ABOUT ME
Hi, I’m Michaela.
And if you came here looking for someone who has life completely figured out, I should probably save you some time.
I absolutely do not.
Good Things Daily is something I created while trying to figure out my own life. Who I am, what actually makes me happy, why I keep repeating certain patterns, and how to build a life that feels good to live rather than one that just looks good from the outside.
I've spent a lot of my life searching for the next thing.
I've travelled. Lived overseas. Changed jobs. Started again. Fallen in love. Had my heart broken. Made some brilliant decisions and some questionable ones. I've gone through periods where I've felt incredibly alive and others where I've genuinely wondered how I managed to lose myself so much.
And somewhere amongst all of that, I became fascinated by why we are the way we are.
Why do we stay in situations we know aren't right for us?
Why do we compare ourselves to everyone around us?
Why can we know exactly what we need to change and still struggle to actually change it?
Why are we so bloody mean to ourselves?
And most importantly - how do we get unstuck?
HOW IT STARTED
Good Things Daily actually started as something quite different.
Originally, it was created around travel, adventure, food and the idea of noticing more of the good things in everyday life.
At the time, I thought changing my life meant doing something big.
Leaving.
Travelling.
Starting again.
Going somewhere new.
And I still believe enormously in adventure, curiosity and doing things that scare you a little.
But I've also learnt that you can travel thousands of kilometres and still bring the same brain with you.
Annoying, really.
Changing your surroundings can be incredible. But eventually I realised some of the biggest changes in my life weren't going to come from another plane ticket.
They were going to come from understanding myself.
My habits. My relationships. My insecurities. My coping mechanisms. The stories I told myself. The things I avoided. The patterns I kept repeating even when I knew better.
Good Things Daily started evolving with me.
And now it's become a place to talk about those things too.
WHO I AM
Michaela
I'm originally from New Zealand and I've spent much of my adult life travelling, living and working around the world.
I'm naturally curious, probably an excessive overthinker, and endlessly fascinated by why people think, feel and behave the way they do.
I've also spent enough of my own life feeling lost, starting again, questioning myself and trying to work out what the hell I'm actually doing to know that personal growth rarely looks as pretty as the internet makes it seem.
I love learning about psychology, mindset, relationships, habits, health and the strange ways our past experiences shape who we become.
Then I inevitably start thinking about it too much, writing about it, and wondering whether someone else might need to hear it too.
That's essentially Good Things Daily.
I'm not a psychologist, therapist or someone claiming to have discovered the secret to a perfect life.
I'm just deeply interested in understanding how we can live better ones.
So I'm learning, researching, reflecting, experimenting and sharing what genuinely helps along the way.
WHY GOOD THINGS DAILY EXISTS
Because I think a lot of us are walking around believing we should have everything figured out by now.
We compare ourselves to people who seem further ahead.
We stay in situations that don't feel right.
We repeat patterns we promised ourselves we'd stop repeating.
We scroll when we're overwhelmed.
We overthink things that haven't even happened.
We know what we should do and then wonder why actually doing it feels so bloody difficult.
And underneath all of that, most of us are just trying to build a life that feels good to live.
That's what Good Things Daily is about.
Not toxic positivity.
Not pretending difficult things don't happen.
And definitely not telling you to simply think positive when life feels shit.
It's about understanding yourself well enough to respond to life differently.
Becoming more resilient.
Building healthier habits and relationships.
Learning from the uncomfortable stuff.
Noticing what's already good.
And making small decisions that slowly move your life in a direction you're proud of.
Because sometimes changing your life is a huge leap.
But more often, I think it's the tiny things you choose to do differently every day.
WHAT YOU'LL FIND HERE
Good Things Daily explores the messy middle of becoming the person you want to be.
You'll find honest reflections and practical ideas around:
Mindset & self-awareness
Understanding your thoughts, behaviours and the stories you tell yourself.
Patterns & relationships
Why we repeat certain cycles, what our relationships teach us and how we learn to choose differently.
Habits & everyday life
The tiny behaviours that quietly shape how we feel and where our lives are heading.
Confidence & resilience
Getting back up, trusting yourself and becoming stronger through the things you didn't necessarily ask to go through.
Health & happiness
Exploring realistic ways to build a life that feels healthier, calmer and more enjoyable.
The good things
The ideas, experiences, books, conversations, quotes and little reminders that make life feel a bit lighter.
Some posts come from research.
Some come from conversations.
And plenty come from lessons I've had to learn myself.
Everything here is written with the same intention:
To help you understand yourself a little better than you did yesterday.
WHAT I BELIEVE
I believe you can be grateful for your life and still want more from it.
I believe being positive doesn't mean pretending everything is okay.
I believe uncomfortable experiences can teach us an enormous amount about ourselves.
I believe the relationship you have with yourself affects almost everything else.
I believe curiosity is more useful than judgement.
I believe starting again isn't failure.
I believe you don't need to completely reinvent your life overnight.
And I believe some of the biggest changes happen through very small decisions made consistently.
One boundary.
One difficult conversation.
One walk instead of another hour scrolling.
One decision not to go back to something that keeps hurting you.
One moment where you recognise an old pattern and think:
Actually, I'm not doing this anymore.
Those are the good things too.
I'm still figuring a lot of this out.
Maybe you are too.
So rather than pretending I've reached some magical finish line, I'd rather share what I'm learning while I'm actually living it.
The mistakes. The research. The uncomfortable realisations. The things that work. The things that absolutely don't.
And hopefully, somewhere amongst it all, something helps you understand your own life a little better too.
Michaela x
