My great late father used to tell us to: “Keep Kool Kat”, and he’d also say: “Don’t sweat the small stuff”.   His colourful, Cockney language, when I was younger, fell upon deaf ears.

Actually, my dad was partially deaf, and he disguised his hearing aid with nifty glasses and a huge hooped gold earring. He made no bones, however to us – his children, about the tough start he’d had growing up: being shoved into one care home after another.

Yet, he wore a happy disposition and was known for his comedic charisma.

These days, – like many of you coping with a host of worries in our challenging times, I look for and think about, any form of wisdom support, or encouragement.

I have thought about my father’s old advice, and another nugget sprang to mind: “Look after number one”.

At first glance, his old advice may sound rudimentary, but actually, it advocates a mindset that is helpful to us all.

In spite of the worries that you may have, stewing over them will only negatively affect your mental and physical health. It would only be courageous of you, to indeed share your problems. This way you can foster a sense of calmness, and try to keep a cooler head.

Similarly, when we are anxious, all our problems tend to fuse together, even though some of them are smaller, and are easier to solve: with a calmer mind, we have a much better sense of clarity, and the energy to look at them with fresh eyes, or discuss them with people we trust.

Lastly, to look after number one, is very poignant, since we’re only relatively recently, understanding or even being aware of, the importance of self-care and self-love.   Hopefully, we are no longer viewing doing so, – as being self-indulgent.

I’m not saying that my father’s words will instantly resolve your problems, but I hope that they will stay in your thoughts. I hope that you will realise how important looking after yourselves is, because the stronger we become as individuals, then the easier life’s challenges become.