Paula Xiberras
When you read Philippa Moore’s book ‘The Latte Years: A story of losses, gains and life beyond the after photo’ you will be asking for more Moore! I spoke to Philippa last week about her book.
The former Hobart girl has been living and writing in London since 2007. In that time Philippa has contributed to British Cosmopolitan and The British Medical Journal.
Philippa has a great love for Tassie and gets back here at least every two years. One of her favourite things about arriving in Tassie, apart from seeing her family, is the smell of the’ pure oxygen’ when disembarking from the plane. Philippa loves Tassie’s relaxed nature and how she can hold hands with her hubby when walking down the street without having said hands, pried apart by oncoming pedestrians as happens in Oxford Street.
The book follows Philippa’s realisation that she was dissatisfied with her life and that she could change it. The catalyst for change for 24 year old Philippa was ironically a ‘change’ room episode in a Hobart store, where she discovered an item of clothing didn’t fit as well as it should. It was an epiphany moment for Philippa as she realised things didn’t have to be as they were and that she could create the life she wanted.
The shedding of excess weight was a metaphor for the shedding of the chrysalis of her comfort zone of her previous existence to living the life she wanted and had control over.
In the book Philippa does give a nod to fate in our lives but even that might need our contribution, an example being when a clairvoyant friend informed Philippa she would find love in England with an artist! She went on to meet and marry artist Tom but of course she had to pursue what she wanted to make that potential a reality.
It’s often the case that we make excuses for not attempting to achieve our ambitions, desires and what we really want to do because we are scared of being out of our comfort zone and having to cope with unfamiliar scenarios says Philippa. Philippa says breaking out of your comfort zone will cause some consternation but to remember ‘at the end of it the rewards may be great!’
As part of her reinvention and gaining control of her life, Philippa started anew in Melbourne where she began a health and fitness blog in 2005 called ‘Skinny latte strikes back’.
With her own successes Philippa wanted to reach out to others by giving sensible advice for ‘living an authentic life’ and to ‘find happiness by living the best life you can.’ Philippa calls this engagement ‘showing up to life’.
It’s also important to know that achieving an aim doesn’t mean the story is complete. The great achievements Philippa has made with weight management and even winning marathons is not the end of the story, even by ticking off these accomplishments she still believes there are goals to attain and that, making the decision to retreat back to our comfort zone is easy but taking the path less travelled and the unfamiliar is the way to evolve as a person.
Philippa’s message is to know you are in control and to be the best person you can be , not what others expect of you and most importantly’ to show up’ for life and all it’s crazy challenges.
‘The Latte Years’ is our now published by Nero Publishing.
