Hilary Seabrook - writer, podcaster, musician

I broke a mirror last week. I don't believe for one minute it'll result in seven years of bad luck. I'm definitely a 'glass half-full' kind of person and also that luck isn't really a thing - your attitude to what life throws at you is the key. So, this morning, I awoke early and got ready for a conference call at 8am. Notes ready, mug of green tea ready in case it turned into a long one. Never happened. I just listened to ten minutes of muzak. Then the major project I was expecting to work on for the rest of the day was postponed. I can either whinge and moan and feel sorry that the landscape of my day has changed, or just get on with it. Use the time to clear the decks of other projects. It's a done deal. New To Do list created. Half of it ticked off already. So no, I don't believe I caused a run of bad luck.

It's exam results season, which always reminds me that it's really, really not about what any piece of paper says. You're defined by how you treat those around you, even those you just sit next to on the train who don't even know your name. Good luck to those who get loads of A*s, Firsts and Masters. I hope you end up loving the job they lead you to. I was never an A grade student. Too many other things going on in my life. The main thing was music. But I wasn't allowed to study at the Royal Academy of Music - I allowed my parents to 'guide' me several times during those career choices but I've ended up doing what I love and that's not down to great exam results. Once every six months, I receive a royalty payment for music I recorded when I was supposed to be studying. No-one ever asks what grades I got in exams or why I 'only' got a 2:2 at university. But at least once a week, someone mentions in person or online the music I've pla...

This week has featured some decluttering in my office. While throwing out a load of documents, I found some memories of the past. In July 1990, I had to visit an East Berlin clinic and this is the note I was given afterwards. I was working on 'The Wall' in Potsdamer Platz and can't remember what I did, but I ended up going across the newly-broken wall for treatment. I wish I knew German, so I could make sense of it now. I do remember it was like going back in time, just walking a few yards.