Wordsmith at work

  When Life Throws Lemons at You…   Life believes in raising us to be strong resilient individuals, and hence I believe, throws the odd lemon at us and asks us to turn the sour lemon into sweet lemonade. Like everybody else, life has given me my fair share of lemons and I understand that I will always have that stock of lemons. Every time I’m handed a lemon, I know there is a lesson to be learnt from the challenge.  When I first receive the lemons, lemonade is the last thing on my mind. I ‘m furious, agitated, depressed, worried and confused and I say it okay to feel that way.  Then slowly sanity and reason begin to prevail and thoughts about lemonade begin to surface. Then I’m hard at work trying to turn the lemons into lemonade.  I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned because of the lemons, whether it was health, relationships or money. The lessons have been painful but I know they will hold me in good stead for a lifetime. When life throws lemons at ...

    I recently celebrated my sixtieth birthday with some excitement and trepidation. It is a significant milestone and I am amazed by the swift passage of time.  As I begin a new chapter in my life, I’m given to reflection, introspection and gratitude.  Chronologically, I am sixty and grey-haired but I don’t feel sixty, except when that little voice in my head says to me, “Remember you are a little beyond middle-aged”. A cousin lightheartedly reminds me to avail myself of senior citizen discounts and bank interest rates. That will take some time to get used to. I ‘m enjoying that unique sense of freedom that comes with age. My Thoughts:   Reflection and Introspection : I look back on the life I lived,  the challenges I ‘ve overcome, the friends I made, the friends I’ve lost or drifted apart from, my thoughts, actions and reactions during each stage of life, the joys and sorrows experienced and the lessons I ‘ve learned.   Wisdom: Six dec...

 I, Me, Myself   “Self–care is giving people the best of you, instead of the rest of you," says writer Katie Reed. Self-care is not being selfish, it is just that you also give priority to your   needs and wants, without guilt, and look to fulfillment and contentment. Unless you are whole and happy, can you help others to be the same? The popular metaphor, “You can’t pour out of an empty cup,” sums it up. As a society, we will ‘battle on’ despite the odds against us. We tend to expend more energy than we create, leading to burnout. This doesn’t happen all at once but builds momentum and one fine day snowballs into a crisis. Knowing your limitations and striking a balance is crucial towards keeping your cup full. How does your cup become empty? When you are constantly prioritising the needs of others, racing to meet targets, and push yourself to do more, you suffer burnout, and your cup begins to empty. You can address the situation by practising self-care or act...

  Are your tresses in distress? Your friendly neighbourhood stylist has a solution for every kind of stress - distress. I turned sixty recently and have sported a salt-pepper head of hair for quite a few years. Although many of my peers complain about having 'hair issues' I'm proud of my head of hair. Many remain intrigued by my silver strands and wonder why I have still not dyed my hair. I am not sure why I have not got down to dyeing my hair or getting those highlights.  As of now, I am comfortable with the way my hair looks. Most of the silver strands take cover beneath the peppered ones. A few choose to peek out and I am pretty okay with that. I will undoubtedly look better or worse with dyed hair. When I am not okay with the way my hair looks, I will consider dyeing and highlighting. After all, a woman is not judged by the colour of her hair. Someone even remarked, "Now that your sons have grown up, "why don't you colour your hair?".   So what is ...