Hi everyone, and hello new people this week! Just a quick photo of me to remind you who is sending you this weekly Love Our Age newsletter. I’m Catherine, writer, mother of two young adult sons, wife, and Aussie-Canadian living in Sydney.

Twilight is my favourite time of day…as you can see from this snapshot outside our home. There’s something so lovely about turning the lights on where you live and looking inside your nest. You notice all the warmth there, the chaos and the love.

The people and things you treasure, the safety and warmth you create…

As women, we do so much. I often think we’re the beating heart of our families, our group of friends.

Why, then, is it easy to overlook all the good in us, to zero in on the ways we should be improving?

All the external messages (media, celebrities) and even the internal messages (our own minds) tell us we should be faster, better organised, more patient, better at self-care.

We should be more confident, energetic, and work harder.

We should rest! We should know how to take care of ourselves! And at the same time, we should make sure we’re loving all the people we’ve been given to love.

But here are two important, introspective questions.

Who are we when we stop performing?

Who are we when we stop ‘shoulding’ all over ourselves?

We’re valuable. We matter. What we love matters, too. So does rest, which we all deserve.

That’s all — and it’s enough to remember on this beautiful weekend in September.

I hope you have a relaxing Sunday.

Love, Catherine x

PS. The fun stuff!

• It’s Spring in Australia, and Fall in the northern hemisphere. Time to reread my favourite poem by G.M. Hopkins. Remember? “Margaret, are you grieving / Over Goldengrove unleaving?”

• Favourite mascara (people keep asking me…this one looks so natural!).

• Twilight in Iceland — the sky!

• I write books! You might have read my nonfiction for women (The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps are Perfect.) Violin & Cello is my new picture book with illustrator Joanna Bartel (busy with a new baby!) and Alex Lau, composer (busy at uni!). Out now in Australia in bookshops and at Amazon and Booktopia. Pre-order in Canada, America and here in the UK.