Being ill sucks, but recovery can suck even harder. When you’re at the worst of whatever you’re suffering from, you likely don’t care about much else. You’re too busy feeling miserable, the discomfort of whatever is ailing you taking up all the space in your mind and body. Time lasts forever, and is no time at… Read more

Hard truth time – there is no perfect job.  And in these strange times we live in, where uncertainty and change plague us (ahem), we all deal with this differently: resign, focus on non-work activities, or perhaps fume silently. Annoyingly, the way we think about our work affects our feelings about it – and our feelings… Read more

I am often asked ‘What does self-care mean to you?” If I had to summarise, I would say it means taking responsibility for my own emotional, physical and mental health.  So how is my own self-care journey going? We’re Never ‘Done’ I think people often forget that self-care is a work in progress, rather than something you… Read more

Many of us are confined to our homes right now, whether for most of the time, or some of it. Life is different from a month ago. We don’t have the same time, places, people and resources available to us. Our worlds have, in many ways, contracted. For most of us (though if you have kids… Read more

This is a strange and troubled time. Our world has turned upside down. In order to be kind to others, and ourselves, we need to isolate ourselves. Pull away from physical contact. Remove ourselves from their presence. We need to shut ourselves up in the boxes that we live in, and restrict our movements. As I’ve… Read more

At the end of 2019, I read through my morning pages for the whole year. They’re nothing special, just a brain dump of 1000 words a day I use them for all kinds of things: to process thoughts and feelings that might be keeping me stuck; to move past writer’s block; to explore a character’s voice… Read more

I was recently interviewed on Melissa Dinwiddie’s excellent podcast “Creative Now!” about my views on creativity, perfectionism and of course, self-care and self-compassion. She is the author of the book The Creative Sandbox Way: Your Path to a Full-Color Life and here shares her thoughts on Creativity and Self-Compassion, two crucial tools in all our creative… Read more

Last year, I was blocked. At first, it was because I’d taken on too many things, and I needed to focus. I knew you’d be busy over the Summer, personal development at the back of your mind, so I thought I’d take a little break. Then the Autumn came, and I had some ideas for writing… Read more

Note from Ellen: You may feel this is a little controversial. It’s not designed that way, only to make you think. The examples in it are just that, examples. But if you feel challenged by them, ask yourself why. Maybe there’s something to play with, there…gently. Every day you make thousands of tiny choices. Coffee or… Read more