Community Ain’t Dead

In today’s time, we often forget about how important community can be and go on our merry isolated way, only worried about ourselves and our own. Just now I was reminded of how important the need for community really is.

I was ‘that’ mum at the supermarket today. You know, the one with the screaming child. The one who is too far into the mission to abort and so has to trudge on with gritty, desperate resolve. Yep, that was me. If it weren’t for the kindness of four (yes FOUR) complete strangers during my 40 minute trip, I’m sure there would have been a fatality. At the very least someone would have lost an eye.

So thank you.

Thank you to the man who packed my trolley for me after seeing me with a pile of bags and a baby in one arm.

Thank you to the boy who cleaned up my spilt punnet of cherry tomatoes and went and found me a new container.

Thank you to the woman who dropped all her shopping in the middle of the carpark so she could help me manoeuvre my trolley (still one handed) down a hill to my car and open the boot.

And thank you to the other woman who dragged my trolley back up the hill and returned it to the shop for me.

If it weren’t for you, I would have lost my shit completely.

So next time you see someone struggling with anything, take a second to connect. It might mean nothing to you but it will mean the world to them.

 

 

#Badassundies…own your own body

So, I posted this on my private Facebook page thinking that it would go by relatively unnoticed…but apparently there are a tonne of pissed off people out there who feel the same way!

It’s not about whether you are big, small, lumpy, cuddly, boney, shaped like a dodecahedron, a man, a woman, anywhere on the gender scale or anything else you can think of. It is about reclaiming the world we live in and flooding it with real bodies, no, REAL PEOPLE.

Because we are more than what society thinks of our meat suits.

Since it has struck a cord with many, I will be writing a follow up article shortly.

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So I had my first session with a PT today and the first thing she said to me was “Obviously you want to get back to your pre-baby weight”. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement.

And it pissed. Me. Off.

I corrected her nicely by simply saying “my goal is to regain my core strength and endurance…I’m not worried by how my body looks, only how it functions…it can be pretty badass”.

But it got me thinking. Post pregnant women are told they look good if they return to their pre-baby body quickly leading to the assumption that they look bad if the keep the extra weight. Skinny people are envied for their lack of fat or shamed for apparently starving themselves. Voluptuous women are either labelled fat and shamed or they’re labelled brave for being comfortable in their own skin. There is always pressure.

No one is comfortable in their own skin 100% of the time. Constantly labelling people and piling expectations associated with these labels on them is harmful to everyone…including those doing the labelling.

What we should be worrying about is if people are ok, not what they look like.

So here I am. I may not be magazine ready, my nana undies and bedtime nursing bra are certainly not going to be rocking a runway anytime soon, my hair is greasy, I have no makeup on, my body is squishy and plentiful, I’m not even sure I’m totally ok.

But I am strong. My body is healthy.

Hell, I am badass as fuck!

Screw what society wants from me. This is what’s on offer.

Join me if you will #badassundies

Welcome to the Modern Manic

If you are reading this, chances are you, like me, are addicted to those YouTube Life Hack videos showing people doing extraordinary things with ordinary everyday objects. Simple things that make you think “How have I survived this long without the knowledge of how to use a piece of string to prevent the annoying dripping sound on my laundry tap?!”

Well, I figured it was time to explore this whole fan-dangle life hack business a bit further to see if it could be applied to all areas of life. It was a silly question to ask as it became quickly obvious we, the human race, is always looking for shortcuts and hints to make our life easier. Because of this it was no surprise that I have found countless tonnes of websites, articles and street talk revolving around the subject and I am going to attempt to trawl through it all to give you some of the pointers I have found to be the most useful.

If you have any favourite life hacks you would like me to know about, drop me a line on the contact page.

 

human brain with arts that embraces a word “stress”, 3d illustration