One day is always on the horizon, and you can never get there — The words you use to yourself have power. People have known this since the Bible first hit the streets, Our words have the power to destroy and the power to build up (Proverbs 12:6). And this applies to the way you use words to others and yourself. You might have…

Would you like a younger body without going under the knife? — Who wouldn’t want to get younger every day? Ok, I’m not giving you the ingredients of a magic potion or promising you’ll look twenty years younger overnight. Only ten years younger. But seriously, what if you could ignore your cell by date and choose a new one? How on earth…

Not happy to have cancer but happy despite it — Hopefully, you won’t get cancer. And if you do, you’ll only get it once. I’ve had it twice. So why was I happy? I wasn’t happy to have cancer; that might have been a stretch. But I was happy despite cancer. I’ve spoken about how easy I found having cancer…

This might be the best you have right now — I was the one at school whose teacher said that I could do better. But could I? Well, yes, to be fair, I probably could have spent more time on homework and not chatted all through the class, but maybe I was doing the best I could at that time. …

It’s time to drop the mask and be seen for being you — Many years ago, while studying for A levels, I went on a school trip to Russia. It was a dual-city trip that involved a train journey between destinations, and you know what it’s like; when one needed to go, all of us in the all-girls group needed to use the…

Why free gift might end up costing you — Reciprocity. I’ve loved this word since Lauren Hill sang about it in the Fugee’s song, Ex-Factor, back in 1998, and once I hear the word, I can’t help singing. Not that anyone else loves the word when I sing but hey ho. Reciprocity is a simple concept; the dictionary says…

Do you believe you have a fixed personality? — “I use bits and pieces of others’ personalities to form my own.” Kurt Cobain I used to be an angry person. I’m talking red mist and steam coming out of my ears, angry. My daughters tell me that I wasn’t always the nicest person to be around when I flipped…

If only I’d … — I published my first post on Medium in 2016. I haven’t looked back at anything from that time, as the writing would probably horrify me. But in 2016, I wrote a couple of pieces and then crickets until 2021. If only I’d continued writing. How many stories would I have…

Why not try it and see? — My best friends have got me through some tough times. Times when everything looked bleak. They saw me through my first cancer experience; they drove me to the hospital at 6 am and attended appointments with me. We’ve been rolling drunk together, laughed until we nearly wet ourselves, and cried…