Blog

I don’t know what to write about today; I don’t feel like I have any words of wisdom to share. However, I also don’t want to break my writing streak. There is something about committing to myself and sticking to that commitment that cements the idea of the type of person I wish to be. These past two weeks have been all about getting back into a routine. I’ve been slowly but surely getting back into a proper training routine again, been back at work, and the children have started going back to school. As I wait for the dust to settle from the whirlwind of restarted activities so we can find our rhythm again, I try to take a step back and look at my life from the outside in, which looks like a completely different life than the one I had before. ...

We’ve all been there. We want to eat healthier. We want to exercise more. But when push comes to shove and we are back in our routine, and life becomes busy again, we forget about our good intentions to eat healthily or exercise more - until the next new year, that is. Good intentions often remain just that. Why? Perhaps pulling a metaphor for this problem closer would help explain it better. A friend and I have been saying for at least the past six months now that we should grab a coffee together at some stage. Every time I see her at school or next to the sports field, we would reiterate this good intention. I would say, “Send me a message with a time that would work for you,” and the next message from her is to ask what today’s homework was. Or she would say, “Let me know when you would like to go.” But then the next thing I need to know from her is whether she’s perhaps seen my son’s lost shoes. And so it goes on. Life is just too busy. ...

My immediate family and I enjoyed the coastal sun and waves for the past two weeks. Leaving a piece of my heart behind in the small town, the sadness of returning to city life sparked the discussion again between my husband and me about whether we should consider moving to a smaller coastal town. Years ago, we had our house on the market, serious about moving, but COVID happened, and those plans were cancelled. ...

Welcome to that week between Christmas and New Year when even the days of the week become a mystery. This time of year, akin to limbo, is truly special. My children’s stationary and school clothes are mostly sorted and ready for the upcoming year—well, they’ll survive with what hasn’t been sorted yet. Christmas has come and gone, and it feels as though the entire world has collectively decided to take a bit of a breather. ...

I have been participating in a reflection workshop since the beginning of December. I also took part in this workshop last December. It is a wonderful way to conclude a year. One of our recent prompts for introspection was: ‘Where did you own your value this year?’ To unpack this prompt, I used the following rationale: To understand where I owned my value this year, I first need to comprehend what it means to own my value. ...

During one of our runs, my friend Raymond walked me through the intricacies of conducting a fire test. It’s amazing the subjects we delve into while pounding the tar. The process entails subjecting materials to intense heat until they reach their smoking point. Sensors, strategically placed above the experimental setup, are supposed to detect the smoke. The order and time at which these sensors detect or fail to detect the fire are recorded. This data is later presented to the client, a mining company, aiding them in deciding which sensors to invest in. ...

I’ve now run two marathons. It was the same marathon, one year apart, almost identical routes, same time of year, similar weather (this year’s weather might’ve been slightly more challenging) - and yet two completely different experiences. Last year’s was the more difficult run of the two. I was still very inexperienced then and I cramped for at least the last third of that marathon. But I enjoyed the experience and the vibe of the event, and will always treasure it. Afterwards, I took what felt like forever to recover. I kept trying to get back into running but couldn’t seem to figure it out. ...

A few days after completing the 2023 Cape Town marathon, I wrote a thank you note to Michelle on my blog page. In this piece, I wrote the following: “I had to take some time to figure things out especially my ‘why’ and then my ‘how’ - both felt unfigureoutable.” My Kopskuif-course started at the end of last month. It is a weight-loss preparation course. In this course, I try to unpack the world of diets and exercise and try to make it slightly less intimidating for someone who knows that they need to lose weight but is unsure of where to start. ( Before you ask, it is only available in Afrikaans) My focus for about half of this course is on ‘why’; during the other half, I focus on ‘how’. ...

Planning for and working towards a big goal is incomplete unless you also plan what to do after reaching that goal - especially when it is an event you’re working towards. Not having a post-event plan can leave you feeling aimless, even depressed, when your event is done and dusted. Note: you are probably going to feel a bit lost and down anyway, but having a post-event plan will definitely help. ...

We had an interesting problem these past two weeks. I wrote “we” even though it was actually my problem. I had someone who shared this problem with me and solved it for me - which is a massive privilege. The Wednesday after my previous newsletter I had a 10km Easy run on my training calendar. I cannot recall a 10km ever feeling better or easier during the course of this past year than my run that morning. I shared this observation with a running friend who was very happy for me. ...