Hi, it’s Dr. Denise Taylor on this beautiful sunny afternoon in the wood. And this morning I went and visited a different wood and it’s really interesting to see what other people are doing. This is a community wood and there was a group of wood owners and we all went there. I learnt a lot about the way that they manage their wood and the things that they do, which suits them, but it’s not something that I’d want to do. And also, I was so thankful for my wood being on the flat. Theirs was very steep. It was a long, thin wood. with a lot of steepness to it. Which doesn’t really suit me. But it gave me time, away from computers and everything.
I was telling somebody that, this afternoon I was going to go to our wood and I was going to do some videos. And she said, “Oh, do you do podcasts?” I says, well, they’re just short videos related to articles that I write and things that I want to get other people to think about.
I said, I probably should have done my hair, but I wear a hat a lot, and I probably should wear some makeup. I don’t know what made me say that, because I’m not the sort of person that’s, that fussed on whether my hair’s done or not.
And she said, “but you don’t need to be the same as everybody else”. And she was a little bit older than me. And I always find it useful when somebody says something that makes you stop and think.
Why would I want to be the same as anybody else? Do I really want to be an influencer?
Everybody does what they want, but do I really want to be using lots of filters and makeup and whatever to make myself look different to the natural me?
I like being in a wood. Because it’s a natural environment and the reason I am makeup free, and don’t colour my hair, is because I just think, what’s wrong with being the natural you?
There’s a lot of people having very ageist views about themselves and people feeling that they’re not wanted because they’re older.
I’m approaching 67, and I never had those feelings, but I think that’s probably because I’m comfortable in myself.
And if I think I’ve still got a story to tell, and if I think I’ve got my space in the world, then I’m going to have it, and I’m not going to let anybody knock me or push me out of the way.
So, the message for this short video is, are you being yourself? And if not, why not? So that’s something that you might like to journal about.
It’s also what is you and what are the bits of you that you want to show to the world. I wrote an article about eulogy virtues rather than CV virtues.
I think what I want people to know is that I’m somebody who’s kind and enthusiastic and a nice person to have around. I’d rather them talk about me in those sorts of terms than ‘she was really good at doing her makeup’ or or whatever it might be.
Often, we just forget about the things that we’re good at. We concentrate on the things that we don’t like about ourselves.
I could focus on how I could probably lose some weight, but that’s not the main thing that’s going to drive me in decisions that I make.
I don’t intend to ramble, but also, I think it’s quite interesting that I just do these recordings in one take and I don’t go in and edit.
So, a bit of repetition of what I said before, I just want you to think about when you are being the real you, what are the things that you bring to the world and what are the things that you love about yourself?
I think we should focus far more on the things that we like about ourselves. than the things that we wish we could change.
So, it’s Dr. Denise, down here in the wood, giving you something to reflect about. And I’d love to know if it has prompted you to take any action. So, until next time, bye bye.