The map of living is a tricky draft;
You’ll meet the moment where the path is split.
The towering obstacle—the sudden shaft—
Is not a sign to fail, or cause to quit.
The Cartography of Courage
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Tag Archives: Wellbeing
The Burnout Warning Signs: Protecting Trustees
Read time: 8 minutes
Sarah sounds tired when she calls. Really tired. Not the kind of tired that comes from a busy day teaching primary school children, but something deeper. Something that sleep doesn’t seem to fix.
Three years ago, Sarah joined the board of Oakdale Community Sports Hub with excitement. She’d been volunteering as a football coach and wanted to help the charity grow. Now, when she talks about the Hub, there’s still love in her voice—but it’s mixed with something else. Worry. Exhaustion. The weight of feeling responsible for keeping the doors open.
Continue readingSarah and her charity are fictional, but their story mirrors what happens to real organisations across the UK every day.
The Holiday Hustle: Reclaiming Your Sanity as a Working Parent
Christmas is a magical time filled with family, food, and festivities—but for parents, it can also be a whirlwind of planning, present-wrapping, and keeping kids entertained. Add work stress into the mix, and “relaxing” can feel like a distant dream.
But here’s the good news: with a bit of prep and a healthy dose of realism, you can unwind over the holiday season—even with kids around. Prioritizing downtime isn’t just about enjoying the present moment; it’s an investment in your future success. When you return to work refreshed and recharged, you’ll be better equipped to tackle challenges and perform at your best.
Let’s talk about practical ways to relax, switch off from work, and enjoy Christmas without chasing perfection (because perfect is exhausting, and frankly, not that fun).
Continue readingWorking from home – Covid Special
I have worked from home for years before Covid hit.
Work and home life blurring boundaries can be very difficult without hard rules in place to separate them. My biggest issue now is the relentless lockdowns bringing family members into the home. Juggling work in a house when there are two teenagers doing school and University work is a challenge in itself, especially as I am an unsociable creature who is too used to an empty house in the daytime. Checking in on the youngest as he tries his best to avoid school work – the eldest constantly teasing his brother so there is the unexpected roar of lost tempers… It’s enough for me to turn into Smaug at least three times every day.
Having said that, this is how I do it.
Continue readingKindness
Kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
Mark Twain
Rain
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Don’t get upset when it rains after a long drought… be thankful the roses have water and go dance in it!
Letting go of Guilt and Anxiety
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The Power to Choose
At any time you can decide to alter the course of your life.
No one can ever take that away from you. You can do what you want to do and be who you want to be. Nature is constantly at work around you. Character and destiny are her handiwork. She gives you love and hate, jealousy and reverence.
You have the power to choose which impulse you follow.
While your character is formed by your circumstances, your desires can shape those circumstances.
The one thing over which you have absolute control are your own thoughts.It is this that puts you in a position to control your own destiny.
Your greatest power is the power to choose.
The art of self control
Perfecting your character takes a lot of effort. It is not a goal that you accomplish and then you can relax because you have “made it.” Developing your character is an ongoing process which never ends. There will always be something or someone who will try to throw a monkey wrench into your peaceful existence. Controlling your thoughts and your emotions takes work, but the more that you practice these skills, the easier they will become.
The art of self-control is like every other endeavor; you will have good days and bad days in your quest to perfect this skill. Nobody is perfect, especially when it comes to controlling thoughts and emotions. There will be days when you fall short of your goal. I can assure you that you will have days in which you allow your anger or impatience to get the best of you, just as you will have days when your back kick does not click for whatever reason, but it is important that you don’t quit.
When you find that you are having a bad day with your physical training, you don’t say this is not working and never go back to the dojo. The same goes for your mental training. When you have a bad day, go home and relax, meditate, and cleanse your heart and mind.
Get things back in balance and know that every day you start with a clean slate. Once you actually get your heart clean, it is much easier to keep it clean. If you find the same things continue to throw you off balance time after time, go to the source and remove the root of your of your problem. Think about this.
What is Mindfulness?
Put simply, mindfulness is as simple as becoming aware of your here and now experience, both internally and in the external world around you. It gives you a space in the present moment to be able to more safely deal with the distressing and painful memories of things that might have happened to you in the past. It also allows you to look at and plan for the future, even when you might have fearful thoughts about things that haven’t yet happened, from a secure position of knowing that you are in the present moment. In fact, we are never NOT in the present moment – we just lose track of that fact quite often.
The Art of Stupidity 