Thrills, pills and a headscarf

I recently sat in a bar in Manchester chatting to a friend who asked me about my blogs and how I write them. I explained that I don't blog to a schedule, it has to be when the time is right and I have the right topic. For that reason this one started in Madrid and is ending in New Zealand because I wasn't going to do it until I could really focus on it. There have been a lot of clues to point me in the direction of this topic lately. A lot of events or statements that got me thinking about how easily we neglect ourselves as we get caught up in "life", often forgetting that life is living. To set the scene of this blog, it started sat in a little apartment in Madrid at 7.30am, having given in to the jet lag that had had me awake since 5.15am. I finally decided this time before the city really comes alive could be used far more productively (and more enjoyably than tossing and turning trying to sleep). I opened the balcony doors (the only time it will be cool enough...

12am 1st of January 2018 I sat on that questionable terrazza in Chile, saying Cheers to the New Year with a non-alcoholic cocktail and a slice of pizza. The stray dog at my feet lay quite happily, unfazed by all the noise around us, and I laughed as I began my commitment to saying Yes to my year, to my life. We're now halfway through this commitment and I really want to consider what saying yes has done for me and those around me. To start with I want to apologise for saying yes to making the word yes a verb; it just feels appropriate this year. So as anyone who has read my January 1st blog knows, I started by saying yes to the circumstances offered to me. Not just accepting these circumstances but embracing them. I laughed at every level of imperfection in that moment and thought about how perfect it actually was. I could have chosen never to have taken on the challenge of going to South America for four weeks, with cancer, after two major surgeries and while still takin...