Clare MacLeod Consultancy

30/12/2025

There are many social sanctions (resolutions) regarding New Years’s Eve (Hogmanay) and New Year’s Day. If that’s what you choose to do for yourself, then that’s your choice. A biggy is “I’ll be more motivated next year……”

Motivation is overrated. I keep seeing posts about how to develop motivation, work on the resolutions, and build on the ones that never got accomplished this year (2025), and I just wanted to add my perspective around this.

Firstly, it comes from a place of compassion and by that, I mean self compassion, and then when I read other posts about not being motivated, I have compassion for those who are struggling with motivation.

I’m not highly motivated. I don’t have amazing willpower or self-control.
I don’t always get up at 6am to read, meditate, drink a green smoothie, and run 10K. That’s because I don’t believe in motivation. That doesn’t mean I can’t still be productive; it just means I’ve removed that internal drive. I’ve put habits in place which means I can still be productive, and for me, it’s a kinder way of being.

All that motivation is, is the desire to do something. We don’t always have a strong desire and then procrastination can kick in, and then we can beat ourselves up because the pain of not doing it becomes greater than the pain of doing it.

For many folks, the Holidays are a busy time and to feel pressure to have to set goals when you’re feeling tired or burnt out, is probably not going to be helpful for you.

When we are feeling on top of everything, it is so much easier to set exercise goals and plans, or non physical plans and actions. When we are not feeling on top of everything, we can find the heart strings that connect us to our values and choose the actions that match up with them. In the heat thanks Aussie summer, my walks are shorter and I can be gentle on myself and accept that a walk around the block with my Isopup (dog) are valued actions especially when I see that she is happy just to walk around the block and sniff every blade of grass along the way.

So, I just wanted to say that if you’ve got to the end of this long post, motivation is optional, and you don’t have to feel like getting something done in order to actually get it done. Remember that the need to feel motivated is an external pressure. Go easy on yourself and find the small moments like lil’ Isopup enjoying sniffing all of the blades of grass.

Happy Hogmanay and well wishes for 2026.

30/12/2025

As we head into the New Year, there will be many folk who may be questioning their weight and looking at possible training options.

WARNING
If you go somewhere where they measure your BMI, choose another option, or refuse to have it measured. Ask them why it needs measuring.

Last semester at Uni, I taught addictive behaviours which included problematic eating issues.

FACT
Did you know that Body Mass Index (BMI) was invented by Belgian mathematician Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet in 1832 as a way to describe the "average man" for population studies, not individual health, and was later named the "Body Mass Index" by Ancel Keys in 1972 for use in health research.

In a nutshell, BMI was invented by a white male who wasn’t even a health professional! So why are we using this ridiculous test? Why is it being used on women? Do folks still using this ridiculous test realise the damage it can cause to women who are already struggling with body image or eating issues?

I just had to fill this out for my health fund profile. Needless to say, I’ve sent them an email!

24/12/2025

23/12/2025

As we know, working with complex trauma is tough work. We spend our working life supporting folks. During the holidays we can be surrounded by lots of family and friends and whilst it is a different kind of being with people, sometimes it might be about planning something just for you without lots of folks around.

If you need to, set a boundary and make a plan to have some time to yourself. Weather permitting, finding your favourite place in nature can be nurturing. Give yourself permission to take the well-earned time for you.

19/12/2025

As mentioned in a previous post, I am sharing small tips and strategies for those helping professionals working with trauma.

The first tip is about gift buying.

If you choose to buy gifts during the holiday season, reflect on the gift you would like to receive. Have you included yourself in the gift list? Buy yourself a gift, or give to a charity that fits with your values. Explore how you can be caring to yourself. Wrap up the gift or charity certificate for yourself as if you were lovingly and caringly wrapping it for your best friend.

18/12/2025

Over the days leading up to the holiday break and during, I’ll be sharing small tips and strategies for those helping professionals working with trauma. Working with complex trauma is tough work. Whether you celebrate the holidays or not, there are some public holidays coming up. It’s important to find moments of joy, love, connection, rest and things that bring a sense of purpose and meaning away from your work. Over the coming holidays, may you find these moments. 💚

08/12/2025

💚💚💚💚💚

03/12/2025

At this time of year, conversations inevitably go to Holiday topics. There can often be an assumption that folks are involved in activities during this time. We don’t always know someone else’s story. For many folks with trauma stories, this time of year can be a difficult one and also one that some folks don’t want to be a part of.

Instead of asking, “what are you doing for Christmas?”, we could ask, “are you doing anything over the holidays?” If they say “No”, we can leave it at that and move on to another topic unless they choose to elaborate.

28/11/2025

As we approach the holiday season, it’s important to be reminded of protective behaviours for your child.

https://www.claremacleodconsultancy.com/post/protective-behaviours-during-the-holiday-season

As we know, the funny memes come out at this time of year, many of which are like the one I have shared here. The difference is, I do not find this remotely funny at all. This child is clearly distressed, listening to his gut and body. The distress here is NOT worth the Christmas photo and nor is it...

26/11/2025

Whilst it’s not Thanksgiving here in Australia, and there are many posts regarding the holiday, there are plenty of posts and other marketing from the US telling us to make sure we get our workouts in before eating a feast! Not on my watch. Whilst the below meme is for Thanksgiving, let’s also keep this in mind for the holidays following Thanksgiving.

26/11/2025

What are you doing to make a difference? Is there anything you can do to make even the smallest of changes?

I’ve been reflecting on my years of activism against gender-based violence from the first Reclaim the Night back in Leeds in 1977 when the Yorkshire Ripper was still on the streets of Yorkshire, and then my work in Women’s Services, and my personal involvement. I am a social worker and just a concerned woman who feels deeply and I can never turn away.

A few years ago a young woman was murdered near where I run. I remember sharing the comment I had made to a man standing nearby as we were detoured from the area. It was dusk. He said to me, “well, you shouldn’t really be out at night.” I couldn’t keep my mouth shut and said, “actually No, men shouldn’t be murdering women.” I shared my comments with some folks and some of the reactions I received were supportive of the man who was being “well meaning”. It’s not the fault of the folks who commented. This is one of the subtleties of the deeply entrenched context we are living in. That man was VICTIM BLAMING.

I have spent most of my career teaching children how to say “No” and to teach them how to be protective. That in itself sucks! Why should I have had to teach children protective behaviours? Why do women have to attend self defense classes? It’s all back to front. We are taught to have good manners and keep quiet. I’m from the age of “children should be seen and not heard.” I’ve taught children the opposite to shout as loud as they can. It’s gotten very noisy in my clinic room. My hope is that those children and young people remember to throw out the good manners when it comes to protecting themselves and also contributing to eliminating violence.

To my fellow noisy ones and my quieter ones, we need to keep speaking out, exposing those subtleties of victim blaming and toxicity, and keep making a noise until this p**s weak government can recognise that women’s lives matter. The silence is deafening.

If you want to read up about how you can learn more, there are some great links out there.

https://www.respectvictoria.vic.gov.au/campaigns/16-days-activism-against-gender-based-violence

https://www.ourwatch.org.au/16-days-of-activism