The Sweet Spot - Short and spicy 🤪

Good morning,    How are you today?  Elation is the mood of the day in our house.  We’ve been through six of the toughest, strangest weeks of our lives and Half Term begins in 5 hours and 59 minutes.     I had so many lovely responses to last week’s Sweet Spot, and it got me thinking about the people who read this email.       Those of you I know personally have two very striking things in common. 

1. You have gone through or are going through at this moment an experience that has tested you to your limit.  (And I'm not referring to lockdown.) You’ve faced humiliation and pain and at times you have wondered how you will possibly make it through.  
    

2. You’ve dealt with your difficulty with courage, integrity and humour.  I saw it.  

  I wonder if this is true of all my Sweet Spot readers?  I wouldn't be surprised!    I’m so happy to have so many brave and interesting people in this Sweet Spot bubble.     Those of you who have been through it and come out the other side, you are living proof: it does get better. Those of you who are in it right now might not believe it, but it does.     Here are some things I’ve loved this week.   Love Rosie xx   

How are you feeling about your body?     I can always measure my state of mind by the words I use to describe mine.    When I lived in London, I found a cute exercise place that helped me transform how I see my body.     Move Your Frame offers classes with natty little names such as ‘duvet day yoga’ and 'Kylie butt lift' that promise to lift your mood, whether you are ‘stressed’ ‘fragile’ or ‘moody AF’.  I was thrilled this week to discover these classes are now running online.  Ida and I have been cramming in some of the shorter sessions before lunch and it's given us such a boost this week.       I adore the instructors’ deliberate use of language.  For example, Charles, who does Britney Barre, talks about your ‘gorgeous thighs’ or doing a ‘beautiful lunge’.  I’d never thought of my thighs of anything other than quite wobbly. And I’d never thought of a lunge as anything other than a boring thing you do when you exercise.     And when latino Diana, who leads Quickie Ass and Abs, challenges you to try a harder rep, she asks ‘do you wanna make it a little more spicy?’ Joining Move Your Frame online this week has not only made my muscles ache in a most invigorating fashion.  It has also reminded me that I can spice up my life with the words I choose.   

Suffolk got hit by a blizzard this week.  Our garden is Narnia-esque.  My two younger children have never seen proper snow like this in their lives.  They were entranced.   When it snows, I am always reminded of my favourite Philip Larkin poem. 

Although I’m usually quietly amused by Philip Larkin’s cynicism, this is the one optimistic poem in the Whitsun Weddings collection and it feels special for that reason.  Even he can't dampen our spirits when faced with new lambs and snow.   

I find it particularly poignant in the context of this year.  After so many days of sameness it was reassuring to see my children’s responding with unequivocal joy to something new.  I foresee a time, not too far from now when we will all feel lit up once more by ‘earth’s immeasurable surprise.’

I loved listening to Elizabeth Day on Adam Buxton’s podcast.  Elizabeth Day fronts the brilliant podcast How To Fail in which she interviews notable people about their failures.  Her mission is to prove that failure is vital in teaching us how to succeed.     In this podcast, she discusses her dislike of the expression ‘good vibes only’ because it marginalises anyone feeling sad.  She feels it’s important that we all learn to live with bad vibes and suggests the expression should be changed to   

‘a mixture of vibes all the time’.     

I wonder if it will catch on.