Hi, I'm Rachel Hills.
I'm a London-based (via Sydney, Australia) writer, researcher and contributor to publications including the Sydney Morning Herald's Sunday Life, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Glamour, Jezebel, Alternet and more. I'm also writing a book about Gen Y, sex and identity. This is my blog.
I'd love to hear from you. Submit a question to my Ask Rachel column here, send me an email here, connect with me on Twitter here or find out more about my paid work at www.rachelhills.net.
I'm a London-based (via Sydney, Australia) writer, researcher and contributor to publications including the Sydney Morning Herald's Sunday Life, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Glamour, Jezebel, Alternet and more. I'm also writing a book about Gen Y, sex and identity. This is my blog.
I'd love to hear from you. Submit a question to my Ask Rachel column here, send me an email here, connect with me on Twitter here or find out more about my paid work at www.rachelhills.net.
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Posts tagged "work"
“Behind every successful woman is herself.”
(via winifredjay)
For me, creative/intellectual energy tends to come in cycles.
There I’ll be, bounding along, bubbling over with ideas and saying yes to everything (even things that, if I applied the laws of physics, I’d know I probably don’t have time to do).
Then, out of nowhere, comes the crash. That period in which I become bogged down in anxiety and fear, unable to do anything more than mindlessly surf the internet. The more self-sabotaging my behaviour, the more anxious I become, until even the smallest tasks become a Big Freaking Deal. Much easier to dive back into the mindless activity.
Which is why I liked this post. At first I thought it was going to give me advice about stamping out procrastination. Then I realised the real point was that you can never escape procrastination entirely.
Procrastination is part of the loop.It costs energy and motivation and time. It costs what we call our life.
It costs the life of that girl.It costs a whole chunk of life – an hour, a day, a week, a month – until she finally gets back to her core.
Back to what she is.
Back to what she wanted to create.
Back to her art.
Because as unbeatably enthralling as creative or intellectual work is, it’s also scary and confronting and draining. And at some point, if you’re anything like me, you’re probably going to crash.
And while you may not be able to avoid the crash entirely, you can control what you do once you’re in it.
You can accept it as the reminder that it is that your brain and body has its limits. And once you’ve given in to those limits - and this is the most important bit - you can climb back out of it again.
How do you deal with “the loop”?
Elsewhere: The Loop (The Friendly Anarchist)
To play a beautiful song for two people or a thousand is the same song, and the amount of thanks you receive isn’t part of that song.
Serving as a nice reminder that good readers can bring as much to your work as you brought to the original piece.
A regular occurance in the blogosphere, I know, but somewhat less common in traditional journalism, which tends … not to have so much great dialogue around it. Or great dialogue that I actually get to hear about, at any rate!
Writes Scarlett:
Hills quotes Housos, Pizza and Swift & Shift Couriers producer Paul Fenech, who likens the uproar over Housos as “a rich wanker test. The truth is, when we show this comedy to people who live it, they love it.” This could also be applied to the carbon tax and the public reception of shows like Angry Boys: you can always count on the conservative, upper-to-middle class right to become uproarious about such things. Could it be because “talking about class makes us nervous… because it suggests that we might not be as equal as we’d like to think we are—and that’s threatening”? I’d bet it is.I saw this first hand when I brought up Go Back to Where You Came From with a right-leaning friend. Then I told him I was going to vote Greens next election. Then he called me a communist.
But what’s so wrong with believing everyone should receive the same civil rights? Abbott would argue, “why ‘screw over… people who want to get ahead’?” Indeed; but does it mean that we have to step on the little man to do so?
This month in Oz Cosmopolitan, I’m talking Chris Brown’s comeback tour. Specifically, whether or not it’s a good idea for him to be a pop star right now. Here’s an excerpt:
[Professor Michael] Flood says the way the public responded to Brown’s behaviour is consistent with how we respond to people who’ve used violence. “We excuse past behaviour and take any sign of progress as proof the problem is behind the person.” And these trends are pronounced among young people – Flood says we’re more likely than older age groups to believe in individual responsibility. “So if Rihanna is beaten up, [people might think that] she made bad choices,” he says.“Young people seem less able to recognise power inequalities and are less aware of why women may find it hard to leave a violent relationship,” says Flood. Think of the Twitter users who, when Rihanna began following Brown on the site, made comments like “B***h is on her own”.
However, many people in abusive relationships do feel trapped – whether due to threats of violence, or because they hope this time will be the last. Just as Brown’s fans see his potential for change, people in violent partnerships hope the good in their partner will overcome the bad.
Also by me in the current issue of Cosmo (and on a somewhat lighter note): “Why splitting up doesn’t mean a relationship isn’t meant to be”, starring Tumblr’s own Jean Hannah Edelstein, who rather disagrees with me on that point!
