My daughter has been having relationship problems recently culminating in a painful breakup which isn’t quite a breakup. “I think he’s afraid of getting hurt somewhere down the line, so he’s trying to minimise it by breaking up now” she says. I’ve heard many similar excuses for bewildering … [Read more...] about Why Making A Mess Of Things Is A Sign Of Progress
Recovery
How To Do What You Don’t Want To Do
When I was a kid I was, for a time, a member of the Young Ornithologists Club, essentially a birdwatching society for children who got bullied in the playground. Recalling it during a conversation with my sister I tell her, “I used to go to meetings run by a woman called Mrs. Bird (true) on a … [Read more...] about How To Do What You Don’t Want To Do
How To Accept Your Anxieties
A couple of weeks ago I took my daughter for some blood tests and, on the journey, we were discussing how the last time I had taken her for some she’d had a complete meltdown in the waiting room and then again when she’d got in to see the nurse. Consequently, she does everything she possibly can … [Read more...] about How To Accept Your Anxieties
How To Deal With Pain
My daughter is sharing with me her reading list for university and bemoaning the cost of the textbooks in the way that one would if one were actually having to pay for them. I tell her about how I remember my own study books being astronomically expensive but how I really loved buying them all … [Read more...] about How To Deal With Pain
How To Find Yourself
My daughter has just been away on holiday with her boyfriend on the beautiful Welsh coast. She arrived home with a bag full of enthusiasm and strangely flavoured rock. Last night she was home for dinner and it felt like an age since I'd seen her. "You must miss her. She was always in your … [Read more...] about How To Find Yourself