I remember the first time I saw someone working at a stand-up desk. It was 2009 and a colleague had rearranged the furniture in her office and needed some help reconnecting her printer. I noticed that her office makeover involved putting her computer on top of a stack of boxes so that she could work standing up. To be honest, I thought she was a little peculiar. It seemed rather impractical, perhaps even a little silly. I now realise, given that I was spending hours and hours each day sitting in edit suites and at computers, that I was the... Read full article »

I was standing on the side of the road while my three-year-old son was kicking his legs and screaming his lungs out. While Theodore usually loves walking to his childcare centre, on this particular Monday morning he did not want to go to school, and he felt that the whole neighbourhood should know about it. To my mortification someone came out of their house to see what was going on. Another person walking by gave me a strange look. “What is she doing to that poor child?” the look said. With a To-Do list as long as my arm waiting... Read full article »

I was recently browsing the health section of my favourite book store, looking for a good book for a friend who recently discovered that she has a serious chronic disease and faces a lengthy period of medical treatments. I wanted to find something that would inspire and uplift her, something with credible and useful information, and something that wasn’t too taxing for her to read. To be honest, I was shocked by what I saw. There was just so much nonsense on the shelves – Books written by people who are marketed as experts simply because they are famous, books... Read full article »

Like most people, I’ve experienced some pretty challenging times in my life (reporting in the aftermath of natural disasters, live broadcasting, and jumping into an open ocean in front of a 30,000 kilogram whale immediately spring to mind) but by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever done is be a parent. It’s an unrelenting occupation involving sleepless nights, tantrums, childcare juggling, meal planning, sibling rivalry, constant vigilance, potty training, endless cleaning, and schedule management – all of which are things that occur multiple times a day, on a good day. It is, of course, all worth it, but in... Read full article »

This time last year I had an endless loop of names buzzing around in my head. Everyone from my husband and kids, to my parents and in-laws, to my siblings and their kids, to our extended family and friends, my son’s childcare teachers, neighbours, colleagues, employees, and even the cleaners. For each name on the list, I was wracking my mind trying to come up with a meaningful holiday gift.   I appreciated these people. I wanted to give them something to say “thanks for a great year,” “I hope you have a happy holiday,” and “I wish you well... Read full article »

I wish I had a time machine so I could go back 11 years ago when I was first diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. I wish I could bump into that 24-year-old version of me who was leaving a rheumatologists office in tears, having just been told she “probably has lupus,” that her immune system was attacking her own body, that there was no known cause and no known cure, that she had bad genes, and that she may end up in a wheelchair, with organ failure, or infertility. I wish I could tell her about this moment right now,... Read full article »