we had a third child, unexpectedly. I came home one night late (as usual) from the office and my wife asked me to […]
In 2013, I decided to make some significant changes in my life. I was divorced, working in administrative assistant level positions, doodling on the sides of my notebooks, and wondering where my ambition and passion had gone. What was I doing?! What did I really want in my one, beautiful life? Luckily I had some great friends on the same journey. Asking themselves the same questions. One of those friends […]
When did “self-care” become synonymous with getting our nails done? For the record, I love having my nails done, but it’s not self-care. My Self doesn’t need pretty nails; my ego does. (And, yes, I realize people paint their nails for other reasons.) When we talk about self-care, it’s essential to examine our motivations to be sure that we are supporting our Selves and health rather than inadvertently undermining our […]
Time doesn’t quite seem to be on my side. We always think there will be more time, but in so many ways there won’t be… enough. For the third time in my life, my heart has been broken. It was a physical aching, stabbing, sharp pain that pierced my chest when I received the text, “You’re getting another sibling.” “What…,” I responded. His quick reply, “Your boy’s a fiancé!!!” Blank […]
Who among us hasn’t felt—in a moment of heartache or sorrow or rage or any other or so-called “negative” emotion—that if we just could change X about ourselves (or someone else) we could achieve Y, Z, or maybe the entire rest of the alphabet? The allure of this sort of magical thinking compells me to write frequently about the perils of positive psychology and for good reason: the more obsessed […]
Lao Tzu famously wrote that the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, which despite its face value, “yeah, no shit” philosophy, tells me that even the greatest achievements and distances are realized in the smallest of increments, and that paramount to all, is that there is a start. One must simply start, as small a step as it may be, in order to get from here to […]