Happy Monday everyone!
With time flying by, I wanted to pause and share a few reflections that I hope will inspire, inform and spark fresh ideas for you.
What I‘ve LOVED
For my birthday this year I was given a lovely gift. One book, every month, for a whole year. At first I wasn’t sure how I would get through a book a month, but as the first one arrived I was surprised at how, once I read those opening pages, I couldn’t help but keep going.
Each month a new envelope arrives, and with it, a small pause. A reminder to slow down. To make space. And somewhere along the way, reading moved from something I meant to do into something I now look forward to.
I realised that to make time for reading, something else had to give. And I think we can all agree on the easiest culprit. Doomscrolling. That strange, dead space where we dip into other people’s lives for a moment, only to look up and realise time has quietly slipped away. So I deleted the usual social apps from my phone during the week. Not a grand decision, just a gentle acknowledgement that the noise wasn’t helping. And once they were gone, reading naturally filled the gaps that scrolling used to occupy.
The biggest change has been at night. I now read before bed, every evening. No more doomscrolling. No more overstimulated mind. Just a book and a bit of calm. I fall asleep more easily, and I feel better for it.
It’s funny how a small gift can open up a bigger shift. One book a month has reminded me of the joy of slowing down, the pleasure of a good story, and how different life feels when we choose quieter habits that actually serve us.
Not only am I sleeping better, but I’m learning more. I’ve noticed my ability to concentrate has improved throughout the day, simply because I’m spending more time with books and less time in the noise.
It’s amazing how one thoughtful gift can change the shape of someone’s life. And with Christmas approaching, it makes me wonder what small gifts we could give that might spark a similar shift for someone else.
Big or small, you never know the difference it could make. And if you’re wondering what has been my favourite book that I’ve read so far then I can tell you that its……
What I’ve LEARNED
Running my own company has pushed me into more new skills than I ever expected. When you’re building something from the ground up, you suddenly find yourself wearing hats you didn’t even know existed. Finance, design, storytelling, tech troubleshooting. And then there’s the joy of Googling something like why won’t this video export at midnight.
One of the biggest lessons so far has been accepting that trying something new often means getting it wrong. Repeatedly. Take iMovie, for example. I wanted to make a short promo video. How hard could it be? Several hours, countless edits, and a fair amount of frustration later, I had a version that almost worked. Then another that didn’t. Then another that finally landed.
And somewhere in the middle of all that trial and error, I realised I was actually enjoying it. The process of learning. The small wins. The quiet satisfaction of figuring something out that felt completely foreign a few days earlier. I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface, but these new skills feel like unexpected little gifts I wouldn’t have picked up otherwise.
Building a business stretches you. It nudges you outside your comfort zone and occasionally drags you there. But it also grows you in ways you don’t see coming.
And if anyone needs a 60 second promo video cut… well, you know who to reach out to.
What I’ve LIKED
One of the unexpected joys of this year has been discovering a new way to cook. Not through a fancy cookbook or the latest air-fryer trend, but through ChatGPT.
Instead of hunting for a recipe that happens to match whatever ingredients are left in the fridge, I’ve started doing the opposite. I tell ChatGPT what I’ve got, and it creates a recipe around that. A bespoke dish, built on the fly, shaped to my kitchen rather than the other way round.
It has genuinely been a game changer.
Cooking has become more fun, more creative, and far less repetitive. I get to experiment every time I make dinner, and because the recipes are personalised, I know there’s a good chance the whole family will enjoy it.
Some dishes turn out more delightful than others, but that’s part of the charm. It feels a bit like playing my own home version of Ready Steady Cook each week. For non-UK readers, that was a TV show where contestants brought in random ingredients and the chefs had to create a dish without knowing what they’d be handed. That sense of surprise, of not knowing what might appear on the plate, makes the whole thing strangely exciting.
ChatGPT is brilliant for many things, but if you haven’t tried creating a recipe with it yet, give it a go. You never know what you’ll get back.
A simple family Christmas dinner?
You got it.
Final thought:
Here is a song to kick start your week:
If you would like to read the latest Monday Morning Musings then subscribe here:
- Stories, Suppers, and the Small Joys of Learning – From 8th Dec 2025.
- Small Experiments, Big Reminders- From 8th Sept 2025.
- Adapting to AI, Moments that Matter & Living with Lions – From 23rd June 2025.
- Baking, Biking and Being Back in Touch- From 21st April 2025.
- Seasons of Change & Rekindling the Love of Learning – From 24th March 2025.
Monday Morning Musings 
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