Try GOLD - Free
COMEBACK queen
Psychologies UK
|April 2025
After a few hard years, Kate Townshend is looking to rediscover her lost identity
It's not an easy thing to admit, but between covid lockdowns, the beautiful fever dream of early motherhood and a prolonged spell of mental ill health, I've started to feel that somewhere in the last few years I might have dropped my mojo down the back of the sofa.
Don't get me wrong: a temporarily misplaced groove is a small price to pay for taking the time and space to look after my health. And I wouldn't change the intensity of falling in love with my baby and learning to become a mum for anything in the world.
But I do sometimes feel I've retired a bit from the 'world facing' parts of my personality – and as I tick over into my forties, there's some hormonal low self-esteem also adding to this slightly tricky mix. The truth is I don't feel as dynamic as I once did, or as in charge of my own destiny. And it seems like ignoring these issues – or worse, accepting them as the new and forever-after normal – isn't going to cut it.
So I'm wondering, instead, if it might be time to tentatively come out of this period of rest and hibernation, and stick my head back above the parapet. I'm wondering, in short, if it might be time to stage my own comeback.
I realise I'm muscling my way into rather esteemed company here, since comebacks have long been de rigueur for every celebrity, sporting or artistic talent going. Just as the world counts them down and out, they return in a blaze of milieu-defining glory.
But the truth is, this is everyday magic for all of us, regardless of whether our own comebacks play out on a world stage or in the rather more intimate setting of our private lives. We can all find our way back from times of stress, failure, trauma or confusion — or at least that's what I'm hoping.
'The idea of a "comeback" holds immense psychological power because it represents resilience, transformation, and the ability to rewrite one's narrative,' says psychotherapist Kamalyn Kaur. 'It's like getting a "do over".'
This story is from the April 2025 edition of Psychologies UK.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM Psychologies UK
Psychologies UK
FORGET INTROVERT AND EXTROVERT, COULD YOU BE AN 'otrovert'?
Most people find it hard to imagine what it feels like to have no group loyalty: to not feel any particular affinity to your nationality, ethnicity, religion, or to your chosen profession, a particular sports team, or your alma mater. These group affiliations form partly because local cultures are diverse, and even small differences can be enough to bind people together — or set them apart.
6 mins
October 2025
Psychologies UK
IS TECHNOLOGY KEEPING US STUCK IN THE PAST?
Back in the day, if you had a horrible boss, or a relationship that ended on a sour note, you could process the situation and move on.
4 mins
October 2025
Psychologies UK
Do you need a POWER PAUSE?
As women, we are told to push. Long before childbirth and in almost everything we do. As a result, we tell ourselves to ‘lean in’, ‘hustle’ and ‘keep going’, as we power on through the relentless, back-to-back demands of our daily lives. As we push harder, we sleep less, hoping that somehow our fatigued bodies and foggy minds will catch up. We are so scared to stop.
6 mins
October 2025
Psychologies UK
The joys of seasonal eating
Raymond Blanc explains how everyone thought he was 'weird' when he introduced a vegetarian menu 40 years ago, and why he still loves veg
6 mins
October 2025
Psychologies UK
INTO THE uni mindset
As thousands fly the nest and head off to university, many parents will be anxious about how their kids will cope with living alone as well as studying. After all, when a new study showed that a quarter of uni-aged kids can't even boil an egg, it looks like they've got reason to worry!
2 mins
October 2025
Psychologies UK
YOU DON'T HAVE TO smile
Most of us were taught from a young age to be polite — to smile, to say thank you, to make others feel comfortable.
3 mins
October 2025
Psychologies UK
FEEL THE FEAR
I gaze out the window as the countryside whizzes by in a green blur. Through my much-loved earphones, I listen to the album Scarlet's Walk by Tori Amos — music that has gotten me through much more difficult experiences than this, I remind myself. Because this — although nerve-wracking — is nothing compared to the challenges I have faced in life so far. Really, giving a talk to a room of strangers around my passion — careers in writing — is pretty straightforward stuff.
5 mins
October 2025
Psychologies UK
DR ALEX GEORGE: If a food makes you feel bad, that's your body telling you something'
After weighing over 20st and struggling with grief and depression two and a half years ago, Dr Alex George says his ‘diet was poor’, he wasn’t exercising and was ‘consuming too much alcohol and processed foods’.
3 mins
October 2025
Psychologies UK
Can I finally stand still?
In a new city, in a new life, Caro Giles wonders if she has at last found home
3 mins
October 2025
Psychologies UK
THE HIDDEN COST OF caring
It’s been raining for days. I fantasise about floating away. We all agree that this wet week feels like the longest week ever. I’m counting down the hours until I can escape to Glasgow and be with Joe, and shut the mother away in a box. All week my two little ones, Tess and Emmie, have been as changeable as the sea, sitting at a piano singing Taylor Swift songs one moment, and brimming with worries the next.
6 mins
October 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size