Sharing my story at Inspiring Women NZ 2020

Our lives essentially revolve around relationships - with people we care about, at work, fleeting moments with strangers, and yes, even with the style-guru at your favourite local store. I learned that the more I worked on my relationship with myself, the better I treat those relationships that actually matter to me. For the first time in my adult life, I can finally talk to my Mum with a level of honesty that gives me hope that some of the walls I’ve built over the last four years are slowly coming down.

Just Because You Can Do It All, Doesn't Mean You Should

I got sick recently, like really sick. Sick enough to end up in hospital, because it turned out that the three-day pain in my abdomen was my appendix, daring to break up with me. How can something so small cause you a whole lot of pain? Like, stepping on Lego. Or a damn prickle.

Thank goodness for free healthcare in New Zealand, aye. It’s been almost three weeks since my operation and I’m relatively pain free. There’s no longer a gingerness in each step - on the outside you can’t tell I even had an operation. But I’m not firing on all engines yet. Tiredness creeps up on me around 3pm, insisting I take a late afternoon siesta before dinner.

Don't Make Loneliness Your Moat - Learning To Play With Others

I think there’s a big difference between being independent and wanting to do everything on your own. Being independent means, that yes, you are quite capable of doing things on your own (and probably kicking ass at that!), but you don’t assume that you’re the only person that can do those things, or that your way is the only way to do it. That’s your ego making you out to be a boss, when really, it just isolates you. There’s a great sense of pride to finish a project on your own, but you may be burned out at the end of it too! Help is all around you, it’s when we don’t allow others to give that goodness that we begin to feel isolated and lonely.