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I’m pushing 50, but inside I still feel about 12, only now I’ve got more kids to play with (who often call me Mum). Life’s busier than ever, but that odd, bouncy, childlike feeling has settled into something unfamiliar… which I’ve slowly and comfortably learned to call home.

I’ve always lived on the edge of every circle: work, family, community, even life itself. I don’t quite fit in, and to be honest, I don’t really want to. Think of me like a woodpecker: I’ll pop my head in now and then, but never for too long.

My buzzing mind and lack of consistency make me reliable in just one way, I will get bored! And when I do, I’m as good as gone. If there were ever a competition for giving up, one that recognised honesty and effort in short bursts, I’d be a champion. No doubt about that!

This blog is for the in-betweeners, the floaters, the quietly chaotic, and the wonderfully inconsistent, anyone who’s ever felt a bit on the edge of things, and decided that’s exactly where they belong.

Today, almost anything can be had and at toxic levels beyond imagination. But what business owner is going to say to a customer, “Please sir, one more could seriously ruin your health”?There’s a lack of moral compass, occasionally spun by politicians like an ‘on and off’ switch.

In recent years, though, the ‘on’ button seems to have disappeared. Perhaps those were the years when public opinion still mattered, at least a little.No animal chooses to hunt when the catch is easy. But what kind of life does that create?Obesity is at an all-time high, along with a cascade of related medical conditions. Still, the wants continue.

Welcome to the land of opportunities.

A dream fantasised by those in less affluent nations, a dream so compelling that some risk capsizing just to reach it.And when they don’t make it, the loss echoes a familiar tale from the days of slavery. Only now, the victims are drawn not by force, but by hypnotic promise of the land of opportunities.

“Get rich or die trying”

A romanticised hit. A fantasy.

But maybe it’s time to optimise those opportunities:The super rich are few. The middle class are sinking in quicksand.And the rest? So long as Maslow’s basic needs are met, so is their dependence.

There are no hunters here!

Opportunity is the bait. Dependence is the trap.

“Please don’t throw that stone,” I shout.

I am overly anxious, raising a high-speed train of a child with no tracks in sight.

Then, I step back and exhale in relief. No one is hurt. We stand together and watch the ripple effect: the ever-expanding circles in the water, created by the stone he threw.

“You’ve just created a ripple effect,” I say, crouching beside him to share the moment.

“Oh wow, that’s beautiful,” he replies. “Can I do it again?”

And just like that, we all join in, copying his action, each of us tossing stones into the lake. It’s beautiful. The way light hits the water, how stone meets surface, and the resulting ripples glisten and dance. Water and light merge in nature’s quiet magic, almost like a glimpse of heaven.

A new family sport is born: who can create the biggest ripple?

Through this blend of beauty and background anxiety, hoping no one gets hit by a stray stone, I’m trying to teach him something. Not through textbooks, not through the national curriculum, but by finding a way into his world.

This is my moment. To join him. To teach while the window of wonder is still open. Before he loses that spark – that natural curiosity.

Because feeding a curious mind isn’t about forcing it into a one size fits all box. That’s like trying to squeeze into shoes that don’t fit. Uncomfortable, awkward, and eventually damaging the longer you walk init.

Later, I sit with my boisterous boy and talk about the bigger ripple effects in life. The ones our actions create. Some are obvious, whilst others lie hidden beneath the surface – deep, dark waters that can disturb everything around them, even the unseen.

As Isaac Newton, once said: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

You see, my son’s high-speed impulses affect all of us. Sometimes the result is joy. Other times, I want to dive under the water and hide. But instead, I speak to him, about the subject of life.

Because what better time to teach than when he’s open and tuned in?

And I offer these lessons from a loving place and at a loving a pace he can receive.

With all my love,

Uma love.