Well here we are again eh…… redundancy meets recession meets cost of living crisis meets record numbers of over 50’s unable to find work ….

and yep, it’s real

If the experts are right…and we are the sum total of the 5 people we spend most time with …. is this helping us to reach our goals or holding us back?

How many of us appear outwardly confident and successful …. but live with hidden anxiety, overwhelm and feeling generally out of control, or like something is missing?

I was happily sitting in the sun outside my favourite local coffee shop. I could stop right there and that alone would tell you how I was fully relaxed and enjoying the moment.

A female came rushing across and sat down at the table in front and to the left of me - firmly in my line of sight. Midlife I would say. Possibly mid-fifties like myself.

It was the way she was dressed that grabbed my attention; totally appropriate for all considerations: age, shape, height, location, time of year and so forth. But more so.

The first weekend in March can be complete potluck with regard to the weather. I know this because my birthday falls around the same time. 2022 chose to be grey and bitterly cold. But it also turned out to be one of the happiest 24 hours and a complete tonic to get me through until the warmer days show up.

My best friend of over 40 years joined me on a quick hop on a ferry across to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. There is something so decadent in leaving one piece of the earth and travelling by whatever means to another – even if it is no more than 5 miles in total.

It was distance enough to make us feel carefree, liberated and open to adventure

And this is exactly what we got

How do you view your work?

Is it a big part of your identity?

Or is just something you do in order to enjoy your non-work life?

Well, which ever it is– it usually occupies a fair old chunk of our time

Even a neat 9-5 with no expectation of extra hours can impinge into our free time if we have worries around deadlines, a difficult colleague or an incompetent manager.

“I’m ready for a change now but change is harder than I thought. Something in me choses to resist and revert to the status quo. But I’m feeling stagnant, unfulfilled, uninspired and is has been so very long since the “magic” was able to flow. My belly is swollen with sugar and carbs - my attempt to give myself energy - not exactly the best way is it?