Welcome to Women’s Health
What makes you happy? It’s the simple things for me: hearing my children laugh, seeing the first flowers of spring appear on the grass banks throughout my village, my hair falling just right after a slightly rushed morning blow-dry. We asked you on Women’s Health’s Instagram (@womenshealthuk) what your biggest goal for 2022 is, and 48% of respondents simply said ‘happiness’. It can be an elusive state and tricky to achieve. But we’ve got you. On page 101, you’ll find the latest research on the topic and expert advice on how to experience it more often.
I’m someone who struggles to maintain a positive state of mind. When I’m feeling low, I’m guilty of trash-talking myself. And I’m far tougher, more critical and downright nasty about myself than I’d ever be about other people. Tearing apart my appearance is standard. I have good days and bad days (like us all), and I’m almost comfortable with having a go at what stares back at me in the mirror because I’ve been doing it for so long.
But in the week before I sat down to write this, I attacked myself in a new way. My after-school childcare let me down, so I rushed to collect my children only to find my nineyear-old son, Zak, in tears. He feared that he’d broken his ankle again due to a stumble after having his plaster cast removed the previous day. Worried, I drove him and his sister Nell home.
Back in my kitchen, while cooking the children’s dinner, I grilled Zak on why he was hopping around school not using his crutches, while also managing a developing problem at work on email and speaking to my husband on the phone about the incident at school – then the fire alarm went off in the hallway.
It was chaos – and I shouted out loud, ‘I’m a crap mother!’ Cue both of the children sweetly telling me otherwise and, like most parents would, I simply took a deep breath and carried on before returning to my laptop to work into the evening.
It was when I was sitting later in my small home office that I had time to reflect on what had happened and questioned why I was so hard on myself for a situation that would have tested the patience of most people. I need to have more selfcompassion. I have a stressful, full-on life and I’m a master multi-tasker. But some days it gets too much and there’s only so much I can take.
So, I read with interest on page 108 our feature on health subscriptions. Sales are skyrocketing because people are realising that outsourcing life’s tasks – anything from buying toilet roll in bulk, stocking up on frozen food, protein shakes and even razors – means there’s less to think about and more time to spend doing what we enjoy and, certainly in my case, being an engaged parent. I’ve already made a must-do list.
As always, I hope you enjoy the issue. Until next month...