Molly Arbuthnott's Blog
July 13, 2021
Time
This month's blog on my website () is all about time- why do we never have enough of it. Would we be more productive if we measured our time differently. What actually is time?
Do have a look- i'd love to see what you think!
Do have a look- i'd love to see what you think!
April 7, 2021
Publication day!
Athena the cheetah has been published!
Standing under a tree in the garden in the snow was a lovely way to launch it! Available now through my website. I really hope that you'll like the story!
Standing under a tree in the garden in the snow was a lovely way to launch it! Available now through my website. I really hope that you'll like the story!
March 24, 2021
Athena the cheetah!
Here is Susannah Mortensen. Susannah is the illustrator of Athena the cheetah, the owner of Athena the cheetah and a person I am honored to call my friend.
March 20, 2021
Back to normal?
There was a lot of talk recently about going back to normal. But can we ever go back? We are different people from who we were at the beginning of the pandemic and even when things open again, we will not be living our lives the same way.
Nor should we really want to because how do you learn unless you’re always moving forward.
A friend spoke to me recently about the ‘American dream’ and how it should be disbanded as all it stands for is making money and living a life like the Great Gatsby. I personally don’t think this is the case nor do I think that the ‘dream’ should be limited just to Americans- it is attainable for all of us. For me, the dream is trying to make the world a better place- working hard to achieve that, earning respect from those around you and living life well.
That is something we can all strive for and move forwards towards not back.
We should therefore be not striving for life to go back to normal but to go forward to a brighter future.
It is slightly scary leaving old uncertainties and moving forward towards an uncertain future but I believe it is how we grow as human beings. We can depend on our breath as our anchor keeping us grounded in the world as we live our own dreams in the world around us.
Nor should we really want to because how do you learn unless you’re always moving forward.
A friend spoke to me recently about the ‘American dream’ and how it should be disbanded as all it stands for is making money and living a life like the Great Gatsby. I personally don’t think this is the case nor do I think that the ‘dream’ should be limited just to Americans- it is attainable for all of us. For me, the dream is trying to make the world a better place- working hard to achieve that, earning respect from those around you and living life well.
That is something we can all strive for and move forwards towards not back.
We should therefore be not striving for life to go back to normal but to go forward to a brighter future.
It is slightly scary leaving old uncertainties and moving forward towards an uncertain future but I believe it is how we grow as human beings. We can depend on our breath as our anchor keeping us grounded in the world as we live our own dreams in the world around us.
March 7, 2021
Success?
I have been helping once a week at our local farm and been enjoying the experience very much. We have been busy harvesting potatoes and I have enjoyed feeling at ‘one with nature’ once more. It seems so ridiculous, though, that thousands of years ago our ancestors were living a very hand to mouth existence, growing their own fruit and vegetables, and yet now that such ways of living are regarded as the height of luxury… all our striving for modernisation, advances and simplification of life has just left us dreaming of the existence we always had and took for granted.
The recent airing of David Attenborough’s ‘Extinction’ has led, certainly in me, to much questing and soul searching as to what it is humans strive for- what the pinnacle of success is and what it should be. Success, for me, is measured not in how much money you earn or how big your house is, not how many friends you have or how full your diary is. It is rather measured in what you can give to the world rather than take, in the pleasure that can be achieved from the small things in life, the sense of self-fulfilment that can be taken in doing jobs carefully and well and the love you can give to the people and the plants and animals in the world around you.
The recent airing of David Attenborough’s ‘Extinction’ has led, certainly in me, to much questing and soul searching as to what it is humans strive for- what the pinnacle of success is and what it should be. Success, for me, is measured not in how much money you earn or how big your house is, not how many friends you have or how full your diary is. It is rather measured in what you can give to the world rather than take, in the pleasure that can be achieved from the small things in life, the sense of self-fulfilment that can be taken in doing jobs carefully and well and the love you can give to the people and the plants and animals in the world around you.
Settling down?
Why is it that we are conditioned to believe that we need to live our lives as well as we can so that we can reach the goal of one day settling down with another person.
The words ‘settling down’ imply that one must have been pretty wild to have something to settle down from and I don’t honestly think that anyone really is. It also implies that once the person to ‘settle down with’ has been found that is then it- feet up, slippers on…there will be no more worries or need to strive or do anything any more.
I have not lived a particularly wild life, naturally I would love to find someone to live my life with but the idea of ‘settling down’ terrifies me. I don’t think that life suddenly stops when you have someone else in it, if anything it becomes far more complicated and then add children into the equation and that’s a whole different ball game. If anything the single part of our lives is the ‘settling down’ bit- once you have someone else in it the world opens up- two brains to come up with adventures to be had and people to share such adventures with. When you have children it is then our responsibility as parents to take them confidently out into the world- showing them some of the marvels that the world has to offer and encouraging them to have the confidence to fly off themselves, eventually. I think, therefore, that blossoming or launching out are better adjectives to use in such a situation. You only get one shot at this life and so, regardless of whether you’re single or with someone, I think that one should never feel inclined to settle but rather be always striving; striving to find your place in the world, striving to make the world a better place and always striving to be happy.
The words ‘settling down’ imply that one must have been pretty wild to have something to settle down from and I don’t honestly think that anyone really is. It also implies that once the person to ‘settle down with’ has been found that is then it- feet up, slippers on…there will be no more worries or need to strive or do anything any more.
I have not lived a particularly wild life, naturally I would love to find someone to live my life with but the idea of ‘settling down’ terrifies me. I don’t think that life suddenly stops when you have someone else in it, if anything it becomes far more complicated and then add children into the equation and that’s a whole different ball game. If anything the single part of our lives is the ‘settling down’ bit- once you have someone else in it the world opens up- two brains to come up with adventures to be had and people to share such adventures with. When you have children it is then our responsibility as parents to take them confidently out into the world- showing them some of the marvels that the world has to offer and encouraging them to have the confidence to fly off themselves, eventually. I think, therefore, that blossoming or launching out are better adjectives to use in such a situation. You only get one shot at this life and so, regardless of whether you’re single or with someone, I think that one should never feel inclined to settle but rather be always striving; striving to find your place in the world, striving to make the world a better place and always striving to be happy.
Athena the cheetah cover reveal!
I am really excited to reveal the cover for Athena the cheetah- coming on Monday 5th April 2021!
A tribute to the restorative power of animals.
A tribute to the restorative power of animals.
February 25, 2021
Angus the robin
I’m really excited that Angus the Robin is a finalist for the wishing shelf book awards.
Fingers crossed for when the awards are announced on 1st April.
Everyone needs a daisy in their life!
Fingers crossed for when the awards are announced on 1st April.
Everyone needs a daisy in their life!
February 16, 2021
Are we addicted to the internet?
Last Thursday we had a real dump of snow. So much snow, in-fact that we lost our internet. Loosing the internet initially felt like loosing a limb; how would I cope without being able to do my yoga every morning or listen to my audio book while I did my household chores? How would I keep my book Instagram page updated? How would I keep in touch with my friends? It was a restless night the first internet free evening- I suppose it is almost a bit like an addiction having so much ready information at our fingertips- you take a while to get used to not having it around.
It took two days for the mental transformation to take place. The acceptance of internet free life and with the change in mindset suddenly I felt liberated- no longer tied to aimlessly scrolling through social media pages- comparing my baby free solitary self to my, in my eyes more successful, friends posting pictures of their adorable offspring and activities they have got up to. I read a book- well lots of books actually! I took lots of photographs and went on long walks- I slept really well and enjoyed dinners around the dining room table with my family. We played scrabble and read our books beside the fire and we all actually chatted and really enjoyed ourselves.
Five days later and I was into the stride and in my element! I had written three new story ideas and baked pink and blue macaroons, drawn a picture and started knitting- being in lockdown was the first rung in the ladder and now with no internet on top I felt I was becoming increasingly insular and I loved it!
I, therefore, felt a touch of sadness when my father announced that our internet was coming back on again and life would resume a more normal pattern. I made a promise to myself to be disciplined and maintain my internet use to an essential rather than dependent level and so far so good- if it is anything like my discipline to give up alcohol it might not last for ever... but in these COVID-19 times I think we all need one or two vices.
It took two days for the mental transformation to take place. The acceptance of internet free life and with the change in mindset suddenly I felt liberated- no longer tied to aimlessly scrolling through social media pages- comparing my baby free solitary self to my, in my eyes more successful, friends posting pictures of their adorable offspring and activities they have got up to. I read a book- well lots of books actually! I took lots of photographs and went on long walks- I slept really well and enjoyed dinners around the dining room table with my family. We played scrabble and read our books beside the fire and we all actually chatted and really enjoyed ourselves.
Five days later and I was into the stride and in my element! I had written three new story ideas and baked pink and blue macaroons, drawn a picture and started knitting- being in lockdown was the first rung in the ladder and now with no internet on top I felt I was becoming increasingly insular and I loved it!
I, therefore, felt a touch of sadness when my father announced that our internet was coming back on again and life would resume a more normal pattern. I made a promise to myself to be disciplined and maintain my internet use to an essential rather than dependent level and so far so good- if it is anything like my discipline to give up alcohol it might not last for ever... but in these COVID-19 times I think we all need one or two vices.
January 27, 2021
Failure
I recently was listening to an interview by Elizabeth Day about failure and it got me thinking about failures I have had in my life. I suppose they start from School when I was put into the small group which needed extra help with work, never feeling particularly cool or proud of myself at School, not having someone to ask to our Leaver’s Ball, indeed being very much the red light while all the friends around me seemed to find it so easy to be green, having to cut my contract short on my first job, failing with my health and having to have an operation to sort it, and now ultimately living back at home with my parents as a single thirty three year old and not quite sure what direction my life is going to go.
On the face of it one would assume I was a complete drop out and failure in every way, yet I have never been happier. I was ticking all the supposed boxes for a while; seeing someone nice, working in London, watching Netflix, moaning about life yet it never made me happy. Just living life and making decisions based on ‘what everyone else does’ is a recipe for disaster because there is no rule book. Society and your friends do not really care, obviously they want you to be happy (and not breaking the law) but beyond that they are all just busy trying to not fail in their own lives.
The only person who has to answer and be affected by decisions you take is you. What looks like a failure to one person can be a huge success to another, it is just our perception of it, that and, to a degree, what society dictates we should be doing- but right now with COVID restrictions society has pretty much gone up the spout and so if there’s ever a time to break free of that sort of pressure now’s as good a time as any. I believe, at the heart of it, every failure is really a great big success in disguise. So, you should have as many failures as you can and you will be much the stronger and happier person for them.
On the face of it one would assume I was a complete drop out and failure in every way, yet I have never been happier. I was ticking all the supposed boxes for a while; seeing someone nice, working in London, watching Netflix, moaning about life yet it never made me happy. Just living life and making decisions based on ‘what everyone else does’ is a recipe for disaster because there is no rule book. Society and your friends do not really care, obviously they want you to be happy (and not breaking the law) but beyond that they are all just busy trying to not fail in their own lives.
The only person who has to answer and be affected by decisions you take is you. What looks like a failure to one person can be a huge success to another, it is just our perception of it, that and, to a degree, what society dictates we should be doing- but right now with COVID restrictions society has pretty much gone up the spout and so if there’s ever a time to break free of that sort of pressure now’s as good a time as any. I believe, at the heart of it, every failure is really a great big success in disguise. So, you should have as many failures as you can and you will be much the stronger and happier person for them.
