Woody Wonders

Do you feel a sense of achievement? Do you feel a sense of accomplishment? Are you happy? If not, then I'd urge you to seriously consider your options.  Don't be a drifter, 'Saturday night at the movies' - no, not that kind of drifter (look it up, I'm showing my age!).  I mean, don't drift through life.  A couple of years ago I finally faced up to the fact that I was going to be 50 in 2020.  Hardly ancient these days I know, but nevertheless this is going to be a major milestone for me.  It got me thinking about lots of things, including work and, as many of you know, I changed jobs in 2018 after almost 14 years in my previous one.  I wasn't unhappy by any stretch of the imagination, it was just that I didn't want to end up 'drifting' for the rest of my working life.  I'd stopped feeling challenged in my work and felt I had more to give.  So, despite being terrified at the prospect of changing my whole working life, I knew it had t...

Sport changes lives .... .... I've witnessed it first hand and I've also experienced it myself.  My blog this week is a small step in helping to spread this message far and wide. This weekend the delightful Mr Bob and myself have been at our annual British Athletics Supporters Club event.   We’ve been attending for the last goodness knows how many years and during that time we’ve had the privilege of meeting some amazing British athletes, both up and coming and gold medal winners. One very notable year was when we got the opportunity to meet Jessica Ennis-Hill shortly after she’d won her fabulous Olympic gold medal in London.   How she coped with the expectation of the whole nation is beyond belief. The weekend is also an opportunity to meet up with lots of people who we’ve become good friends with over the years and the great thing is that every single person who attends already has something in common, we all love athletics, so it’s not hard to strike up a co...

Keeping the focus going forwards Good afternoon folks, how are you all getting on with 'not normal November'?  I hope it's treating you and your uniqueness very well. Things have not been normal in the Woodward-Newall household for quite a few months now.  I don't want to speak on his behalf but let's just say that Mr Bob's work situation changed back in July, you know, the 'R' word.  Ever since then we've been adapting, finding new ways to do things, figuring out what we want from the future and generally having a good old think about things.  The prime motive at the top of our list has been to 'think outside the box' and to 'not be normal'.  First of all, I'm so proud of how Mr Bob has dealt with everything whilst maintaining an air of professionalism and dignity and I'm also proud of how we've dealt with things as a couple.  We've discussed new ideas and remained positive at every step of the way.  For an...

Welcome to 'Not Normal November' This month we are going to celebrate everything that is unique and 'not normal'.  Who wants to be normal anyway?  Besides, there's no such thing as normal so why should we want to label ourselves as such.   Reasons not to be 'normal' It's boring ... safe.  It's easy to be a sheep and follow the crowd but it takes courage and determination to find your own way in life. It's subjective.  What's considered normal for one person may be deemed as completely off the wall in someone else's eyes. We all have unique characteristics and it would be extremely boring if we were all the same.  Don't conform to 'normality', let your true uniqueness shine through. Labels are what you stick on envelopes, not people. You won't change things by being normal, you have to step outside your comfort zone. I started to think about this subject when I was having a light hearted c...