1 I like to bond with animals. Cats are my favourites because they're harder to win over (or get down from their pedestals). One lived with me when I was going through a particularly miserable time and I could tell her all my problems. When she found me crying she would run up to me and pat my cheek with her paw. She was a cat of very little brain, was rather ugly and had heart problems, which made her wheeze rather than purr, but I think she was an angel in disguise.
2 Bath therapy to me is the perfect way to finish the working day before you start the evening. When I stagger home like an empty husk, after a hard day at work, my husband takes one look at me and tells me to go and have a bath. I light my favourit
e candles, fill the tub with bubbles and lie there, gradually warming up and relaxing. The bubbles are mesmerising – if you watch them long enough you can see fantasy stories of ice maidens and snowmen unfolding in front of your eyes.
3 Live life to the full every day. If you dwell on the mistakes and wrongs of the past it just holds you back. You can worry about the future but that doesn't make it any better. In my job I see people struck down with terrible diseases or disabilities, so I am determined to rejoice in the moment and make the most of every day that I have.
4 Keep learning new skills. It's good to feel like a beginner in some area of your life as it stops you becoming complacent. I started practising cosmetic medicine five years ago (after 20 years as a general practitioner and sex therapist) and it continues to challenge me. I believe that the harder you make the brain work the less likely it is to give up on you. My father developed Alzheimer's in his late 50s, so I'm doing my best to fend off the chance that this horrible disease might strike me.
5 Enjoy food. One of my recurring nightmares is being unable to smell, taste or to eat. I adore food and love to cook. My favourite form of socialising is to have friends round for dinner. I regularly miss lunch, unless my husband thrusts a sandwich at me as I whizz from one place of work to another. However, I would never, ever miss dinner. We even have a strict rota for making breakfast in bed. I find the phrase "I wouldn't bother cooking just for myself" a most sad and mysterious one. Eating is such a joy that you shouldn't waste it by munching something boring out of a packet. It only takes me ten minutes to rustle up my favourite pasta in a red sauce. It's full of cheese, wine and cream – not really what the doctor ordered.
6 I believe that you should surround yourself with people who are good for you. There are those who raise you up to levels of greatness you couldn't achieve alone, others are warm comforters and some just make you laugh. I'm lucky enough to count all of these among my friends. But, beware the bullies and the "energy leeches" – they can very quickly diminish you.
7 I love shopping – shoes and clothes are my special passions. I dread the day that I have to wear comfortable rather than exciting shoes and I love brightly coloured outfits, preferably with a bit of sparkle somewhere. I feel that my patients expect me to look the part and believe that it shows my respect for them.
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