This year for Earth Day, I wanted to concentrate on ‘doable’ things. I’ve been guilty of trying to do too much, too quickly and then experiencing guilt when I’m not doing ‘enough’. I am a dark green, I’ve been working, with my family, over the last fifteen years to make a serious difference in how we live. Ultimately, we have … Read More
Ecologi Projects
In October 2023 I joined Ecologi. I’ve been donating a percentage of my income each month to an environmentally positive project via their Impact Shop. I liked their way of working, clear evidence of practial projects that actually make a difference and their transparency. I also liked the variety of things I could support. Each month I’ve had a vote … Read More
Impact Report 2023
An Impact Report for an individual always feels an odd thing to do, but I like the reflection of looking back and adding up small actions into more impressive collections of impact. We try to balance supporting projects for both people and planet, and I’m very proud of our contribution in 2023. Not least, that in October I joined Ecologi … Read More
B is for Badges…
Badges for the win. I know I’ve talked about this before, but it’s worth repeating! In the traditional (now thought out of date) Stages of Grief by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the last part of grief is ‘returning to meaningful life’. That we find a way to get back to our old ‘normal’. I have thoughts on that whole thing here. This … Read More
B is for Binge…
Going on a binge of some kind isn’t unusual. You may already have done so. Extremes of experience often lead to extremes of behaviour. And that’s quite normal. When under stress we are likely to reach for those things that bring us any kind of relief. Usually, the quicker the better. This is a time when being self-aware, or having … Read More
Impact Report 2022
When I ran The Frugal Family, we did a report each year to try and evaluate our impact. There are lots of online calculators that can help you to do something similar yourself. Sometimes it feels as if the small changes we make a home aren’t going to be important, or make a difference. Using these calculators helped me to … Read More
A is for Animals
Animals are the focus of this second A-Z of Grief. For the first, click here. I think there are two things to talk about here; how animals teach us about death and the death of pets. Off we go… Animals and Life Cycles One of the first ways many of us become aware of mortality, is from animals. We may … Read More
Awareness Days
I use Awareness Days all the time for engagement, linking up and creating great stories and connections. Naturally, some hit me very personally too. Today is one of those days, and it’s been tough #worldpizzaday. Pizza Lover Issac loved pizza, which was a miracle after a long illness and fear of food for many years. We gave the gorgeous brooches in … Read More
Brew Monday or Ups and Downs
Blue Monday is all a load of bollocks. Ups and downs are completely normal in life, let alone in grief. Blue Monday was actually a very fancy marketing ploy by the travel industry… Brew Monday is rather lovely, it’s run by The Samaritans to focus on how we can help each other by having a cuppa (something we heavily promote … Read More
A is for Anger
Anger is a very common experience during grief, and it’s a tricky one as it can manifest in different ways. It can also lead to feelings of guilt, another doozer for all us well behaved, adaptive children to handle. If you find you experience very negative reactions to having ‘bad’ emotions like anger; I’d recommend learning about Transactional Analysis. It’s … Read More