I read something this week about Janet Street Porter. She said she had decided that her best tip to avoid ageing was not to talk ‘in the past’. It struck a chord because I’m aware I often do. Janet S-P had chosen to talk of what she is and will be doing instead of “when I was young”. Great tip I thought, and I’ll be very conscious about what not doing that does to me, and to other’s perceptions of me.

It made me realise that it’s also a fabulous tool for the mental health toolbox. Getting out of the feeling of entrapment that our dark shadows want for us, and instead moving into the next minute, the next half hour, the next action, the next project. Thanks Janet!

I will however continue to enjoy the dreamy nostalgia moments I frequently find myself drawn to. My most favourite of all is the feeling of Saturdays when I was small. The air being fresh and cold, men in bunnets, Are You Being Served? on the telly and eating chips straight out the paper. Saturdays seemed to last for two days before 6pm. And an old sheet created a den worthy of its own postcode.

I will endeavour to talk ‘in my future’ but I can’t give up the warmth of a nostalgia blanket.

Love from 

The room above the garage

A Moodscope member