What Kind of Body Do You Want?

Hi everyone! Isn’t this the greatest dress tag you’ve ever seen? I couldn’t resist holding it up to my crinkly lines and freckles / age spots and snapping a photo because it’s true about me.

“PERFECT IS BORING. The slight crinkles in my “fabric” are a natural characteristic. Love me longer by following my care instructions.”

This year, I decided to love my body. Here’s what that means to me.

1.Embracing ALL of me: my past decisions, my current habits…then sitting with those habits and asking, “Which no longer serve me?”

2. Taking myself for big, long walks.

3. Accepting what is. Wow, I cause myself angst and pain when I struggle against reality. Remember this Byron Katie quote from The 10 Minute Fix?

4. Asking a really basic question: I’m treating my own body this way, but is this how I would help someone else? Here’s a favourite page from Small Steps Are Perfect.

5. Using gratitude. Whatever is happening in my world or yours, whatever the state of our health, we are here now. There are steps we can take to feel better. We have some agency over our own decisions. And there’s a new day tomorrow. And tomorrow.

What kind of body do you want?

How do you take care of yourself?

For me, the answer is this: give my body love and attention. Treat it like I’d treat another person I’m responsible for.

Happy Sunday! Enjoy your weekend.

Love Catherine x

PS.

Are you being fun?

Hi my friends, and welcome new people…again, so many of you this week! Thanks for spending a moment with me in my world, here in sunny Sydney Australia. I’m clinging to summer!

Here’s what I have for you today. A simple idea, but true.

Last night my husband and I were invited to a beautiful dinner party celebrating his birthday. I took these lovely flowers, but my friend had thought of everything. Ironed crisp linen napkins (love!), a birthday sign, card and gift, the most beautiful food and…atmosphere.

An atmosphere of FUN.

It made me think this:

Having fun is taking. Being fun is giving.

Having fun is what we want to receive. Being fun means we bring the joy.

When we attend anything at all — a zoom work meeting, an after school kid pick-up, a coffee date with a friend, an appointment, a dinner out — it’s always possible to BE FUN.

Having fun will follow.

If we’re not the joy, who will be? If we can’t appreciate the tiny good things in our lives, who will?

If you need a lift right now, consider this: be a little more fun.

Bring the fun.

It’s free, easy, and available to us every second, in every relationship.

Happy Sunday and enjoy your weekend!

Love, Catherine x

PS.

A British friend told me this... 🇬🇧❤️🇬🇧

Hello friends and new friends—so many new faces this week!

It’s Catherine Greer writing to you from summery Australia. Wish I could fly you all here to walk this beautiful beach with me. It’s my favourite place in the world…Hyams Beach in New South Wales. Take a peek and follow me on Insta for pretty pics now and then.

Here’s a story for you: on Tuesday I had a zoom chat with a friend who lives in England. We were talking about a problem I’ve been having lately, and she offered some ideas to fix it.

But the brilliant part? Here’s how she helped. Instead of telling me what she thought, she phrased it as a gentle question.

Like this:

Maybe you lovely women from the UK say this all the time, but WOW. So smart.

That phrase is golden.

  • Imagine saying to your teen, “I wonder if you could plan your weekend so you can get your assignment done AND see your mates?”

  • Or to your partner, “I wonder if you’ve thought about spending more time together.”

  • Or to a colleague, “I wonder if our client expects…”

Yes, yes, I know there’s a time to be direct. I know we’re empowered to speak freely and share our thoughts. I understand that everyone is big on boundaries and saying what they mean, and I get it.

But.

But!

Sometimes gentleness is the better way. What about those times when, like water cutting through stone, we can be soft and listen and suggest improvements in a way that someone else can hear?

I treasured how my British friend spoke with me. I felt loved and seen. I felt respected. I thought about it for days afterwards, and wanted to share with all of you.

If you have a tricky conversation coming up, consider leading with “I wonder if….” You’ll know if this approach is right for you. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t.

Happy Sunday, and I hope this little nugget helps you like it helped me. One of my goals this year is to be more tactful, more gracious…because everybody benefits from kindness and respect. I’m working on it…

Enjoy your weekend!

Love, Catherine x

PS.

A Pet Peeve

Happy Sunday from Australia!

If you’re new to LoveOurAge.com, welcome — it’s Catherine Greer writing to you (author of The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps are Perfect).

This photo above is my life: beautiful beaches, sun, and also SHARKS. Gahhhhh! Metaphorically, can you relate?

Life is mostly good, with some sharks lurking.

Yesterday, I woke up in a bad mood: worry + fear. I felt sorry for myself, struggled to believe that something good was going to happen, and just generally felt hopeless.

Here’s my pet peeve: moods are like sharks.

My bad moods love to be fed. So do yours.

  • Feeling crummy about progress on your latest book, Catherine? Feed me: put on a cosy pair of trackies and watch Netflix.

  • Feeling worried, Catherine? Feed me: let your mind run around in circles like a toddler with a Sharpie.

  • Concerned about your kid’s study habits, Catherine?: Feed me: complain to your husband about it (instead of supervising your child).

The problem is that when I feed my moods, they increase.

That’s why we have to do the OPPOSITE of what we feel like doing. We all know this is true. But it’s hard.

Here’s my SIMPLE solution.

It’s a Latin phrase that starts to solve almost every problem.

Ready?

I feel the mood or the feeling (worry, fear, disappointment). Then I go for a walk. That’s it.

Feel the mood (but don’t feed it). Then walk.

Walking unpicks the tangled knot of my troubles. It always has. I’ve used walking this way since I was a little girl. Sad? Walk. Worried? Walk. Fearful? Walk.

You can do this, too: consider taking a walk instead of feeding your moods.

Even if it’s a walk inside your own home, when you’re walking you will ALWAYS feel a little better.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone. Let’s have some fun, rest when we can, and walk if we’re worried.

Love, Catherine x

PS.

First, thank you for loving and supporting my books! New friends, find them here:

Have you followed TheNewHappy.com — such a beautiful account on Instagram here:

I Have A Confession To Make...

I haven’t taken down our tree.

I plan to do it today, but my record is leaving it up until February….so….can we still be friends? I know most people are tired of the holidays and aim for a fresh start early in January, but I love the twinkle and the magic of sitting with a coffee by the Christmas tree.

That’s me :) And you? You have your things, too. Instead of hiding them, how about dusting them off and letting them shine?

In case you’re feeling a little shaky while everyone around you seems to be zipping ahead with all their powerful, new 2022 resolutions, here’s something to consider.

Ready?

If no one’s told you lately, please let me be the first to say … it’s the quirky things about you that are memorable and lovely.

We are not all the same.

We don’t have to do anything perfectly — we just have to do what we love.

Enjoy your Sunday, and promise me you’ll do something that gives YOU joy, and reminds you that you’re unique and worth loving just as you are now. Today. (No changes necessary!)

Love, Catherine x

PS

  • New friends, hello and welcome! I want to tell you about my books because—honestly—they’re worth it and they’ll cheer you on. They’ll sit beside your bed and be the best little (quick) pick-me-up, I promise. Start with The 10 Minute Fix and then Small Steps Are Perfect. And yes, that’s my towering stack of reading beside my bed. I love reading! Books give us everything…and ask for nothing in return but to please us. xx

  • How about a cute, inexpensive monogrammed necklace—to remind yourself that you’re cheering for YOU in 2022? I love this cutie!!! You need one. Just $12 to celebrate YOU.

  • I got new trainers! (I have tricky feet: wide + pain from an old running injury). Youch. If you’re like me, these are amazing….they’re men’s New Balance in wide width and they’re cute and comfy.

  • A poem I adore…“Housekeeping” by Natasha Tretheway, exploring domestic duties in the past.

A Simple Way To Feel Happier

Happy Sunday! A warm welcome to all the new people this week. I’m Catherine Greer, Sydney-sider, beach walker, compulsive baker….and author of some best-loved books, including the upbeat and encouraging The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps are Perfect.

New Year, same me—and I’ve been thinking about how to get on with things without so much worry.

Acceptance is the key, right? Be where our feet are, accept what is, and move forward.

So I’ve been thinking about the things in my life that are finite, and the activities that are infinite.

Certain tasks are infinite games (they’ll go on forever): healthy eating, working out, managing our own thoughts. This can be so irritating to admit!!

We have to do them FOREVER, on repeat. There’s no end to the game.

  • We’ll always have to manage our thoughts (which love to run away from us and be negative, right?)

  • We don’t get a break from taking care of our own health. (I sometimes pretend to take a break, but the consequences follow me regardless. Hello, Christmas goodies that I’m still carrying around with me! You were worth it, but it’s time to slow down now…)

I will never “arrive” with health or fitness or keeping my thoughts on track. Neither will you. Infinite games, my friends, so we might as well acknowledge them, do them, and (in my case anyway! Argh!) stop complaining about it.

Making peace with our infinite games makes life easier.

Have a beautiful week wherever you are! I hope you stay safe, rest when you need to, and find some small joys today.

Love Catherine x

PS.

  • It’s summer in Sydney, and I’ve loved wearing this dress — perfect to throw on at the beach or pool. Pockets! Heavier fabric. Long, loose and elegant.

  • James P. Carse wrote a philosophical book called Finite and Infinite Games and Simon Sinek built on James’ ideas in a business / leadership book called The Infinite Game. I haven’t read either yet, but just applied to idea to my own life. What’s infinite and finite in yours?

What Are Your Thoughts For Your New Year?

Hello friends and welcome to Love Our Age in 2022! It’s Catherine Greer writing to you (author of The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps Are Perfect). For all the new people this week, you’ll get an upbeat note like this every Sunday morning (from Australia, where I live!) or Saturday night if you live overseas. So happy you’re here.

Don’t you love this graphic above?

Wow. All those colours representing how we might have felt about our days in 2021…the blues, the greys, the yellows. And all these empty days we hope to fill in 2022 with memories and love. I’m sure you’re thinking about your new year—what a gift—and what you plan to do with it.

I am.

My year will be filled with writing, with more books out in the world, with some copywriting here in Sydney, with nudging our youngest son through high school to a strong finish when the Aussie school year ends in November 2022. I’m looking forward to gratitude, to celebrating my life (warts and all), to being with family while I’m a mum of a teen.

But here’s one thing I’m NOT going to do.

I won’t be trying to get smaller. I’m going to grow—in confidence, in experiences, in love, in fun, in playtime and laughter, in health and in doing what I love.

I hope you’ll join me. Let’s all take a deep breath and remember this:

Let’s Love Our Age together in 2022: be bigger, better, louder, more grateful, offer the world more to love, and love the world right back.

Catherine x

PS. Yayyyyy! Welcome new people. Love to tell you about my books because they’re spreading cheer around the world. Yes, I still re-read my own books because I need all the little reminders.

For all of you, a favourite poem by the brilliant Maria Ferguson from her one woman show, Fat Girls Don’t Dance.

It was a not-so-silent night...

Hi friends! How are you this beautiful Sunday? Here in Sydney it’s finally hot, hot, hot — and I’m having a thousand coffees by myself as the family sleeps in after our little Christmas party last night.

Best part? The live music! A pianist, a cellist, and a violinist all crammed in the music room singing Christmas carols. It was so much fun and reminded me of my Canadian home.

Then we stayed up until 2:30am talking with our young adult sons, just the four of us by the tree amidst the mess of plates and food and presents from friends. It felt like magic—one of those family Christmas memories.

Today I’m thinking about imperfection.

When we open our homes and hearts to people, we make beautiful things (not perfect things). Yes, there could have been cleaner baseboards, and it was so hot. I had about three seconds to get dressed for my own party because I was rushing to get the food ready. My original pianist cancelled last minute and my cellist son and his talented friends stepped in.

But friends showed up to bring the cheer.

Honestly, there are presents here today that I never even saw last night…little hostess gifts under the tree and sprinkled around the house. People sang and chatted and met new people and laughed.

In my heart, here’s what I’m thinking: people are so surprisingly lovely.

This Christmas, let people love you.

Sit for a minute and soak in your good fortune, like I did last night.

Nobody wanted us perfect, or our home to be any different, or the food better or the fun more fun. People just want to be welcomed in.

Nobody wants your worry—they want your love.

Wish you were here, and I’m sending you a heart full of peace. Breathe in, enjoy, make some magic this holiday season with whatever you’ve got in your own two hands.

Catherine xx

PS.

  • Ladies, these are great holiday party shoes! Flat, cute, comfy, a little surprising. Order your regular size and sparkle a little!

  • And thank you for gifting my books to women who will love them. Authors can only keep writing when readers buy books, and I appreciate you. You are the friends I treasure.

A Quick Rest For You

Happy Sunday, and hello from Sydney! It’s Catherine Greer writing to you — author of The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps Are Perfect.

Eeeep! 13 days until Christmas, and I’ve been zooming around with work and writing and planning a Christmas party. I haven’t done much baking yet (and baking is my thing!) but I finished shopping in November so I can enjoy all the special moments of Christmas.

Except there’s this: I haven’t been enjoying. I’ve been rushing. You?

Let me tell you a funny story. On Tuesday, I decided to get our piano tuned. Haven’t had it done in seven years, and the tuner—a lovely guy—had one request BEFORE he came over in the evening.

“Please make sure the room is well-ventilated. ALL I NEED IS GOOD VENTILATION.”

Easy, I thought. I’d open both windows beside the piano and give him all the fresh air he needed.

But my son who’s at uni ALSO has this hobby of doing Texas barbecue and smoking meat, and he’d made (from scratch) this huge smoked ham that wasn’t quite cooked in time for a Christmas party he was attending, so he had to finish it off in my oven.

At 250 degrees (which is 482 F).

The piano tuner came. The kitchen started to look like this.

Then the whole house looked that way.

There was smoke BILLOWING from the oven, the piano tuner was humming, my husband was manually turning off all our smoke detectors which kept announcing “WARNING, SMOKE DANGER, ALARM WILL BE LOUD!” I was fanning smoke with a tea towel, my son was charging around late for the party waiting for this 10 kilogram leg of pork to cook, my husband was turning off smoke alarms and meanwhile we were trying to keep everything calm and VENTILATED for Andy, who was tuning the piano.

OH MY LORD.

I’m cry-laughing just remembering how funny and stressful this was.

The situation reminded me of Christmas. We rush around and we try to do special things and there’s smoke and food and kids and piano tuners and ho ho ho, merrily we go…making the magic and taking care of everyone and everything.

And maybe we’re tired.

And maybe we need a rest.

Remember the secret, my friends: you need to take care of you. Light a candle, enjoy the season, make a hot drink and laugh.

Here’s what I have for you today: my favourite Ram Dass quote.

On we go, bringing the joy this holiday season.

I’m so very honoured and happy to be here every Sunday, walking you home.

Love, Catherine x

PS.

  • Andy is the loveliest piano tuner and so reasonable. He gave me permission to tell you if need a tune up, please do give him a call in Sydney on 0408 979 819. He works so hard at his craft! I hope we can all give him a little Christmas cheer and a business boost. (Please don’t mention the SMOKE.)

  • White Chocolate Raspberry Berry Shortbread here (at my previous author website blog)!

Dreaming of a White (Sandy Beach) Christmas

Hello, friends and welcome new people! It’s Catherine Greer from The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps are Perfect (new book!). So happy you’re here this weekend. If you’re new, an intro:

  • I’m married and we live in Sydney. I’m Canadian and Aussie — first half of my life in Canada, second half in Australia.

  • We have two young adult sons (one in Year 12 and one studying Law Commerce at Sydney Uni).

  • I love growing older and wiser! I let my hair go silver at 49, adore baking, lift weights grudgingly, have the sweetest puppy, don’t Facebook but I am on Instagram and I’m an author.

This beautiful white sand beach above is my favourite place in the entire world, a three hour drive from Sydney.

Here’s what I’ve got for you today — a bit of a truth bomb.

Ready?

We are so good at criticising ourselves, and we are so bad at loving ourselves.

We tell ourselves we’re too much AND too little, but let me offer you a virtual coffee (or tea) and offer this perspective.

I just wanted you to know that today.

Enjoy your weekend. Rest up, relax a little, be the joy.

Love Catherine x

PS.

For the new people…thank you for being here!

  • A favourite skirt if you’re Aussie (you can order online): it’s a lovely linen blend and surprisingly slimming. Mine is cream and I pair it with a black top.

  • A favourite poem: American poet Billy Collins’ “Forgetfulness.”

  • If you want to get all your girlfriend & sister gifts in one fell swoop, I would be so honoured if you’d consider my books. They’re $19.99, pretty and encouraging. If you’re posting gifts, they send as a letter with slightly more postage…easy! (Look at my towering stack of bedside reading….and yes, I still read and re-read my own books for all those good ideas.)

America – Small Steps Are Perfect and The 10 Minute Fix

Canada – Small Steps Are Perfect and The 10 Minute Fix

Australia – Small Steps Are Perfect and The 10 Minute Fix or shop local here.

United Kingdom – Small Steps Are Perfect and The 10 Minute Fix

Whoa. This is beautiful.

Hi everyone, and hello new friends — it’s Catherine from The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps Are Perfect (new book!) dropping by on your weekend.

When I get newsletters, I like to SEE who is writing to me…so I took a dozen selfies for all the new people, but when I went to pick one where my eyes weren’t closed — ha! — my photo roll was FULL OF NATURE and I had to share.

  • a jacaranda tree and Jacaranda Snow (my first picture book!)

  • a red bottlebrush (called Grevillea)

  • white flowering something-I-don’t-know

  • bush walk in our suburb down a sandy path

I am so lucky.

Nature. Does it recharge you, too?

Deep breath, my friend: today is an excellent day to open your front door and look around. Notice what you’ve been given:

  • a city streetscape

  • an ocean view

  • a back garden

  • christmas lights

  • snow

  • A rainy Sunday?

I used this inscription to begin Small Steps Are Perfect — it’s Van Gogh, and his words are every bit as beautiful as his paintings.

It’s time to appreciate where we are.

Tiny little things matter.

Holidays are a perfect time to look carefully at what’s right in front of us. I hope you have time to enjoy what you see outside your own door, and chat with or hug the people you’ve been given to love. We are so lucky to be here, aren’t we? Very small things are the best.

Happy (peaceful) Sunday. I’m thinking of you.

Love Catherine x

PS.

Who else wants FUN this holiday season?

Hello, friends…and a warm welcome to all the new people here today. It’s Catherine Greer from Small Steps Are Perfect and The 10 Minute Fix writing to you from…my side of the bed at 2:53 in the morning. Gahhhhh! Growing older and getting sleepless.

If you haven’t been asked lately, how are you? Really — how’s your world at the moment? Big plans, secret worries, feeling pretty okay, only so-so?

Here’s what I’ve been thinking this week: the holidays are coming, and we all know the truth: women make the magic.

We make it. There is never a stocking not filled by a woman (I’m pretty sure) and usually the ones with our name on it are the bedraggled slim ones, am I right? We plan the food, decide when it’s time to bring out the decorations and start the shopping, we think about the people who may need us (or need a little extra cheer).

We are women and we bring the joy.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get so busy bringing and joy-ing and starting that I forget this basic truth: I need to take care of myself while I make the holidays for everyone else. I need to make sure I’m:

  • drinking enough water

  • getting outside for lots of walks (I walk the dog every day, but I also need to walk MYSELF sometimes…move and feel better, move and think, move and relax)

  • sleeping (hah! my midlife brain is laughing at myself right now but…yes, I need more…please send help!)

I also need to remember an important truth.

We’re here now. We have this time to live our lives and enjoy whatever we can. Sounds completely basic, I know, but sometimes I need to remind myself to be grateful for every new morning. They keep coming like gifts.

I’ve decided to have more FUN this holiday season, so I’ve been whispering this to myself. Maybe it will also help you.

When I clean all those corners before we start to decorate the house: this is the fun part!

When I’m tripping over unwrapped gifts on the floor on my closet: this is the fun part!

When I’m tired from stupid hormones and not sleeping, and wake up grumpy but my family is there to love and the dog is forever faithful, waiting for me to notice her, and I have a home to live in and grass to cut and a dishwasher to unload and floors to sweep and work to do: this is the fun part!

We’re alive. We’re here. We’re breathing. It’s another new day, another one!, and there will probably be another one tomorrow.

Just think: this is the FUN part.

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone, and thanks for being here with me.

Love, Catherine x

PS. FUN STUFF! Gorgeous red coats & poems & books & more…

Green...are you feeling it?

Friends, hello! Hi new people…it’s Catherine from Small Steps Are Perfect and The 10 Minute Fix writing to you!

42 days until Christmas! Do you celebrate?

I’m getting into the spirit of green around here. Maybe it’s the influence of my latest book cover, maybe it’s just all the gorgeous green in Aussie shops right now.

How do you feel about green?

I found this lovely faux silk blouse from Zara…

It’s such a classic. You can’t tell from the photo, but the buttons are a pretty mother-of-pearl. (Sorry, couldn’t find it on the Zara Australia website but I bought it Friday…so maybe have a hunt around?)

Other than that? Ohhhhh, I landed on a new solution for sleepless nights.

I started getting up.

Really. I just started getting up and doing a few things instead of rolling around worrying about not sleeping. It was a tip from my mum, Katie…you guys know her from “yellow” in The 10 Minute Fix! She told me once, ‘If I don’t sleep, that’s okay…I’ll be a little tired tomorrow.’

I stopped resisting my own sleeplessness (which seems to be another gift of midlife—like a softer tummy, silver hair and changing skin).

I’m trying to believe that sleeplessness can be a gift. It gives us time to reflect and ponder. And if we’re a little tired the next day, well, it’s not as hard as so many things that people have to endure. Right?

Gift: a couple of nights ago, I had a beautiful middle-of-the-night-to-me text conversation with my cousin in Canada, Jean, who is more like a sister and a girlfriend to me than a distant relation. (You read about her in Small Steps Are Perfect!)

While sleepless, I started listening to myself.

Some people meditate or pray or make To Do (and To Don’t) Lists when they’re sleepless. Lately, I’ve been doing this thing that I feel quite sheepish writing about, but it works.

Hand on heart, other hand on tummy, and say this to yourself: “I love you. I’m listening.” Then listen to your own thoughts like a kind friend. Ask yourself how you’re doing.

Essentially it’s two lines from my all-time favourite meditation from Canadian Sarah and it’s free here if you have 12 minutes to spare.

When we tell ourselves we’re listening, it somehow accesses the tender parts of us that we so rarely share with others.

I’m listening to me.

Are you listening to you?

Try it tonight if you can’t sleep.

Wish I could send every one of you a pretty green shirt along with this email. If you love green, I hope you go out and find yourself a cute one. Green treat. We’re green and growing.

Happy Sunday,

Catherine x

PS. Yayyyyy! Welcome new people. Love to tell you about my books because they’re spreading cheer around the world. Yes, I still re-read my own books because I need all the little reminders.

Sunday Pick-Me-Up!

Hi friends! It’s Catherine from The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps Are Perfect.

What’s new in your world?

For us in Sydney, spring is in swing, bush turkeys are trying to nest in our back garden (eeeeep!) and I’ve been busy writing a new novel that I think you’re going to love. It’s been so much fun!

Also: I found a new recipe for chocolate cake that I’m going to try for my weekly Sunday desert AND I’m starting to put out my nutcracker collection. There’s a story behind them, so if you don’t yet follow me on Instagram, you can read about it here.

This cute guy on a rocking horse is here in Australia (and you can order online, but be quick…they sell out so fast!) Here’s a similar one on Amazon.

Today I plan to rest a whole lot, to make dinner with love for my crew, put a tablecloth and a table runner on the table and enjoy the things I have. The fancy glasses. The beautiful plates.

Lately, I’ve been considering this idea and it’s changed the way I approach my days.

So true.

Today, for me, it’s pure enjoyment of all the things in front of me. The good (family dinner, a table to set, a meal to cook, a cake to bake, a book to write) and the not-great (laundry, weekend copywriting to meet a deadline, and all the hard things we don’t tell each other but we all deal with every day).

Wherever you are, I hope you enjoy your day.

Love, Catherine x

P.S. New book out now!

Why would a woman love Small Steps Are Perfect? You can grab it when you feel a little down, and be inspired. Letting lovely new people know where to find it:

This is so much fun.

Hi to so many new friends who are joining us this week, and hello to everyone who has been here for a while. Thanks for sharing my Sunday! It’s Catherine (from Small Steps Are Perfect and The 10 Minute Fix) dropping in to say hello…

…at 4:37am on Sunday morning! Yep, couldn’t sleep, thinking of you.

Why?

This idea.

Ruby slippers. Red shoes. A metaphor.

I wrote about it in The 10 Minute Fix, but it bears repeating:

Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz could have gone home at any time. So can we.

We’re already wearing the ruby slippers…but we forget.

Let me give you an example in my own life this week. Please do go ahead and insert your version of fun in the place of mine. For me, dancing is so much fun. But truly, how many chances do you get to have a boogie? At a wedding? Maybe at a party. A couple of times a year at most, right?

Wrong.

This weekend I remembered I can dance any time I want to. I put in my earbuds. I pick a song I love. I shut the door. I can have a dance with me, for me.

Anytime. Several times a day.

It makes me so happy.

I know this is obvious, but be honest: how often do you actually allow yourself to do what’s fun?

I’m guessing you can probably go and do that thing right now.

Who is stopping you? You are.

Who was stopping me? I was. But not anymore.

If your life feels a little short on fun at the moment, HEY! We’re adults. We can give ourselves the gift of having fun, and being fun.

We’re already wearing the red shoes, my friends. Let’s hop up, put our phones down, and do something that we love.

Let’s LOVE our age,

Catherine xx

ps. Fun stuff for you…

  • Red shoes. Truth: I’m not a red person, but I would wear pink all the day long. Still, these are fun red heels. High, though. I barely do this anymore! Or cute with shorts or wow, red trainers. Okay, maybe I could wear red shoes :)

  • Why would a woman love Small Steps Are Perfect? You can grab it when you feel a little down, and be inspired. Letting lovely new people know where to find it:

I'm nervous about sharing this, but...

Hi everyone, and hello new people. I’m Catherine from Small Steps Are Perfect (new book!) and today I’m nervously sharing a little something with you.

It’s important.

BUT…please know I’m not sharing this because of our bodies or how much we do. This ISN’T about our bodies or our achievements.

It’s about TIME. And it applies to EVERYTHING.

Okay?

Here’s the idea.

I’m ageing. So are you. But it doesn’t matter because TIME can be a FRIEND.

It’s not an enemy.

It can be GOOD that things take a while.

It can be SMART to start when you’re old. Take a look at Joan and what she’s done with 13 years. Read the caption, please :) This image isn’t really about Joan’s health…it’s about her attitude to time.

It’s about doing things SLOWLY. It’s about believing that ageing is a good thing, and the best really can be in front of us, not behind us.

Time is our friend. We’re so lucky to have it. We’re also lucky to have this beautiful Canadian woman, @trainwithjoan, out there as an inspiration — NOT because of her body transformation, but because she reminds us that in all things…

  • FAMILY relationships

  • MAKING something new

  • STARTING over

  • Beginning LATER

  • Feeling LEFT BEHIND

…that time can be our FRIEND.

Just take a look at me (above). I’m 55 now, grey, wrinkled, losing hormones faster than a toddler can chuck a tantrum in the grocery store and still I believe this is true:

Time is my friend, not my enemy.

I have a bit of a similar story — starting with something new in the middle of my life. I had a dream to be a published author. Six years later, here I am…but there’s a lot of effort and trying and worry and failure that you can’t see in this photo. It took three years to celebrate my first published book. I’ve written two full manuscripts you don’t see here (yet) and I don’t know what will ever happen to those :) I’m halfway through another one. Fingers crossed!

Has it been like landing with my bum in the butter? Nope. No. Not at all. Has it been a roller coaster, with a lot of hard work, trying to keep faith with myself and convincing myself to keep going? Yes.

Has it been worth it to walk and shuffle forward toward MY dreams? Absolutely.

Has it been fast? No.

Have I had help or connections or fabulous luck? No.

Am I here, building slowly, believing TIME can be my FRIEND? Yes.

You also have time.

Time to do the things you want to do, the things your heart is aching for you to do. It might be

  • travel

  • writing your books (write your books…we need more books!)

  • building your tiny business

  • getting healthier

  • or even keeping the faith (that all your kids will get along and love each other properly one day, that the wound inside you will heal, that you can feel a little better than you do now)

Give it time. See TIME as your friend, please. It’s not too late. It’s good to take your time.

You can walk ever so slowly towards your dreams, like I try to do. I’m still becoming the woman I was born to be: a writer who connects with people’s hearts. I’m taking my time.

You can, too. Whatever your thing is, YOU CAN, TOO.

There’s room for all of us, and time is our friend.

Happy Sunday. I’m cheering for us all.

Love Catherine x

ps.

Pretty Things For Sunday

pink+diamond.jpg

Hi everyone, Catherine here.

Today I’m thinking of all the ways we can enjoy ourselves, whether we’re out of lockdown (Sydney) or in lockdown (Melbourne), whether the borders are now open (Canada & America) or whether you’re simply hanging around in your pjs at home because it’s the weekend and you want to.

I’m doing lovely things:

  1. Making a dessert for Sunday dinner.

  2. Slipping on my favourite ‘pink diamond’ ring. Similar one here — mine is three seasons old from Lovisa and I wish I’d bought a few :(

  3. Taking a long walk in nature and enjoying the Aussie bush in our beautiful city.

  4. Reading something I enjoy. I’m into Jeannette Winterson’s fascinating book of essays about Artificial Intelligence, 12 Bytes. And I absolutely LOVED Ishiguro’s novel Klara and the Sun. If you’re at all wondering about how we might live with robots, you’ll love his book. I fell in love with the soft-hearted Klara.

  5. Working on my new novel.

  6. Hugging anyone who comes my way in the kitchen.

  7. Listening to Fleetwood Mac while I cook: this song.

  8. Pausing to slow down and be.

  9. Adding the joy for someone else.

That’s it, my friends. If you’d like to join me, then let’s go ENJOY this day.

Sending love around the world,

Catherine x

PS.

Thank you for telling me how much you’re enjoying Small Steps Are Perfect. It’s a wonderful little gift book, and Christmas is coming!

You can find Small Steps Are Perfect here:

SS puzzle.jpg

5 Surprising Ways To Feel Better Even If You're Tired

IMG_1364.jpg

Hi, my friends. It’s Catherine from Small Steps Are Perfect and The 10 Minute Fix. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Happy Freedom Day, New South Wales — we’re out of lockdown on Monday! For everyone from every country, thank you for being here with me.

We have 83 days left in the year, which gives us so many chances to do and be all the things we might have been in 2021.

That’s 83 sunrises and 83 night walks.

83 fresh starts.

When I was writing Small Steps Are Perfect, I learned five surprising ways to feel better — no matter what was happening in my life. If you’re like me, we’re ALL tired of Covid and being steeped in the daily tea of negativity and bad news.

I was also struggling with some personal bad news and setbacks, and ugh, I needed these tips.

In case you’re not able to get my book just now, I wanted to share them with you here.

  1. Failure can be a good thing. It can force us to get moving.

  2. Choose who you let sit at the judges’ table in your life. Everyone has an opinion. Should it matter to you? You can choose.

  3. Allow other people to be wrong about you. That’s it: just let them be wrong.

  4. Try not to miss it twice. If you’ve made a commitment to try something new — writing your book, exercising, having a day of healthy eating — missing once is okay, but try not to miss it twice.

  5. Sometimes a book can really help especially when we don’t want to share what’s happening. Like Beyonce with her Lemonade album (she turned lemons into lemonade), I wrote the book that I needed to read when I had a very hard year. That book is Small Steps Are Perfect. It cheered me on. It’ll cheer you on, too. It will also cheer on a friend who’s having a tough time.

Mistakes Market Research SS.jpg

Small steps are perfect. They really are. We have 83 days to enjoy, to live a little, to do the things we wanted to do in 2021.

Love, Catherine x

PS. You can find Small Steps Are Perfect here:

Easy Macarons

Macarons.jpg

Happy Sunday! It’s Catherine from The 10 Minute Fix and Small Steps are Perfect—my new book!

I promised you my easy macaron recipe. Let’s do this! It’s ideal for your gluten-free friends and family.

First, though, thank you to everyone who has jumped in and ordered Small Steps are Perfect. It’s a little book of comfort & joy and I hope you love it. This morning I received another beautiful message from a reader who said, “Just got my Small Steps Are Perfect book today—when will there be a third, please…so excited!” Thanks, Ingrid. I’m grinning.

Also this:

“You’ll want to share this book, but you’ll want to keep it for yourself, so save a lot of guilt and buy two.” Love!

SmallStepsArePerfect.jpg

If you’d like to pick up a copy for you (and I hope one for a friend!), the links are below. Thank you for your support! Writers can only keep writing when readers buy and share books, and I appreciate you.

Now on to these beauties….

Can you see how delicious they are?

macarons.jpg

The pep talk: yes, you DO need to weigh everything and you DO have to be exact.

You’ll need:

  1. A scale.

  2. A fine metal strainer to sift the almond flour.

  3. Piping bag with a round tip.

  4. Almond flour, icing sugar, caster sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, and GEL food colouring (not liquid).

Okay, let’s make this easy. All the YouTubers act like it’s rocket science but I think it can be practical and fun (that’s my take on life, actually).

The Macaron Shells:

Weigh and set aside these ingredients in separate bowls:

  • 260 grams egg whites (not from a bag…from real eggs…and at room temperature)

  • 172 grams caster sugar

  • 312 grams almond flour

  • 458 grams icing sugar

  • (You’ll add a few drops of GEL food colouring to the egg whites later)

The filling:

  • 230 grams (1 cup) butter

  • 380 grams icing sugar

  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

Make the shells:

  1. Whip egg whites to firm peaks, and gradually add caster sugar. I use my Kitchenaid mixer.

  2. Add a few drops of GEL food colouring and mix. So pretty!

  3. In a big bowl, sift almond flour and icing sugar together through a metal strainer. Discard chunky bits. Weigh again and make sure you have 770grams total weight. (Yes, you have to.)

  4. CAREFULLY and SLOWLY, mix the dry ingredients into the egg whites in your mixer until BARELY combined. I turn my mixer on and off, take it slowly and barely mix together. Nobody tells you to do it this way, but if you’re CAREFUL and don’t over mix, it saves you a lot of time and painful mixing by hand.

  5. Then you need to macronage. Transfer the mixture to a wide bowl, use a spatula or a scraper and fold, fold, fold until the mixture falls off the spatula in a ‘figure 8’ ribbon without breaking. Then stop. Don’t overmix.

  6. Pour mixture into a piping bag with a round tip.

  7. Line cookie sheets with baking paper.

  8. Pipe small 2 cm (1 inch) shells. Aim in the middle, hold the piping bag upright and squeeze a ‘dot' — it will spread a little. Whack the finished tray on the counter to remove air bubbles.

  9. THE SECRET — let dry for 30 mins to an hour. You should be able to run your finger across the top of the shell. This creates the ‘feet’ on the macaron shell.

  10. Preheat oven to 160 C fan forced. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

  11. Cool, match up the shells, then make the filling in a mixer. Whip the butter for about five minutes, add the icing sugar and the vanilla and that’s it. Pipe the filling onto one shell and top with a matching shell.

This will make more than 50+ delicious macarons. They freeze really well, and taste even better the following day. Everyone loves them.

Is it a little bit tricky? Maybe, but only the first time. That’s kind of like life, too.

Enjoy!

Love Catherine x

PS. If you need a little inspiration, please consider SMALL STEPS ARE PERFECT: Simple ways to find comfort & joy. You can find it here!