Category: Self-reflection

1. Why Self-Care Is NOT a Bubble Bath and a Cup of Tea

   Posted on 6:00pm Wednesday 29th Jan 2020

   We all know broadly what self-care is – it’s doing various things to look after yourself and your health, whether that be physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, blah blah. It seems easy, but it isn’t always. There’s a bunch of problems that regularly seem to come up when self-care is the topic of discussion.

2. Stay Back, Stay Quiet: My First Lesson in Mammalian Birth

   Posted on 10:35am Wednesday 22nd Jan 2020

   I remember my first birth like it was yesterday. Well, I do and I don’t. I have clear memories of it, but they are flashes of clarity in a sea of murkiness, in the way that memories from your childhood tend to be. I was probably around the age of 7 or 8, so I’m sure this can be forgiven.

   I have come to realise that that evening was a rather important experience for me as a person. It is said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step and that evening was, I think, my first step.

3. Birth Stories and Houseplants: How a Glimpse into Someone Else's Soul Gives Me a Glimpse into My Own

   Posted on 2:45pm Sunday 20th Oct 2019

   It’s a bright and crisp Tuesday afternoon. I’ve found my seat and stashed my suitcase. I’ve committed the rookie mistakes of forgetting both a nail file for the snick in my thumb nail and my yarn scissors (how?!), and while I’ve managed to fix both of those things thanks to other passengers who have clearly got their shit together more than I have, crocheting is no longer holding any appeal.

   Even eating my lunch and browsing Facebook and Instagram only takes twenty minutes and I still have over two hours of train journey left to fill.

   I pull out one of the four (!!) books I brought with me. This one has been on my To Read list since I bought it eighteen months ago when a client asked if I had it on my shelf.

4. Thirty Births Later

   Posted on 5:25pm Monday 13th May 2019

   When I began doulaing, I remember looking at more experienced doulas - those who had 25, 40, 75 births under their belts - and feeling like they'd achieved so much, and it might be impossible to catch up with them. The idea of having done so many births seemed unimaginable to me.

   I paid attention to the moments when I passed my tenth birth, and then my fifteenth, but then I somehow managed to make it up to the high twenties without really realising. All of a sudden I was booking my thirtieth birth and it felt like A Big Deal. 

5. Unexpectedly Bittersweet

   Posted on 6:25pm Tuesday 16th Apr 2019

   It happened last week.

   My youngest daughter was standing in the hallway in front of the mirror, brushing her hair.

   “Would you like me to help you put your hair up?” I asked her.