Monday menu

5 things shaping the week ahead

A 5-piece selection from the collection of intentions I set myself on a weekly basis, based upon personal pillars and priorities, such as career, health, wellness, creativity, mindset, food, social circle, what I’m shopping, and so on. Why? Because spending some time thinking about what you want to achieve or how you want to feel at the end of the week is a really good way to begin it. Intentions don’t have to be all serious and sterile, they are about creating, becoming and living the life you want to lead. I hope you do something with intention this week, whatever form it takes.

I made a comment that I was searching for the perfect pink blush, but feared I might look like Picasso’s Dora Maar if I didn’t get the hue quite right. I forgot how much I love this painting. *This is a reproduction painting from Saatchi Art.

1. Mantra: If you are normal, you cannot be extraordinary. Do more, go further, defy expectations.
   I’m not telling anybody to go all out weird or do anything dangerous, but doing everything by the book, doing everything that is expected, and never going beyond, is wholly detrimental. As you go through life, people will try to silence your voice. They will laugh at your ideas, and will tell you what, and how, you should be creating. This is fine until it becomes an instruction by which you live your life, and that will leave you with no imagination and no fire. Go your own way, create your own path and never give up on what you believe and want your future to look like. If it isn’t conventional, great, because conventional is an uninspired way to live.
   

2. Mindset: I was reading a non-Substack newsletter that opened with the following statement: 'Another weekend, another mountaintop. Today, I’m 1,000 metres higher than I was last Saturday.’ He was speaking literally, being a well-travelled editor and a captivating writer, but it got me thinking about how we mark our development and improvement, and whether I spend my time through the week well enough to consider myself 1,000 metres higher than the week before. We have all heard of the rule of improvement: if you can achieve tiny, marginal gains, just 1% better each day, you can become the greatest you could be. 1% each day is all it takes, and this, like my weekly intentions, can be career-based, creative, emotional, physical… whatever it is, 1% is all you need, and you will be 1,000 metres higher before you know it.
   

3. Substacking: I have an essay penned and a fragrance new releases/news piece incoming. I am half-tempted to call it the ‘Fradar’ (fragrance radar), but it reminds me a bit of Frodo and sounds like a cartoon weapon, which isn’t really the vibe I want to go for. I’m wholly enjoying the ability to comment and celebrate everyone’s work and wins on Substack. We should all be doing that more.
   

4. Reading: I finished One of the good guys by Araminta Hall, I’m working through Villette by Charlotte Bronte via my library ipad app, I started Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors over the weekend and will finish that this week, time permitting, as I am hooked. I have my eyes on Peggy by Rebecca Godfrey and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez next, because I haven’t read any of his works and my friend Tess is quite distressed about it.

   

5. Eating: Sandwiches are ALL THE RAGE in London at the moment, and I can’t help but find sheer excitement when I see (or create myself) a new combination atop a very good piece of bread. With peaches still in season, I’m going with toasted sourdough, chicken breast, juicy ripe peach, beetroot, rocket, toasted pumpkin seeds and my trusty Burren Balsamics smoked Irish peat vinegar. A relatively regular combination to fuel my plans for experiment…
   
   I’d love to know anybody else’s intentions for the week ahead, so please do share them!