It’s my birthday today and here are 46 things I’ve learned. One for each year I’ve been alive. 
- Pebbles are brilliant but if you fill your pockets with them they break your pockets.
- Even if your life partner loves you to distraction, they will still get annoyed if you run out of pockets and start filling their pockets with pebbles.
- Dinosaurs are for everyone, not just for children.
- Adults should never stop playing because when we stop playing we might as well be dead.
- Playing feels even more precious as an adult because kids do it naturally but for grownups it feels naughty.
- There is almost no situation which cannot be improved by tea.
- Ditto daffodils.
- Ditto cuddling your cat/dog/pet/favourite human.
- There were no short/autistic/small people in the room when people designed hand-dryers WHY FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS UNHOLY WOULD YOU POSITION THEM SO THEY FIRE WATER INTO YOUR SLEEVES WHAT FRESH HELL IS THIS.
- Meditation doesn’t have to mean sitting silently and “emptying your mind” it can be running/drawing/doodling/trapezing/dancing/whatever puts you into a zen-like state.
- The world is not fair but that doesn’t mean we can’t change it. Or at least try.
- Stories are magical but they are simply the vehicle for an idea. What’s your idea?
- Nobody is just one thing. We all have facets and angles and nuances.
- You don’t know who the real you is until you have an abundance of the things you need. (Thank you Yinka.)
- When you find the people who love you, love them back with everything you have in you.
- It’s okay to get attached to random objects like your favourite mug.
- Wear the sequins. Yes, even if it’s just to do the gardening, if you want.
- Tiny sheep make amazing pets and they’re thoroughly hilarious. And they will eat all the primrose heads if you let them.
- Collecting fresh eggs from your chickens never gets boring.
- It’s so obvious chickens evolved from dinosaurs if you’ve ever spent time with a chicken.
- Nothing — NOTHING — tastes as good as food you have grown yourself with your own two hands.
- Renovating a 350-year-old cottage is a never-ending yet incredibly rewarding project.
- Writing is thinking.
- Happiness isn’t a destination. We find it in the tiny moments and it builds on itself.
- Sorrow is rich and valuable. We need to feel the full range of things.
- Social media is a wonderful source of silliness and ideas.
- Social media is a source of horror and diminishing humanity.
- You don’t have to “eat the frog” first. You’re not wrong or broken or shit. There are other ways to do the thing.
- “Write like you speak” is terrible advice, but “use your true voice” is magical.
- Embrace the things that bring you joy, even if they seem silly or frivolous like hoarding a pile of beautiful notebooks, putting on soft socks in the wind, collecting pebbles, or eating a raw mushroom sandwich.
- Yellow flowers are the best flowers. (Especially daffodils.)
- Do the scary thing because you never know what it might lead to (stand-up comedy, anyone?)
- If you want to do it, but you’re not sure you can, say yes. Someone will help you figure it out.
- There are very, very few decisions that are irreversible, and very few that are truly, life-shatteringly important.
- We are not our mistakes.
- People can change, but we have to want to and then work at it.
- If you make something important to you, and offer it to the world, someone else out there will love it, too.
- Say the thing that matters and say it with your whole chest because someone somewhere will be so grateful you did.
- Kind does not necessarily mean nice.
- Some people will not like you, and that’s okay. Not everything is for everyone.
- Art — painting, dance, singing, drawing, writing — isn’t just for professionals. It’s for all of us, and it will save us all.
- Houseplants become part of the family, especially if you put googly eyes on them.
- Your idea matters. Your voice matters. Write the thing.
- If you want until you’re ready to do the thing you want to do, you will never, ever do it.
- Friendship is seeing every side of someone and loving them anyway.
- Just because we grow older, doesn’t mean we have to grow up.
Happy birthday to me!
And here’s my gift to you…
If you have been thinking about writing a book and signing up for MicroBook Magic Season 7 — awesome!
If you sign up before the doors officially open on Monday morning, I’m offering a FREE 60-minute private coaching call to get you fully ready to go when the program kicks off.
My private coaching calls start from £1,200 so this is a helluva offer.
You can find out all about MicroBook Magic right here, but in our bonus coaching call we’ll do this:
- Stress test your book idea to make sure it’s got legs and feet and arms and the will to exist.
- Get crystal clear on exactly what you want to share, to whom, why, and how — so your book will truly be one of a kind.
- Organise your schedule so you know you’ll have time and space to get this done.
- Map out the start and finish of your reader journey, so outlining and planning your book in week 1 will be a doddle.
There are only 10 standard places available and 5 VIP slots.
Want in?
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