Two disparate events moved me to write this week about the drawbacks of stoicism. First, I completed a round-trip of some 15 hours duration to have Daisy’s (my dog) lameness properly diagnosed by a specialist vet who, rather inconveniently, lives in another country. It turns out that she’s been hiding multiple significant musculoskeletal issues (stoically) […]
Sober Relationships
The Sunday I watched my father zipped into a body bag and removed from the living room didn’t seem an obvious point at which there would be a change in the relationship I’d witnessed him have with my mother. That morning, he would have been listening to Brahms or Beethoven, maybe Grieg and watching the […]
Is Agreeableness Overrated?
A number of things have converged this week causing me to think about how we connect to others and, more specifically, the role that agreeableness plays in doing so. The first was a message from my daughter telling me that she’d split up with her boyfriend. They’ve been trying to address their differences for a […]
How To Feel Loved
The relentless press of time brings around another birthday and finds me having breakfast with my family. Fresh fruit, coffee and pastries adorn the table while my daughter shows me the cake. “You don’t have to eat a piece for breakfast but I can’t stand the suspense of hiding it from you all day.” It’s […]
How To Make Decisions
My daughter, returning to university in a few weeks, is trying to choose a new duvet and makes the mistake of asking for my advice. Our neurodivergence makes decisions more difficult and creates anxiety around change, so deciding on new bedding might appear straightforward but instead, we tie one another up in knots of perpetual […]
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