Lifestyle Articles
I became a mother at the age of 25.
Straight out of the Uni, I had left my parental home to travel a bit and make some cash. After spending a few weeks in North England I came to London to visit the man I had met and fallen in love with at a summer festival. And we pretty much stayed together since.
Five months into us living together I was pregnant. What takes some couples years, we covered in months…
I came across the Juno magazine in the health shop where I worked – it was a true godsend to me. I was totally inexperienced, yet I knew I wanted a homebirth, to breastfeed and carry my baby in a sling, co-sleep.
How hard can it be?
(I wrote this article with the approaching festive season and us mothers in mind.)
What must it feel like to live in a world where women are treated differently and mothers are expected only to be mothers – motherhood being their greatest achievement?
Mothering in the western world can be an overwhelming journey. Whether we stay at home, go to work or work from home, we end up with many roles in our daily lives.
It always is a juggling act – and gets especially tricky when our children are unwell, there are more demands at work, we are planning celebrations and family gatherings or even when the seasons are changing.
November 8th (2023) was one huge tower moment of my life. I am still reeling from the enormity of what I had to do.
My precious 4-legged friend Dora had had many problems over the years but we always managed to heal them with herbs, homeopathy, even by changing her diet. She never saw a vet. At times it was pretty intense but she always pulled through. I used to say she had nine lives.
Well, it turns out she didn't have a tenth one.
(This article may resonate especially with all the mamas out there!)
Most of us have read or heard about the amazing benefits of the ancient practice of meditating. Our cut-edge science can actually measure the mood, mind and even immunity-altering benefits of meditation. We should all make it part of our everyday lives. And yet...
If you are like me, a busy mum with two inquisitive and very lively boys, who is always planning, organising, thinking and generally DOING you will find the idea of sitting down daily and 'clearing' your mind of EVERYTHING, so impossible it sounds hilarious!
Simply said: fashion = clothes. Especially we girls tend to have a lot of clothes for various reasons.
We love colours and/or patterns.
We love a certain style.
We love the variety and choice of garments so we can wear different things everyday.
Or sometimes we just love trying on clothes and shopping.
Clothes make us happy. Full stop.
But do they make the planet happy?
Or the workers who have to make them?
What about the manufacturing process?
Should we give this more thought?
And do we really need so many clothes?
I am writing this article during Plastic-free July. I feel excited that this initiative will spark some of the much needed eco conversations in our society. Fortunately, it’s not ‘too hippie’ for the mainstream person to purchase stainless steel drinking straws or bring their own coffee/drinking water/homemade soup in a reusable bottle/flask to work or on an outing.
These are IMPORTANT steps! It’s not just about sorting out our weekly waste for the recycling – it’s about taking some proactive steps at reducing single use plastic in our homes. What once might have been considered weird and way out there, is slowly getting accepted in the wider society.