This story in the Daily Mail made me smile today and I’m sure it will resonate with a lot of parents out there, especially now that so many of us are back in lockdown and with children being home-schooled again.
I’m sure many of us can understand the Dad’s level of frustration when, let’s face it, he’s simply trying to encourage healthy habits in his children and which resulted in, what some might consider, a rather extreme response on his part.
He unplugged the wifi router and took it out with him and his wife when they went for the walk in question.
His took a photo of himself out with the router and his social media post read: “Kids refused to come out and we gave up trying to drag them so took the WiFi for a walk instead.”
Chaos could have ensued but, in this case, it seems to have had a really positive effect. Continue reading “Kids refuse to go out for a walk so Dad takes wifi router out instead!”
We’re into the season of Christmas films again now.
I wrote about why I enjoy watching these a couple of years ago.
Last week, I watched ‘Collateral Beauty’ – a 2016 film starring Will Smith that passed me by until now.
Strictly speaking, it’s probably not a Christmas film – it’s set at this time of year, but Christmas isn’t the main theme.
But, to me, it feels similar in nature to ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’ and, like them, has a slightly ‘magical’ quality woven in with some interesting and useful reflections. Continue reading “What is Your ‘Why’?”
I was chatting with a friend recently about how we’re all coping with living with restrictions at the moment because of the current pandemic.
Of course, whilst some of what we’re each doing is to protect ourselves, there’s also the aspect of protecting and caring for others.
Wearing masks is a good example.
This reminded me of The Parable of the Long-Handled Spoons – a very simple tale that illustrates how we can create harmony or misery for ourselves, depending on how much we help and support each other – or not.
If you’ve not heard of this and/or would like a quick reminder, this short video (just 4 minutes) gives you the gist:
Today is World Mental Health Awareness Day, a day to check in with ourselves – are we thriving, coping, surviving or feeling overwhelmed?
And if we’re ok, maybe to check in with those we care about.
There’s a (really short) poem I like: “Not Waving but Drowning” by Stevie Smith – inspired by something she read about a man who drowned and whose friends thought he was waving to them, not drowning.
She compares this to the way in which people in everyday life sometimes try to be ‘brave’ and/or pretend to be ok, when really they’re not.
Today is World Suicide Prevention Day – an appropriate time to think about how we are looking after ourselves and each other right now, and how resilient we feel.
Have you found yourself (more than usually, on occasion, or more often) off-balance or overwhelmed this year as a result of life events that you may (or may not) have anticipated – plus, on top of all of that, everything we’ve all been dealing with/are still facing to do with covid-19?
I know I have, and that it’s also true for many people I know, personally and professionally.
How do you rate your own resilience amongst all this? Are you the ‘Weeble that wobbles but doesn’t fall down’ (maybe I’m showing my age here with this example…?). Or are you worried that you might actually fall down? Continue reading “How resilient are you?”
For any introverts out there who might not have hated lockdown quite as much as their extravert friends and colleagues.
Perhaps you’ve enjoyed the reduced social interaction, invitations and demands and welcomed the opportunity for some (permitted/unchallenged) solitude.
Maybe lockdown has given you the time and space to find some calm within the storm, reconnect with yourself, draw breath, re-centre, adjust your pace of life.
In my experience, not everyone appreciates the difference between loneliness and solitude – and that solitude is something that a lot of us need from time to time and that we value.
So you might be feeling a little guilty or embarrassed – or fear being labelled by friends and family as rather unsociable, depressed or lazy if you’re not rushing to meet up again in person…
You’re not alone in this (even if you’d prefer be – ha ha!) and you might appreciate hearing from a couple of other people who feel similarly. Continue reading “Introverts – time to re-engage – or not?”
Lockdown, though necessary to contain the initial spread of Covid-19, was hard for a lot of people. In most parts of the UK now, (and in some other parts of the world, too), restrictions are starting to ease and we’re now entering a different phase, a slightly revised ‘normal’.
Whilst these changes are extremely welcome for some – particularly those whose income has been adversely affected and who are now able to resume work – for others, this brings a new level of anxiety in terms of deciding which activities feel safe to resume, and which don’t.
In many ways, full lockdown is easier and clearer to navigate in terms of understanding what we each can and can’t do. It removes most of the element of choice and individual decision-making. Now we’re starting to have to consider different possibilities and to interpret advice and rules which are, to many of us, less clear cut. Continue reading “Coming out of lockdown – easy or confusing?”
When we went into lockdown we all stopped doing this – some of us had stopped even before that.
It’s something we have tended to do here in the UK – in business and socially.
Maybe it’s a generational thing (I’m in my 60s) and perhaps it’s also more prevalent amongst men than women – although, in my experience, lots of women (in a work context, at least) used to shake hands, too.
A handshake seems like a small gesture, but maybe it represents quite a lot? Continue reading “Hello! Will we ever shake hands again?”
Yesterday, in between other meetings, I attended some sessions at the CIPD Festival of Work Conference – online of course, and focusing very much on the current situation, Covid-related.
The keynote address contained some real nuggets that have stuck with me since then – with regard to:
- the organisations that I work with and for,
- some of my coaching and counselling clients and supervisees,
- my own personal aspirations and career plan. Continue reading “Nuggets of wisdom re jobs, careers and business”
Whole People 