Day 365 – Challenge complete

Wow. Who would have thought it? 2015 is over and I have actually done a new thing every day.

Days 356-363 – Almost over!

I can’t believe it. Only tomorrow to go and then my challenge will be not only over but completed! This is absolutely insane… The last week has been filled with lovely festive “firsts”:

Days 354 and 355 – me on a stage!

Counting down to the end of my challenge now and I’m starting to get sentimental…

Days 350-353 – work and leisure

I’ve been quite busy these last few days, so once again I’m having to write a summary. Only of four days though, that’s pretty good by recent standards, I’d say.

Day 349 – nothing extraordinary

Would you believe it? I’m actually blogging two days in a row!

Days 346-348 – a clean slate

You know that feeling when you were supposed to call a distant relative ages ago and calling them gets harder and harder every day so you eventually don’t so it at all? Well, that’s how I’ve been feeling with writing this blog so I decided to give myself a clean slate and just talk about the last three days. That should put me back on track for the remainder of the challenge….

Days 310-314 – Christmas is coming

November is coming to an end, today is the first Advent Sunday and this challenge is bound to become a little Christmas-themed now…

Day 309 – guilt-free crisps!

I was struggling to think of a “first” for today when I remembered the kale I’d bought a couple of days ago. It’s been sitting in the fridge, waiting for me to do something with it. So I googled some ideas and now I am absolutely in love with the result…

Days 301-308

Oh my God, only a month and a bit left of my challenge! I can’t believe I made it this far!

Why Paris has affected us so much – and what we should learn from it

I realize this may be controversial, but I’m gonna say it anyway:

I don’t think most people who have changed their profile picture to the French flag really care more about certain victims than others. Obviously changing a profile picture won’t make any real difference, but for one reason or another, people have felt the need to do it and I don’t think we should be giving them grief for it.

We’re all human beings with a heart (well, most of us, anyway) and I’m sure that the majority of us feel as upset by a death this side of the world as we do by one the other side of it.

The difference, in my opinion, is (apart from the massive difference in media coverage) that with the Paris attacks having been so close to home, there’s simply a stronger notion of “shit, that could have been me”, making people show what comes across as sympathy but is partially also some sort of relief that they were spared this time. And, on a similar note, it’s probably some subconscious feeling of “if we all mourn collectively this time, it means that we’ve also all been hit collectively and that makes us safe for the future. Lightning doesn’t strike twice, after all.”

Unfortunately, lightning does strike twice so the theory isn’t going to work. What we can learn, however, is that it’s important to watch out for and respect one another, irrespective of race, religion, nationality and other such silly concepts. We’re all human and should make the most of the time we get to share on this planet.