confidence | Lisa Cox OAM

Top 3 Benefits of Inclusive Fashion

Lisa Cox — Wed, 01 Jan 2020 12:50:06 +0000

Australian Fashion Week Brings Us Shame… Again

Lisa Cox — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 01:47:22 +0000

Australian Fashion Week has again let us down and again, the world was watching.

As it is home to Australian Fashion Week, Sydney could be regarded as our fashion capital. The annual event is an opportunity for homegrown designers to showcase their latest pieces and let the world know just how ‘on-trend’ the Australian fashion industry is.

But this year, Sydney has again disappointing us on the world stage with a fairly predictable lineup of models and styles.

Instead, it’s little ol’ Brisbane that is leading the charge and (thankfully) letting the rest of the world know that we’re not as behind-the-times as the Sydney-based Australian Fashion Week would rightly have you believe.

The long-standing issue of fashion media, shows and runways not being reflective or representative of society is a debate that’s decades old. Severely underweight and often underaged females (especially) being used to promote clothes for the ‘average’ woman has long been the subject of international outrage.

As the author of two books about body image and the media and as someone with both an academic and professional background in media, advertising and marketing, I’ve written and spoken widely on these issues.

In the last couple of decades, I’ve also been paying close attention to local and international trends across popular culture, particularly in advertising and the fashion industry.

With the rise of social media’s body positivity movement and a growing group of influencers challenging stereotypes, there have been fantastic flow-on effects to the fashion industry.

The industry is now including a more diverse mix of models in various shapes and sizes, with different abilities and from different cultural backgrounds. All over the world, the catwalks are reflecting the community and the consumers.

Everywhere, that is, except Australia.

Sure, there is diversity but only ever in relation to skin colour or body size. While I’m thrilled to (finally) see this change, I’m disappointed that Australian Fashion Week is still failing to represent 20% of Australians.

Milan, New York, Moscow, Paris Fashion Week and others, have had models with wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs or other visual differences grace their catwalks for years. But Australia’s fashion industry is still too afraid to ’go there’.

I’m saying “visual disabilities” because it’s the only way of truly identifying a disability in a single glance. I know my invisible disabilities are much easier to conceal than my wheelchair.

I also completely understand that it’s not the responsibility of the fashion industry to include every single minority group that’s feeling underrepresented.

After all, it’s Australian Fashion Week. Not Australian Representation Matters Week.

But 20% of the population – that’s the approximately 1 in 5 Australians who identify as having a disability – is a relatively large portion of the community to ignore. Not forgetting the millions more family, friends and others who will support the brands and businesses that support their loved ones.

So to save Australia from this embarrassing international debacle comes the Mercedes-Benz Brisbane Fashion Festival.

If Sydney won’t evolve then Brisbane will.

This year, the Mercedes-Benz Brisbane Fashion Festival featured a number of models with disabilities and I was thrilled to be one of them, wearing Carol Taylor’s MeQ Designs (below).

Members of Brisbane’s fashion-forward scene (we’re still waiting for some to join us in 2019) have been leading the trend for more inclusive catwalks a few years now. I’ve been on the runway for different events and shoots on a number of occasions and only wish Sydney would follow Brisbane’s lead and signal to the rest of the world that Australian fashion runways are not as bland as they currently look.

So why is the inclusion of disability even an issue?

I’ll answer that from two perspectives.

Firstly, the disability community is not recognised or included across popular culture. I know that as both someone with disabilities and someone who spends a lot of their personal and professional life consuming various forms of popular culture. From mainstream media, independent media, advertising, the arts, fashion and more.

People with disabilities rarely, if ever, appear in any of the above. If popular culture doesn’t want to think about us then the rest of the population must not want to either. That’s just one of the damaging messages a lack of representation is sending.

Those sorts of messages, on repeat, day after day, can be incredibly harmful to the identity and self-worth of people with disabilities.

Secondly, I’d like to address the inclusion of disability from a business perspective.

Like many people with disabilities, I too am a loyal consumer with a disposable income and will support brands that include and represent me.

As I said in my most recent TEDx pitch, a 20% market share is an enormous one not to capitalise on.

So, back to Australian Fashion Week. Maybe next year we should hold the event in Brisbane because Sydney clearly isn’t keeping up. Times are changing and so should Australian Fashion Week.

Social observations. Another example of why disability needs visibility.

Lisa Cox — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 22:46:37 +0000

11 Little Things That Make Me Happy

Lisa Cox — Thu, 15 Mar 2018 03:39:58 +0000

Critical Things Confident People Won’t Do

Lisa Cox — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 03:33:10 +0000

“True confidence is very different from egotistical swagger. When people believe in themselves and their abilities without bravado, there are certain things they simply don’t do.” – Travis Bradberry

Confidence can be one of the bigger challenges in life but it’s also something you often have control over. Your thoughts and actions are generally up to you, even if other things aren’t – like people or circumstances.

In the past I’ve had that bad boss, toxic partner and unsupportive friend so I can kinda understand how completely rubbish it leaves you feeling. On more than one occasion I’ve had to climb out of that self-esteem sink hole and reset my coordinates for confidence.

Have you been there too?

If you have then you’ll know that it requires commitment and perseverance to ride the wave when your confidence takes a tumble. There’s lots of things you can do (and I’ve written about some of them here for The Huffington Post) but there are also a number of things you shouldn’t do.

I stumbled across this excellent article by Dr Travis Bradberry about some of the things confident people won’t do.

Travis really knows what he’s talking about and sites some really interesting research too. You can read his full bio below but he’s somewhat of a pro when it comes to the science and strategies around confidence and emotional intelligence.

This piece has been republished with full permission from Travis and the team at ThinkSmart.

Critical Things Confident People Won’t Do

In The Empire Strikes Back, when Yoda is training Luke to be a Jedi, he demonstrates the power of the Force by raising an X-wing fighter from a swamp. Luke mutters, “I don’t believe it.” Yoda replies, “That is why you fail.”

As usual, Yoda was right—and science backs him up. Numerous studies have proved that confidence is the real key to success.

Studies exploring the performance gap between men and women in math and spatial skills have found that confidence plays a huge role. Women who were asked to identify their gender before taking a spatial skills test performed more poorly than those who weren’t. Women also performed better when they were told to envision themselves as men, and both genders performed better when they were told that their gender is better at the task.

What’s even more interesting is that the gender gap practically disappeared when participants were required to answer every question. Apparently, when the women were allowed to skip questions, they did so not because of a lack of knowledge, but because of a lack of confidence.

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” — Vincent Van Gogh

True confidence is very different from egotistical swagger. When people believe in themselves and their abilities without bravado, there are certain things they simply don’t do.

They don’t make excuses. If there’s one trait confident people have in spades, it’s self-efficacy—the belief that they can make things happen. It’s about having an internal locus of control rather than an external one. That’s why you won’t hear confident people blaming traffic for making them late or an unfair boss for their failure to get a promotion. Confident people don’t make excuses, because they believe they’re in control of their own lives.
They don’t quit. Confident people don’t give up the first time something goes wrong. They see both problems and failures as obstacles to overcome rather than impenetrable barriers to success. That doesn’t mean, however, that they keep trying the same thing over and over. One of the first things confident people do when something goes wrong is to figure out why it went wrong and how they can prevent it the next time.
They don’t wait for permission to act. Confident people don’t need somebody to tell them what to do or when to do it. They don’t waste time asking themselves questions like “Can I?” or “Should I?” If they ask themselves anything, it’s “Why wouldn’tI?” Whether it’s running a meeting when the chairperson doesn’t show up or going the extra mile to solve a customer’s problem, it doesn’t even occur to them to wait for somebody else to take care of it. They see what needs to be done, and they do it.
They don’t seek attention. People are turned off by those who are desperate for attention. Confident people know that being yourself is much more effective than trying to prove that you’re important. People catch on to your attitude quickly and are more attracted to the right attitude than what, or how many, people you know. Confident people always seem to bring the right attitude. Confident people are masters of attention diffusion. When they’re receiving attention for an accomplishment, they quickly shift the focus to all the people who worked hard to help get them there. They don’t crave approval or praise because they draw their self-worth from within.
They don’t need constant praise. Have you ever been around somebody who constantly needs to hear how great he or she is? Confident people don’t do that. It goes back to that internal locus of control. They don’t think that their success is dependent on other people’s approval, and they understand that no matter how well they perform, there’s always going to be somebody out there offering nothing but criticism. Confident people also know that the kind of confidence that’s dependent on praise from other people isn’t really confidence at all; it’s narcissism.
They don’t put things off. Why do people procrastinate? Sometimes it’s simply because they’re lazy. A lot of times, though, it’s because they’re afraid—that is, afraid of change, failure, or maybe even success. Confident people don’t put things off. Because they believe in themselves and expect that their actions will lead them closer to their goals, they don’t sit around waiting for the right time or the perfect circumstances. They know that today is the only time that matters. If they think it’s not the right time, they make it the right time.
They don’t pass judgement. Confident people don’t pass judgment on others because they know that everyone has something to offer, and they don’t need to take other people down a notch in order to feel good about themselves. Comparing yourself to other people is limiting. Confident people don’t waste time sizing people up and worrying about whether or not they measure up to everyone they meet.
They don’t avoid conflict. Confident people don’t see conflict as something to be avoided at all costs; they see it as something to manage effectively. They don’t go along to get along, even when that means having uncomfortable conversations or making unpleasant decisions. They know that conflict is part of life and that they can’t avoid it without cheating themselves out of the good stuff, too.
They don’t let a lack of resources get in their way. Confident people don’t get thrown off course just because they don’t have the right title, the right staff, or the money to make things happen. Either they find a way to get what they need, or they figure out how to get by without it.
They don’t get too comfortable. Confident people understand that getting too comfortable is the mortal enemy of achieving their goals. That’s because they know that comfort leads to complacency, and complacency leads to stagnation. When they start feeling comfortable, they take that as a big red flag and start pushing their boundaries again so that they can continue to grow as both a person and a professional. They understand that a little discomfort is a good thing.

Bringing It All Together

Embracing the behaviors of confident people is a great way to increase your odds for success, which, in turn, will lead to more confidence. The science is clear; now you just have to decide to act on it.

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below, as I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the #1 bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the cofounder of TalentSmart, the world’s leading provider of emotional intelligence tests and training, serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. His bestselling books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. Dr. Bradberry has written for, or been covered by, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Harvard Business Review.

Dr. Bradberry is a world-renowned expert in emotional intelligence who speaks regularly in corporate and public settings. Example engagements include Intel, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Wells Fargo, Boston Scientific, NY Life, Fortune Brands, Salesforce.com, Fortune Magazine Growth Summit, The Conference Board: Learning from Legends, and Excellence in Government.

If you’d like to learn how to increase your emotional intelligence (EQ), consider taking the online Emotional Intelligence Appraisal test that’s included with the Emotional Intelligence 2.0 book. Your test results will pinpoint which of the book’s 66 emotional intelligence strategies will increase your EQ the most.

Anxiety & Food: What You Should Know

Lisa Cox — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 01:02:00 +0000

Anxiety sucks. It’s as simple as that and there’s polite way to say it. It has been a part of my life for years and if you’re reading this I’m guessing it is a part of yours too.

Or maybe you’re really stressed right now? The two are different but they can sometimes feel similar. In many ways, the same sorts of principles can apply for you too.

There are things about anxiety you can control and things you can’t. My anxiety got worse in 2005 when I had a brain haemorrhage, aged 24. You can read more about the crazy times that followed here.

The causes of anxiety are varied and so too are the treatments. It’s little wonder Synapse call Brain Disorders, of which anxiety is a part, the ‘invisible disability’.

If anxiety has been a part of your life then you’ll be well aware of the havoc it can play on your relationships, career and even your self-esteem.

Through my work, I’m committed to helping you Find Fearless Freedom, unleash the Lioness and roar with courage and confidence! But an anxious Lioness can’t roam through life with fearless ambition. So here are a few suggestion (from the pros) about managing anxiety in the kitchen.

Take responsibility for what goes on your plate.

I can’t do anything to erase the permanent scarring on my brain. Yet I can do something to help myself and better manage anxiety with the food I eat.

This is not to say that you should swap Practitioner prescribed medication or professional intervention for organic spinach to ‘çure’ anxiety – NO WAY!

Anxiety is serious and sometimes treatment requires more serious intervention, beyond food. But I’m not a medical expert (and here’s my health disclaimer to explain things a little further) so I’ll leave that conversation for you and your health professionals.

Standard medications never worked for me and the side effects were horrible. After a lot of research, reading about other people’s experiences, much trial and error in my own kitchen and in consultation with professionals, I found a lifestyle that helped. It’s an integrative approach combining the expertise of my Neurologists, Naturopaths and others.

Below are 6 foods that nearly always go in my grocery basket. But don’t just take my word for it! Miranda Partridge is a qualified Nutritional Medicine Practitioner. Miranda has personal and professional experience in the power of food as medicine, not to cure but to manage anxiety and other mental health issues.

Here Miranda explores a little of the science behind why these foods are so fantastic for anxiety.

Salmon– A potent source of omega-3 fatty acids, salmon helps to reduce inflammation, a factor that can cause and exacerbate anxiety. The oils in the fish are also essential for healthy brain and nerve tissue. Salmon is also a good source of protein, which is important for the production of neurotransmitters and energy.
Spinach– Spinach contains magnesium, and if eaten raw, vitamin C. Both nutrients are important for the function and regulation of our stress hormone cortisol; vitamin 2 being depleted by cortisol in times of increased stress, such as anxiety. As it is a leafy green, it is also high in folate, a vitamin required for the production of neurotransmitters.
Turkey– Like salmon, turkey has protein required for the production of our neurotransmitters. Turkey is particularly high in the amino acid tryptophan, which is required for our bodies to produce serotonin and from it melatonin. Serotonin is the ‘happy’ hormone and is often low in those with both anxiety and depression.4.
Almonds– Almonds are a source of protein, important for sustained energy that doesn’t put as much stress on our bodies as simple carbohydrates do. They are also a great source of magnesium, which helps reduce muscle tension (associated with stress), generates energy production and activates the receptors for GABA (gama-aminobutyric acid), the relaxing neurotransmitter.
Avocado– These little green energy bullets are packed with B vitamins for healthy nerves and brain cells, including folate which protects your DNA and aids the production of neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) often low in anxiety, such as serotonin. They are also full of antioxidants, monounsaturated fat and potassium to support brain function.
Blueberries– Fresh or frozen blueberries are high in vitamin C, which is depleted by stress, but also required to counteract the effects of our stress hormone, cortisol. The antioxidant resveratrol is found in blueberries, and is highly protective to our cells.

Things to avoid

While the right foods can help manage anxiety, poor food choices can make matters worse. Brian Cole from the Anxiety Disorders Association of Victoria suggests that you avoid white rice, white flour and over-refined products. Over refining simply strips the nutrient value out of foods so you’re missing out on the important anxiety-busting vitamins and minerals (like those mentioned above).

To drink or not to drink coffee?

Personally, I love coffee (in moderation) and the thought of giving it up probably causes me more anxiety than the caffeine itself!

The Calm Clinic says that coffee or caffeinated beverages can either help or hinder anxiety depending on the type and severity. They suggest avoiding caffeine if you are prone to panic attacks. On the other hand, the Calm Clinic says that if you have more general anxiety, moderate amounts of caffeine can actually reduce stress and improve your mood.

Some other considerations around food

The Mayo Clinic suggests eating a breakfast that is high in protein to keep your blood sugar stabalised and avoid a panic attack. They also suggest you pay careful attention to food intolerances which can leave you feeling ‘blah’ and possibly promote anxiety.

This is an interesting one for me. While the nutrients in cow’s milk have been shown to help some people with anxiety, it’s a disaster for me. The lactose would send my stomach and my mind into a meltdown and would definitely not help me to roar with fearless ambition!

That’s why it’s so important to find what works for YOU. Dr Google is great for hints and tips but treating anxiety isn’t as simple as a Google search.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve been affected by anxiety and neither should you. As a proud brain health Ambassador for Synapse, I’m committed to raising awareness around Acquired Brain Injury and the side-affects that follow.

Anxiety is less of a taboo subject than it once was and I encourage you to keep asking questions, keep learning and keep experimenting with what works for you (with medical supervision if necessary).

Take back control, find freedom and just tell anxiety to GET FORKED!

Love life,

5 Ways You Can Get Lasting Confidence

Lisa Cox — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 01:36:51 +0000

Having Fears And Being Fearless

Lisa Cox — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 02:24:25 +0000

Can you lead a fearless lifestyle and still be fearful from time to time? Absolutely! That’s doesn’t mean you’re contradicting yourself, it means you’re human.

I advocate for a fearless lifestyle through my work but that doesn’t mean I’m never fearful.

Let me put it like this. Heavily airbrushed images give the illusion of perfection, not reality. So I don’t want to ‘Photoshop my words’ and misrepresent what fearless living actually means to me.

Above: One of my Facebook photos. Can’t wait for lunch!

As someone who publicly speaks and writes about the word ‘fearless’ so much (and have had the word used to describe me), I thought I’d dig a bit deeper into the idea of being authentically, truly fearless.

My Fearless Lifestyle

On a recent trip to America, I metaphorically leapt over challenges and fears. I wheeled my laptop around New York, setting up an office (my laptop) in cafes and on park benches. I wrote a lot about the fearless lifestyle and how we can achieve it.

Then on the second last day I found myself in a hospital emergency room. It’s a long story but (for the sake of keeping this brief) all you need to know is that firstly, I’m ok now and secondly, I was absolutely terrified at the time.

Above: From fearless (in a helicopter over New York) to fearful (in a US hospital bed).

Hospitals are never fun (and I’ve been in a lot!) but hospitals in a foreign country are extra distressing. Tears and snot ran down my face and I was definitely not pursuing a fearless lifestyle, at that time.

On my return to Australia, an ambulance picked me up from the airport and I began to contemplate what had unfolded over the last couple of days.

One minute I had been writing about fearless living and the next I was a fearful mess. Did this make me a fraud? Was I telling lies and writing fearless fiction?

Not at all. I’m not contradicting myself – promoting fearless living and admitting that I have fears. I’m just being honest with you.

The great oxymoron: Fearless Living

At first glance it would appear that fearless living is an oxymoron. Life is naturally full of challenges that instil fearfulness, rather than fearlessness in all of us.

So what does fearless living actually mean?

One of the easiest ways to define fearless living may be to start with what it is NOT. Fearless living is not living without fear.

The word itself is fear-less rather than fear-never.

I want you to know that you can achieve a fearless lifestyle and still have occasional moments of doubt, insecurity and fear. That’s not a cop-out, that’s being authentically fearless.

What other fearless females have to say

In her article about fearlessness, Terri Cole, a licenced Psychotherapist says, “Fear is a feeling, not a fact” and I couldn’t agree more.

On the odd chance that you are being chased by a large swarm of killer bees, this might not apply. But most often, our fears stem from a BS story that we tell ourselves (example, what will people think of me?), rather than fact.

In reality, people aren’t thinking about you! They have their own interests and insecurities to occupy their time.

Barrie Davenport lists letting of what other people think about you as a key component of living without fear. She writes:

“You will never please everyone, and it is rarely worth sacrificing yourself to accommodate some other person’s beliefs about who you should be or what you should do.”

It’s time to roar!

I want you to know that it’s normal for a fearless Lioness, like you, to have moments of fear and self-doubt. That doesn’t make you a fearless failure, it makes you real!

My world is not perfect and I don’t have it all together. Nobody does, no matter how ‘together’ their social media feed may look.

I want you to be authentically fearless. Unleash the Lioness, roar with confidence and live an extraordinary life on your terms!

Fearless living will include moments of self-doubt, insecurity and fear for all of us. That’s not being pessimistic, it’s being realistic. The trick is for those moments to be fleeting, not ingrained in your life.

How?

Well, I’m so glad you asked!

For more on fearless living tips, download your FREE eBook – Find Your Fearless – Simple Steps To A Fearless Future.

Here’s to being true, fearless and truly fearless!

Love life,

The Confidence Diet

Lisa Cox — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 02:20:38 +0000

Forget Paleo, Vegan, high fat, low fat… whatever. This is the diet for you! It’s guaranteed to improve your mood, boost your energy and even renew your relationships, in just minutes!

“But wait, there’s more!” As an added bonus, it’s inexpensive and incredibly time efficient.

The Media Diet is the diet you’ve been waiting for and it’s the only diet you need. Your self-esteem will soar and there’s no juicing, plucking or sweating required.

As a self-confessed media junkie, I’m on The Media Diet and would love you to join me!

When’s the last time you flicked on the television, opened a magazine or jumped onto your Facebook account? Yesterday? A few minutes ago?

On occasion, you might get that sugar rush from an uplifting story or inspiring news item. But then there’s the crash. Those comments, reports, pictures or videos that just leave you feeling a bit blah, uninspired and generally crappy.

“My isn’t like that so I must be doing something wrong!”

Hold it right there. It’s time you got your mind back into shape and went on a media diet.

As we all (should) know, quick-fix, food based diets are a waste of time (with the exception of food allergies or intolerances). Period. It’s no coincidence that DIE-t is spelled the way it is. But the beauty of a media diet is that you can adorn your life with what’s real and what really matters to you.

Your family, health, relationships and work you love should all be the main courses. Instead, you find yourself binging on unhealthy media, procrastinating on social media and filling up on news bulletins about every murder, sex scandal, neighbourhood spat, extortion and celebrity baby bump.

This sort of reckless media consumption leaves no room for the healthy stuff that will really nourish and fulfil you.

What really matters to you?

What sort of things do you want to fill up on? Quality relationships, for example, should not just be a garnish or a side dish in your life.

It’s important to understand that The Media Diet isn’t about living a Pollyanna-esque existence, wearing rose-coloured glasses and thinking that clouds are made of fairy-floss.

Some serious sh*t goes down around the world and I want to know about it. Although, I care more about the arse falling out of the Greek economy than I care about Kim Kardashian’s arse.

The truth is, I love the media and have been working in facets of it for years. It’s a great source of inspiration, motivation and education but there’s a difference between staying informed and going insane (read about my rapid media detox below).

Without the media I’d have no idea what is happening around the globe. Living with your head in the sand is no way to survive, for anyone – although it would appear some Politicians have made a lucrative career out of it.

Most forms of media offer us so many wonderful opportunities to learn, grow and (especially in the case of social media) save time.

But what if all that free time is just being spent scrolling through your news feed and listening to or reading yet another report that leaves you feeling deflated, unworthy or inadequate?

I think about bad media like I think about dairy. I can stomach a little bit but too much just leaves me feeling yuck.

As Joshua Rosenthall from The Institute of Integrative Nutrition, New York says, “One man’s food is another man’s poison”. Any good Dietician will tell you, no two people are alike so there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ diet that we should all be following.

The same can be said for a media diet. What’s right for me might not be right for you. A large portion of my work is conducted online so starving myself of an internet connection just wouldn’t be right for me – but it might be ideal for you.

There are countless benefits to a life filled with what’s real and what really matters to you but here are just a few:

9 benefits of a media diet:

Boost your self-esteem – Reduce the negative self-talk and regain confidence in exactly who you are in real life – Not what you do or don’t look like through an Instagram filter.
Reduce anxiety – Feeling chained to media can leave you unnecessarily stressed and even affect your sleep.
Restore your faith in people – Not every stranger in the street is a nasty, hateful criminal.
Reduce your tendency to stereotype – The media is full of narrow stereotypes about people and places. That part of town isn’t just full of welfare cheats. I’ve written about the media depicting beauty and disability here).
Renewed self-worth – Remember that your value in society is not dictated by your physical appearance.
Renew your passion for…
Boost your IQ – In my humble opinion, keeping up with current affairs is more important than keeping up with the Kardashians. It’s not about becoming Einstein but becoming more aware of the real world around you.
Improve the quality of your social interactions – Suddenly you will have more real and interesting things to talk about with others. Real feelings and emotions can’t be expressed with emoticons.
Remind you that you are enough, just as you are – It’s great to have goals or aspirations and strive to be the best version of you. However, overconsumption of unhealthy media can leave you feeling like you need to change, be it your car/appearance/partner or whatever.

Plan to make the media diet more than a passing fad. It can be a permanent lifestyle choice and may even include the occasional rapid detox – you can read more about my rapid media detox below!

Anyway, I should really get going. The news is about to start and I’m overdue for a media hit! #timetoroar

Love life,

P.S… My own rapid media detox

One way to approach The Media Diet is to fast for a period of time. A few hours, days or weeks. It’s up to you.

I did a rapid detox once when my husband took me away for a few days to a beautiful little cabin in the hinterlands. It was a surprise for my birthday that he’d been planning for months. Bliss!

The scenery was exquisite and the log fire was so romantic… but… there was no f*cking phone coverage! No internet, newspapers, television, NOTHING! How could he do this to me?!

I was fidgety and jittery for the first day without my media fix. On day two, anxiety and paranoia set in. “What if I missed a news bulletin or didn’t get a chance to like a picture of my friend’s cat on Facebook? Maybe he’ll unfriend me? Oh crap, I never replied to that email and now my clients will think that I don’t love them anymore. I wonder what Lorna Jane’s doing on Instagram? I need to know what the US dollar is doing before I go there soon! When is Matt’s birthday again? Facebook usually reminds me about this stuff. Fuuuuck!”

There’s a difference between staying informed and going insane.

After the side-effects of my rapid media detox wore off, I was free to enjoy our holiday. My sleep improved and I generally felt more relaxed. It was a refreshing experience to stop looking at life through a media filter and simply enjoy the breathtaking views – my husband and the landscape. This what real life was like and I loved it!

Warning: If symptoms persist, please consult your internet service provider or newsagent to cancel media subscriptions.

WOW. Your Body Is Amazing! Here’s Why

Lisa Cox — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 02:23:46 +0000

Look at you. You’re incredible. Seriously!

I know you’re reading this right now so your beautiful eyes are sending messages to your brain about what they’ve seen. You didn’t have to ask or nag, they just did it. Amazing!

We sometimes take it for granted that our wonderful bodies just ‘do stuff’ all the time. Our heart will just beat, our lungs will just breathe and our cells will just do all the brilliant things that cells do. It’s friggin’ incredible!

But they’re just some of the zillion things that make your body absolutely fantastic. I’m asking you… no wait… I’m begging you to realise just how perfect and brilliant your body is – for what it does every single day and not what it looks like in skinny jeans!

Last year, I was involved with an Instagram photo challenge with Earth HQ. Every day for a month we had to post photos of all sorts of different things. Nature, Lunch and Hot Beverage were just some of the daily ‘themes’ (you can see what I posted here).

On day 22, the theme was ‘Imperfect’ and I posted the photo you see, above.

They’re my hands and by conventional definitions, they’re imperfect. Actually, most of my body is conventionally imperfect. I have heaps of scars and missing pieces (not just fingertips – you can read more about that here).

Seriously, screw convention. Sure I’m not waiting by the phone for a casting call from Victoria’s Secret and Paparazzi will never mistake me for Jennifer Hawkins but that doesn’t mean my body isn’t amazing – and so is yours!

I’d love you to join me in being proudly imperfect – and it’s easier than you might think.

Let me give you an example…

Growing up I was a ‘late bloomer’ and had the upper body of a ten year old boy for most of my teens. At the time, I didn’t appreciate my flat chest but as I got older and played a lot more sport, I began to appreciate my body for what it could do, rather than what it looked like.

That sort of thinking has helped me enormously when getting on with living a life I love in a perfectly imperfect body.

Here’s another example…

My hands look imperfect but I think they’re perfect because of what they can do. My perfectly imperfect hands give me the ability to pursue my passion for writing. My perfectly imperfect hands have written two books and hundreds of thousands more words, including this blog post – albeit very slowly!

You’re perfect, just as you are. Your brain says so every time it tells your heart to beat.

My own story is a bit extreme but there are millions of other amazing bodies in this world and yours is one of them!

So here’s a challenge for you. Think of something that you don’t like about your appearance then flip it. Think of a reason to be grateful for what that part of your body does, rather than what it looks like.

To help get you started, here are six examples.

1. Your nose – It’s only because of your nose that you can stop and smell the roses, literally. Appreciating the sensory bliss of your favourite scent or even your favourite meal, you have your nose to thank for that. Amazing.

2. Your stomach – That meal you ate before? Right now there’s a heap of complex biochemical reactions happening in your stomach. It knows the difference between vitamin K and vitamin D3 (and what to do with them) without having to do a Google search. Amazing.

3. Your feet (no, not crows feet!) – Because of your great feet (yes, the same ones you’ve called ugly and disgusting) you have really been places. Maybe it was around the world or maybe it was just around the corner but it was your beautiful feet got you there. Amazing.

4. Pregnancy stretch marks – Maybe your fantastic body created and sustained life? As Jessica Rudd said in her Mamamia piece a few years ago, her beautiful pregnant body “just knew what to do”. Stretch marks are a sign that your wonderful body CREATED LIFE! Seriously amazing.

5. Your lips – It’s those lips, attached to your winning smile that your partner first noticed about you. Don’t have a partner? No problems. I’m sure you’ll have a friend who loves those lips for all of the wise words that pass through them. Amazing.

6. Your arms – The last time you wrapped your arms in a comforting hug around someone, do you think their first thought was “tuckshop arms!”. No. They’re the same arms that carry groceries, clean the toilet and hang up the laundry, without complaining once. Gotta love ‘em!

Can you think of more? I’d really like to know about the things that you think make your body fantastic. Remember, screw convention – let’s all be proudly imperfect together!

I think you’re amazing and I hope you think so too.

Love life,