Bridget McNulty

On being fun and fearless…

// December 2nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Inspiration, Life (and the living of it), Writing

So on Friday I spent the day with 29 of South Africa’s fun fearless females. Yip, it was the Cosmo Awesome Women event in Joburg, and let me tell you, it was fabulous! Awesome, even

We arrived at the beautifully landscaped garden venue just before noon, and spent a couple of hours chatting on the lawn, sipping cocktails and eating canapes (sounds terribly la di da, doesn’t it?) I’ve decided, by the way, that this is the Summer of Mojitos. I love them! And they’re not too bad for my blood sugar.

I quickly rotated towards the more playful group of women – the ones who were making jokes about being awesome and laughing out loud. A couple of us got on immediately, something in the shared vision of a bigger life and a large dose of ambition, I think. The event itself was lovely – a three course lunch with a guest speaker (Redi Direko of eTV News Channel fame) who was really rather inspiring, a pop princess performance by pop princess Jay (of ‘I’m missing you’ fame) and a very funny and touching video of snippets from interviews with all of us when we had our photo shoot.

And then we got fabulous goodie bags on our way out! All in all a pretty splendid day.

What was so great about it, I think, was that we were all there from vastly different fields – science, sport, business, the arts – and yet we were all joined together by this desire to be the best at whatever it is that we do. It was truly inspirational, in the original meaning of the word. I left feeling as if anything was possible, as if when women join together, the sky is the limit. Does that sound cheesy? That’s okay. It doesn’t feel cheesy.

So I finally scanned in the feature from Cosmo, here’s a small version of it… If you want to download the real PDF so you can read it, it’ll be under the Reviews section at www.bridgetmcnulty.com later today.
Here’s to all you fun fearless women reading this!

Missing out?

// October 7th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Decisions, Inspiration, Life (and the living of it)

I think one of my worst feelings ever is the feeling that I’m missing out on something…

I’m spending this week in Durban with my dad, hanging out with him while my mom is overseas spending time with my niece… It’s such a wonderful thing – being given this opportunity to spend quality one-on-one time with my dad, and really connecting with each other. Very rare. In a family of six, you usually don’t get to spend time two by two!

Anyhoo, on Sunday there was a band playing here in Durban, and I was tempted to go… but really didn’t feel like it. I wanted to stay at home and go through slides with my dad – he drove from Cape Town to London in the early 1970s and we’re going to put his slides onto DVD. So I stayed home and looked at slides and listened to my dad’s stories, and it was a great evening. But only after I’d stopped feeling like I was missing out on something! It’s so funny, even when I don’t feel like going out I get that worry that it’s going to be a really good party, and I should have gone.

But as soon as I acknowledge how I really feel – as soon as I say, “No thanks, I don’t want to,” and really believe it, that feeling vanishes.

It made me think about how often we do this, every day. How often we make a decision (big or small) and then spend hours or days worrying about if it was the right decision. I’m going to try (very hard) to stop doing that – to be fully present in myself, and in my decisions. To stop wasting time.

A renewed capacity for wonder.

// August 26th, 2007 // No Comments » // Cape Town

I stood at the end of Africa today. Really, as far as you can get on land. The plan is to conquer the world through writing from the end of the continent up.
Ha!
It was awe-inspiring, though, and vast and limitless and almost too huge to wrap my head around.
We went to Cape Point, the National Park where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. You can walk right out, right to the bit that looks in real life just like it looks on maps – that little tail. I was there! We saw a whale breaching around the whole tip, too, which just made it more momentous. He (or she, tricky to tell from the distance) kept leaping out of the water, really high, and everyone oohed and aahed. It was wonderful! Exhilarating!
It renewed my capacity for wonder.
I have a tendency to get stuck inside my head, but nature always helps me get a little perspective. Especially nearly 360 degree views of limitless ocean horizon. And just these vast stretches of nothingness (and fynbos). So so beautiful. I’ll post a few photos tomorrow, but they don’t do it justice. It was just breathtaking. Beyond words.

It’s the end of the day, and the end of the weekend. What a wonderful weekend. I feel recharged and inspired and rested and well fed – all my favourite feelings. But also a little antsy… My book may be out in one week. One week! And I haven’t got all my ducks in a row yet.
Tomorrow is the day! I’ll know it all by end of day, you mark my words. Time to get things in order, you know?
I’ll let you know how it goes.

Fast Forward Life

// August 22nd, 2007 // 1 Comment » // Time

Are we living in fast forward so much so that we forget how to live in real time? I think I might be.
It’s kind of difficult to avoid, though, hey? There’s just so much to do, and (cliched as it might sound) not really enough time to do it in.
I’ve had a Real Full-Time Job for a little over 3 months now, and hoooboy does it take up a lot of time! Seriously. All of a sudden the time I used to use to read and study and potter around my room and bake and watch movies and have quiet time and spend time with my friends and boyfriend and email overseas friends and chat to overseas friends has been reduced to this little time slot between 5.30pm and bedtime. And seeing as I like to do a bit of exercise too (imagine!) and I go walking on the promenade after work, it’s more like 7pm and bedtime.

It feels somewhat crazy at times. Especially seeing as the things I’m trying to do are mainly hippy things to make me a better person and chill me out. I’m reading Jack Canfield’s ‘The Success Principles’ (brilliant advice on how to get where you want to go), I’m trying to do some Reiki (yip, I’m a Reiki healer), I’m trying to learn more about EFT (this amazing healing practice) and do more creatively and find time to read, just because. And, of course, I’m spending every free moment I have trying to do some extraordinary marketing for Strange Nervous Laughter (more on that later).

Most of the time, I feel like I’m on fast forward and I’m STILL not getting these things done.
What you think? Is it just me? Am I being unreasonable trying to live a freelance life and a full-time life at the same time? Do I just have to save all these extras for retirement? (Heaven forbid!)

Or are we all just trying to fit too much into our every days? Are we conditioned to?
Is this one of those unanswerable questions? I think it might be.