Getting locked up and unable to see friends and relatives, that' wrong right? The answer depends on who you ask and how honest they are with their responses. Most introverts will pause for a moment and consider the statement before embarrassingly mumbling that it is not so bad. Yes, they miss their friends, of course, they do; but it is also great to have time to oneself. Some people may even state enthusiastically that having a clear social calendar with a valid excuse is pure bliss. Surely these guys must be introverts. About half of us are introverts, so in theory, half of us should be hap ..read more

I am an asthmatic. Ever since I was a child, I spent many evenings struggling to get a full breath. Because of my asthma, I am well aware of the torture of respiratory illness, and when coronavirus started making headlines, I was one of the first people to self-isolate. In the past month and a half, I had a lot of time to reflect on this new reality that was thrust upon us all. It is a reality without social contact, hairdressers, beauty treatments or frivolous spending. Once I came to terms with the financial loss that stemmed from the restrictions of COVID-19 something quite magical started ..read more

This morning I read that 1 billion people are in lockdown. Many are together with their families; husbands, wives, children and in some cases, grandparents others are not so lucky. In the UK, 49% of the population over 16 are single, and 15% of the adult population live alone. For those people, their lifeline is the internet, and their social contacts have become primarily virtual. Life will not return to normal for at least a year, probably longer, maybe never. This is a fact. There are three ways out of this: vaccination (12-18 months away), herd immunity (two years away), or permanent chan ..read more

This was the year I was going to hike all the way up to Base Camp Everest in Nepal. My friends and family had been mostly supportive but also worried about the risks. Now this adventure together with all my other plans has been cancelled. In retrospect, and in the face of millions getting sick or dying from a pandemic, my escapade seems quite harmless. The world is a dangerous place all of a sudden and Mount Everest is a safer place than central London. When we come out of self-isolation, the world will be different, somehow new. It is impossible to deny that what has happened in the last few ..read more

My eldest daughter is a sociable 19-year-old university student who’s been enjoying her newfound freedom 200 miles away from parental supervision. Yet, two weeks into the UK coronavirus epidemic, she is spending her Saturday nights, not at a club or even a pub, but in her university dorm eating home-made pizza with a girlfriend. She is not alone. As the disease spreads and the panic intensifies, many of her friends have started to avoid crowded and sweaty places as well. What about boys I ask her? Have you met anyone interesting? Any kissing? “Gross mummy! Yack. What if they have the coronavi ..read more

"Now I think it's one of the most useless questions an adult can ask a child—What do you want to be when you grow up? As if growing up is finite. As if at some point, you become something, and that's the end." ― Michelle Obama, Becoming A year ago, I was bogged down trying to finish a book about the self and the ego. I had reached a brick wall in my writing, and like most authors in my situation, I did everything in my power to avoid spending time with my “going nowhere manuscript.” Personally, I was going through a period of exploration, and my book, when finished, would reveal the way forwa ..read more

Women have become more powerful. We know this because we hear about it every day. Women are reaching new pinnacles in politics, sciences, and the workplace. They run countries and businesses. Often, they earn more money than men, and they have well and truly escaped the confines of their kitchen and laundry room, swapping it for the freedom that the sexes equality affords them. Men have discovered that there is no shame in sharing some of the burden of child-rearing with their wives, and many husbands have become very adept in changing nappies and other tasks that previously were the exclusiv ..read more

Valentine's day is upon us! Caught in the whirlwind of romantic preparations, you may be too busy to wonder how we came to celebrate love on this particular day, and who was Valentine anyway? The origins of Valentine's Day go back to the Romans when Emperor Claudius II executed two men — both named Valentine — on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D. The Catholic Church was quick to mark their martyrdom with a love fest, thus creating a day of torture for the 45% of the world who are single. I find this particular day to be quite controversial. After all, it is the one day of the ..read more

“Every woman that finally figured out her worth has picked up her suitcases of pride and boarded a flight to freedom, which landed in the valley of change.” ― Shannon L. Alder Sometimes, I feel that women create their own hell and then take permanent residence within its confines. The gatekeeper, guard and executioner is usually some scoundrel who doesn’t give a hoot about the prisoner. He is not even much of a gatekeeper; he doesn’t need to be because the prisoner is not willing to escape. She sits on the hard bench of the windowless room and laments the life she had previously. She says thi ..read more

I am a seasoned dieter. In fact, since the age of 12, there has never been a full week in my life where I did not deprive myself one way or another to lose weight. If there is a magic bullet out there, I have tried it. Over my lifetime, I have lost, regained, and then again lost the equivalent of a pickup truck or an adolescent elephant. At some level, I already know that my task is Sisyphean, but a few weeks ago, it was demonstrated to me clear as day. "My Fitness Pal," the app which I have been using religiously for several years to track my eating and exercise, has a handy progress feature ..read more