Sarah Wilson

i cultivate confusion

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I like this quote just now as I frenzy myself up in a writing maelstrom: You have to systematically create confusion; it sets creativity free. Everything that is contradictory creates life. – Salvador Dali Further to my anxiety post last week, I think confusion in the creativity process is really gut churning. It throws me. … Read more

Question: how do you exercise?

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Reader Amy recently asked what I do for exercise.

This is a really good question. Because I’ve shifted the way I do things in the past six months or so. Dramatically so. And I think what I’ve learned (the hard way…always the hard way with me) works. For everyone. It’s not that complicated…and it’s kind.

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To start, I should tell you what I used to do. I would run 10-14km every few days, run to yoga class twice a week, run to the beach to sand run, run to the gym, run 10km to work…oh, and go mountain running most weekends. I’d also go mountainbike racing…I’d compete in 24 hour races.

Got a picture? I’m not boasting. I’m kind of embarrassed.

I ran. From? Not sure…mostly myself and my fear of stillness.

In the end my adrenals couldn’t handle it any more and I collapsed. Bam! I ground to a halt and couldn’t walk for several months. I’ve written about this before. Quelle irony, hey! Our bodies do this. They teach us the perfect lessons we need right now. My lesson: stop! Rethink!

As I got better, I tried to go back to my old ways. Stubborn goat girl that I am. Each and every time, though, I’d get an injury – in my neck, my toe, or a cold or whatever. My body was rebelling. It was super shitty.

I finally got the picture. So. Now. I take a far more gentle approach. Below is what works now.

my principles

* Exercise/move every day. It’s the “every day” part of that statement that matters, not how much, or what you do. Once you start allowing “off” days….you allow the “off” days to grow. And, really, exercise should just be about moving. It should be part of life every day. Not a regime you shirk from. Treat it as such.

* Sometimes I just walk. Or stretch in the morning.

* I just commit to doing 20 minutes of something. I get out the door and move.  If I start moving and want to do it longer, great. If not, 20 minutes is cool.

* I exercise in the morning. Then it’s done. I also exercise/move to feel fresh. To get energy. This is the point. My day feels dull without this kick-start. THIS is what gets me out of the bed. Any incidental walking on top of what I do in the morning is a bonus.

* I don’t make a fuss. I tie on my shoes and get out of the house. No fancy gear or water bottles or towels. Driving to gyms and groups across town are just hurdles that can stop you from just moving. Keep it as simply and as close to home as possible. I put my key down my bra and carry nothing. No ipod, no phone. Out the door!

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Tuesday Eats: a sugar-free breakfast idea!

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How’s this. I post about how tough it is to eat breakfast when you’re on this sugar-free challenge. And hello! I’m emailed this rippa recipe. Randomly.

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I met Samantha Gowing randomly a year or so ago. She’s a therapeutic chef who travels the world creating “Surf Spa Cuisine” for luxury hotels and spas. This is her “Emperor’s breakfast”…fit for kings.

Red quinoa with goji berries, macadamias and vanilla

  • 1 cup red quinoa (plain is fine too…remember to rinse well!!!!)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1⁄4 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped. Or almonds.
  • 1⁄4 cup goji berries (which contain sugar…but not so much)
  • 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
  • 2 teaspoon chia seeds
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • Pinch cinnamon
  • ½ lime, juice only
  • Yoghurt for serving if desired

Cook the quinoa in 2 cups of water until boiling. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes
Transfer cooked quinoa to a mixing bowl, add goji berries, macadamia nuts, vanilla seeds, chia, ginger and cinnamon
Spoon into serving bowls, add a squeeze of lime and your favourite yoghurt

*Quinoa cooking tip: If all the water has not been absorbed, cover pot with a tea towel then place lid on top. The remaining moisture will dry, leaving lovely, fluffy quinoa

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this is how it’s going to be from now on…

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As many readers of this blog might have gathered, I’ve recently packed up and gone north for a few months to write a book. To be starting a new chapter feels fresh under the armpits and frolicky in my soul. As you might have gathered from posts of late, I’m also very anxious. It’s the biggest project I’ve set out to complete.

It feels like I’m stepping into a brand new field.

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To answer a few questions:

Why north?

I’ve come to the Byron hinterland (the trees and hills back from the coast) because it’s 10 hours from my distractions. I say this a lot here – these days you can’t whinge about being interrupted or bombarded and not getting anything done. Because you will be constantly. This is life now. So it’s up to to put up your own parameters. And install the barbed-wire fencing. I tell everyone I’m away for a few months, they leave me alone and will forgive me for not returning emails. Also, I won’t be tempted to take on a quick MC job, or help some charity launch an appeal or duck out to have a coffee with some guy working on a cool project who wants my thoughts etc.

Also, I love heat and steaminess and trees and hills and up here I’m myself. I’m not a city girl.

Finally, up here, on my own, I’m scared. I have no mobile reception. Which I love. Being scared is good. It jolts. It forces the mind to grasp at new things.

What’s the book?

I was commissioned a year ago by a publisher to write a book. It’s due this month. I’ve not started. I have an extension (ergo, I’m getting serious and heading north). It’s a bit like my Sunday Life column, a bit like this blog, but includes all the bits in the background. It’s not memoir, it’s not self-help. It’s…well, it’s yet to be written.

Perfectly, I have to be my truest self to write this damn thing. I have to be my message. And, so…

This is what I’m doing with my blog…

It will be business as usual, mostly.

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sunday life: a reality check with Nick Vujicic (and a lesson in helping others)

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This week I get over myself

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Is there anything more refreshing than a good ole “get over yourself” whack to the noggin? There you are having some first-world, self-righteous, control-freakish throw down  – your latte arrives cold and made with non-chemically decaffeinated beans, you have under-thigh burn because one of the kids left the heated car seat dial on high – and someone mentions their baby has cancer. Or that they’ve lost their business. It makes us pull our head in. And get perspective.

Recently we got a collective whack. There we were, complaining about a $179 parking ticket (as I was) or a broken toaster or whatever, and footage started rolling in of Queensland families who’d lost everything – the car, the toaster, their livelihoods and loved ones. It was insta-perspective.

I think we enjoy these whacks. They pull our greed, our negativity and our listlessness into line and remind us what life’s all about. They build a bridge so we can get over ourselves and onto more grounded pastures.

This week I enjoyed such a whack. On Tuesday I chatted with Nick Vujicic, a Californian-based Australian motivational speaker. Vujicic ‘s 27 and has no arms or legs. He was born this way and now travels the world trying to remind people how to get over themselves.

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I chat with Sweet Poison author and get answers…a video (yes!)

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My first video*. Rather thrilled. Especially since it’s an interview with David Gillespie, the author of Sweet Poison, who inspired me to quit sugar almost three weeks ago. It was a stinker of a day when we did this in the garden of one of my favourite Bondi cafes, Greens. It’s a little long. We … Read more

what to wear on a bike: part two (plus a bike basket giveaway!)

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I wrote a post recently on what I wear on my bike…how to dress to ride…sans lyrca. I write these blogs to inspire you to ride a bike. My motivations are pure!

Here, a few extra pics and some that you lot sent in (thank you!). Also, our friend  Joyce from Cyclestyle has VERY kindly offered to giveaway an oval wicker bike basket (see below). As an aside, Joyce just gave birth four days ago, 10 days late!  The criteria will be…hmmmm…someone who’s just embraced bike funesss…a new recruit! Send in a pic via the comments of your new wheels (and a cute outfit) if you can.

baba17I found these pics of Baba – an Australian stylist living in Paris who I interviewed years ago when I was a feature writer at Sunday Magazine. Gala Darling posted them on her blog recently and did a wonderful write up on Baba. A gorgeous read.

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Baba uses black leggings creatively. Have black leggings. Will travel (even in f*ck off stillettos in the snow).

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Question: “you’re an anxious person, how do you enjoy life!?”

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Reader Cammy this week asked me this:

“I’m an anxious person, very annoying, but you have made me feel like maybe I can deal with it. Thanks!! How do you deal with anxiety and  enjoy things when you’re feeling anxious. Please! I would love to know what you do.”

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I’m a very anxious person. It’s the background soundtrack to my existence. When you’re an anxious person, you notice things a lot. I’ve noticed there are different types of anxiety. But regardless, I reckon the beat (or buzz) of the soundtrack is the same. It’s common to the human experience.

At different stages in my life anxiety has ruled, and crippled, me.

The thing is, you can struggle with it. Or you can work with it. I don’t think we’re not meant to be anxious. I don’t think we’re not meant to be anything. We just are.

Happiness is generally impossible for longer than 15 minutes. We are the descendants of creatures who, above all else, worried.” Alain de Botton

Worrying about worrying is very familiar to the anxious person. Constant monitoring of your level of “Hey, I’m cool”-ness is too. Ditto, thinking that everyone else goes home content and anxiety-free, jumps into bed and sleeps sound.

I reckon we all get to the bathroom mirror on our way to the bedroom at night and look at ourselves and wonder if we’re doing this caper called life right. None of us are. All of us are.

I love Stephen Fry for the fact he reminds us of this, constantly sharing on Twitter his doubt and anxiety and sadness. Dave Eggers, too, in interviews.

Anxiety has made my life good

I don’t particularly feel like dwelling on the anxiety bit of Cammy’s question. The “how do I enjoy things” bit is more interesting. I think anxiety pushes us. It exists to do so – it’s part of the flight or fight mechanism and helps us friggen fire up.

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Tuesday Eats: the problem with breakfast

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I’ve been sugar-free for 16 days now. With a minuscule exception.** Huge. I’ve employed a range of tricks for quitting.

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What’s been trickiest? Chocolate? Dessert? Nope. Breakfast.

Breakfast is dripping in sugar. Cereal, muesli, muffins, banana bread, fruit salad, yoghurt, jam, peanut butter. Even Promite!!! If you eat out or on the run, it’s worse. Try ordering even a porridge (in summer)… you have to specify no honey, no compote. And then it’ll come out drenched in low-fat yoghurt, which is brimful of sugar.

A tub of low-fat yoghurt (200ml) contains about 6-8 teaspoons of sugar. That stuff they serve at cafes? Even more…

Me, I’ve been mostly eating:

* poached eggs on toast, sometimes with bacon

* millet toast spread with cashew and turmeric spread from Suveran.

* avocado and vegemite on toast (gluten free)

* porridge “sweetened” with a little coconut milk and cinnamon, with yoghurt and nuts

* haloumi cheese grilled with sardines and olives

* smoothies made with a handful of frozen berries or a frozen banana…WHAT?! **Yes, bananas are full of sugar (berries are OK). But here’s the thing. My principles take over. I had 5 bananas in my freezer and given the shortage and given I don’t waste food ever (not even the stalks on spinach. Or sweet potato peel), I’ve been eating half at a time. My little bourgeouis experiment is not that important!

I’ve also been on the look-out for fruit and sugar-free muesli. I’ve posted a few below.

Other things to look out for:

* Chai tea – they often put honey or palm sugar in the mix

* drink full-fat milk with your coffee…the fat helps with sugar-cravings

* don’t drink juice. Veggie juice is ok, so long as it’s got no fruit juice in it (carrot and beetroot also contain a lot of sugar…be careful). A good substitute is coconut water.

* nuts are good! I eat a few after breakfast to curb the sugar grasp

But first.

I got David Gillespie, author of Sweet Poison,  to share his thoughts:

Sugar avoidance can eliminate whole food groups, not just chocolate and ice-cream. Take a walk down the breakfast cereal aisle and you will be struggling to find a single product that doesn’t have significant amounts of sugar.

Breakfast can be an enormous source of sugar in a ‘healthy’ diet.

Eating a heart foundation approved cereal (like Kellogg’s Just Right) and a glass of apple juice for breakfast will add up to almost half a kilo of sugar by the end of the week.

That’s half a kilo of sugar in your diet before you even push back from the breakfast bowl, before you crack open a chocolate wrapper and before you tuck into an energy drink at morning tea time.

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