Just Emma

Hello, lovelies. Can you believe it? Today marks the first of June. We’re halfway through the year. And for me, this year was going to be the start of my 26-year plan of being a world-famous writer, married to Jason Momoa, and living the high life. However, to date, I am no closer to my goal than I was when I first envisioned where I wanted my life to be. And that had me worrying. On my next birthday, I will be half a century old, and I am not living the life I thought I would. As a child, I always knew that I wanted to be a famous actor, touring the world in my own one-woman show, signing autographs and posing for pictures with my adoring fans. And so far, the only people wanting to talk to me are my bank manager, credit card companies and some random bloke who keeps calling me instead of his mate. We have very similar numbers. So, is this all I can expect in my life? Waking up, going to work, coming home, doing the laundry and falling into bed. Wash, rinse and repeat. But ...

Hello, lovelies. Please enjoy a daily short story. It’s the Final Countdown. “Get ready, for here we go! It’s the countdown to 2025!” Geoffrey rolled his eyes as the DJ danced behind his ridiculously complicated, brightly lit mixing decks. Was it necessary to bring it all with him for this small office’s New Year’s Eve work party? With the added effect of spinning and flashing disco lights, and mood lighting, they’d turned off the office strip overhead lights, why was he so happy that the year was nearly over? Was the prospect for 2025 so earth-shatteringly different to the year that he’d just lived through? Well. If he was that happy, bopping out of time to cheesy pop music, then he obviously had a much better year than Geoffrey had. “Here we go, ten!” Why, Geoffrey thought, had he allowed himself to be dragged to this office party? He’d much rather be at home, alone a...

     Hello, lovelies.            They say patience is a virtue, but given half a chance, I bet most of us would take the easiest route possible. It’s not that we want to jump the queue or be rewarded for skipping the boring bits, it's just that we all have so much to do, that putting in the time, money or effort needed is sometimes a step too far. And I find that I don’t have the time to do any of the things that I want to do. Honestly, I am never going to read a third of the books that are all neatly piled up on my overflowing bookshelves. I have still to paint my bedroom, which has been on my to-do list for about two years now. And as for my beloved allotment, I cannot tell you where my days have gone, because I can never seem to find the time to go there. Why can’t all the things in life be easy? For some, they can pick up something quickly, whereas, for me, everything just takes such a long time. Like writing this blog, for example. I hav...

       Hello, lovelies.        Yep, it’s that time of year again. We went from a scorching hot summer to instant autumn all in the blink of an eye. Last week I was sleeping with the fan on, and this week I’m wondering where I had put my autumn jumpers. I both love and hate this time of year. For years September has meant new school uniforms and an endless list of stationery my children needed for the new term. The roads that had been traffic-free for the summer holidays are now jammed with stressed parents as they drag their children off to school. And once again, I have failed to reach my summer goal of having a beach-ready body. No, all I am prepared for is cosy nights in, wrapped up tightly in a nice warm blanket and working through my watch list on Netflix. But mostly, the autumn means that we’re creeping our way up to Christmas. And that means money. Lots of money. And that is the one thing that I don’t have. We’ve gone from relaxing on the w...

      Hello, lovelies.            Is it true that once we’ve discovered what we want to do with our lives, we all work as hard as we can to achieve it? That we can all reach for the stars and the sky is the limit? Surely the glass ceiling has been smashed by now, and our destinies are in our own hands? With all our potential nothing can hold us back. But that’s not what we were drip-feed as children. Our bedtime stories told us that if we lived our true authentic selves, no matter how humble, the prince would come and sweep us off our feet. All we had to do was work without complaining, put up with domestic slavery, open our French doors and let wild animals in to help with the unending cleaning. All so that we could live our lives as small as possible and that one day someone would save us from the humdrum that we were born into. Because there was no way that we could save ourselves, right? And that only once we were chosen, we could or woul...

        Hello, lovelies.           They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That one person's trash is another’s treasure. There are so many versions of the truth, how is one to know if we’re ever right or not? Mostly, we strive to create a world in which we can grow, learn, love and be the best version of ourselves. But what happens when our idea of who we are doesn’t reflect how others perceive us? How can we bridge the gap when someone sees us so differently than how we see ourselves? Which version of us is true? The way we feel about ourselves versus the way others see us? Can we be certain of how we come across? And what happens when we are confronted by others about who we are and have to work out how our version is so completely wrong? Are we really how we see ourselves? Or do we have a blindside to all our foibles and idiosyncrasies? Are we really who we think we are? Or should we take what others say about us with a p...