About

When wolves come for the creative one

Once upon a time there was a girl who had wings.  Life came and clipped those wings and made her hide them.  This blog is my story of finding my wings again and learning how to manage them.  I’m scared of being big, wild, creative, vibrant and alive but my wings keep pushing me forward…reminding me.  I don’t know how to live with wings how to honour my creativity and stand straight and tall…but I’m about to try!

Personal info

I work as a lecturer in the Centre for Positive Psychology and Health at RCSI, University of Medicine and Health Sciences. I have a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland where I worked for seven years in the public health service.  I also completed a research PhD in Trinity on racism and the media in Ireland.

In primary school I was never the cleverest kid.  I was a slow reader and didn’t progress very quickly, but I had common sense and soon learned that I could cheat. If I looked at the question page first, I could scan the books and find the answers to the questions instead of reading every word on every page. I never read a whole book again. I have always appreciated method and approach over intelligence.  I think we don’t need to be clever but we need to find smart and efficient ways to work to achieve our goals.

I still cannot spell and am terrible at maths. I am a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Rhodes University now and on a daily basis I have to explain to students when I write on the white board that I simply cannot spell and they will have to tell me when I make typos or spelling errors.

I emigrated from Ireland to South Africa in 2010. But being an emigrant is difficult. I have a brilliant family – people who I genuinely like not just love and I miss them all the time.  I am very lucky to have fantastic nieces and nephews and grand niece –  I have gotten to share in the lives of eleven amazing young people and watch them grow. I now live back in Ireland with my amazing little girl and my partner who have both taught me so much about how to live bravely and love wildly.

I am hyperactive and giddy and love to play and be creative. But I also like quiet and my own space and am sarcastic and critical.  I have a dark sense of humour. I have lots of self doubts but I try to be brave and seldom let doubt or fear stop me doing anything. I am never certain of anything and am always asking questions and wondering…oh and my name is Trudy Meehan.

Me on a good day – scrubbed up for a wedding

My dog Sidney and I – how I look most days