I've heard it said that in life we often have to choose between being and doing. Being as the pursuit of personhood and virtue, doing as productivity and achievement. As I look back across my life I am struck that I haven't "done" much. I've often found myself thinking about the potential I had as a teenager and young adult and wondering how I came to "do" so little. I wish I had climbed the corporate ladder more, chased more awards, studied further and traveled more. What ha

For as long as I can remember Christmas has been a loud and busy affair. My mum's extended family, all my aunts, uncles, cousins and their children numbering about forty people in total, would gather at Mum & Dad's for a trestle table laden feast. About two years ago we had our first "small" Christmas. It was just my parents, my sister and my family. Everyone else loved small Christmas; less noise, less outlay, less cleaning up, less strained conversations, less social niceti

40 hit me like a freight train. As it approached and for many months afterwards it felt like my life was undergoing an entire tear down and rebuild like a car engine. I questioned everything in my life all while not wanting to let on to anyone. I am a capable, sensible person and I certainly wasn't prepared to entertain the thought that I was teetering on the edge of a midlife crisis. Still the questions persisted: Had I wasted my early career in a role that was less than I w