Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion Every now and again it helps to cherish the memory, even as you’re making it

You know those photo memories that pop-up while you’re scrolling through your smart phone? They seem to appear at the most random times, and almost always make me stop in my tracks, giving whatever randomly selected moments from my past some kind of added significance, a beauty I didn’t see at the time.

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion We’re getting a new kitchen and can’t keep our home in perfect order… I’m in that happy limbo of being shame-exempt

Remember when you were younger and dreamed of the freedom of being an adult? Can you still recall what adulthood meant to your repressed, frustrated teenage self? The details will have varied from fantasy to angst-ridden fantasy but I’m willing to bet my never-to-be-paid-off mortgage that it was a variation of the same, universal theme; doing what you want, when you want, how you want and with whom you want.

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion Gratitude is one of life’s cliches, but don’t ignore it – it just may be the key to success

Gratitude, it feels to me, has suffered a tarnished rep of late. It’s become almost passe, the stuff of 10-a-penny self-help books and pink and yellow bold graphic posters. Why are they always pink and yellow?

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion I’m getting everything done… but at what cost?

This morning, I managed something I had never even considered as a possibility. I like to think I have ambitious targets, big life goals, and a healthy curiosity to the limits of my own potential. But even I didn’t think for a single minute of my life, until this day, that it would be possible to have a nap before 7.30. That’s right, half seven in the AM.

Orla Chennaoui Opinion Laugh at my choice of clothing… but I dress for myself, not to please others

Walking into the playground of my daughter’s school last week, where parents of the younger children come for pick-up at the end of the day, I had an encounter that echoes a familiar experience for me, and one that I will never not find baffling.

Orla Chennaoui Opinion I will never stop learning from the life lessons a dear friend taught me

The sun is setting outside my train window. The little neon strips above my head have just been turned on, illuminating the inside of the carriage with a comforting, yellow glow and foretelling the hours of travel ahead into the dark night of Northern Europe.

Orla Chennaoui Opinion Parenting? It’s not that different from adolescence in terms of sneaking around

I’m sneaking down the stairs, doing everything in my power to stay as quiet as I can. My heart is pounding as I pre-empt the creaky boards, walking on tiptoes and pointing my hands in the air like some cartoon burglar.

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion Getting on our bikes is old solution to new problem

I want you to take a minute and imagine something with me. Take yourself to a world where you’re never stuck in traffic, where the air is cleaner, where you exercise and get fitter without even thinking about it and where our children are safer playing on the streets. It sounds too idyllic and randomly associated to be true, doesn’t it?

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion I won’t allow anyone to tell us we’re ‘not qualified enough’ because of how we speak

It’s a strange thing to speak with a different accent to your children. My daughter was born in London, my son in Amsterdam, and their father is French Moroccan.

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion We need to have a word about why it’s wrong to stereotype our kids

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Do you remember that saying? It can’t be just me who hasn’t heard it in a while. These days we seem more attuned to the very real effect words can have, both on others and wider society.

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion We all want to give the right answers to our doctor… it’s like being back in school

There’s something about being in a doctor’s office, answering questions about your lifestyle and trying desperately to get the answers right, that brings out the school pupil in all of us. We walk in fully competent, perhaps even confident, adults. But then we sit before the weight and wonder of medical knowledge as if we’re back in Mrs Trolan’s history class, trying to give off I’m-a-good-child-really vibes, and working out how to pass the test.

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion Don’t focus on the destination, concentrate on the journey

That’s it, I give up. I can’t do it. I’ve tried, truly. But no matter how much I tell myself it’s okay, that I just need to look on the bright side, the simple fact of life, every year, is that winter is a bit rubbish. To me, it’s the very definition of meh. Not brutal, not even a real challenge in the satisfying way, just a bore of a chore to get through.

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion We can’t avoid the past but we can look to the future with hope

The past week is easily my favourite time of the whole year. I’m writing this before I’ve had the chance to live it yet, but if it turns out as planned, I will have spent it as I do every year; knee deep in Quality Street and rarely out of my pyjamas. It’s the one time when I feel no guilt in switching off and just ‘being’.

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion I enjoy being the non-drinker… but alcohol-free nights out aren’t that simple

A friend and colleague I’ve worked with for the last four years, said something to me last weekend that stopped me in my tracks; “I just can’t imagine you drunk”.

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion Do not disturb… how I’ve lasted four days on a phonetox

I have a confession; my name is Orla Chennaoui, and I am a phoneaholic. I am simply addicted, and permanently attached, to my mobile phone. I realised the extent to which I have a problem while on holiday recently with friends. We were playing a game called Who in the Room, where you identify the person who most fits any given scenario. ‘Who in the room is most likely to get a tattoo with the name of someone they’ve just met, for a £5 bet?’, that kind of thing. Me, apparently, if you’re wondering.

Premium

Orla Chennaoui Opinion The A Word: why we need to be able to comfortably speak about anxiety

Anxiety isn’t something most people associate with my job. I am a TV presenter. I have to speak, some would say perform, live in front of hundreds of thousands of people, every time I turn up to work.