Gloriously Ordinary Sundays - 15th February 2026
I ran a lovely little Glorious Ordinary Lives session this week with a group of friends and colleagues from Social Care Future, and we had a bit of a moment. We were having a conversation about how it’s impossible to disagree with the Social Care Future Vision. Find me the person who disagrees with the idea of living in the place we call home with the people and things that we love. But I know people sometimes struggle with the idea of gloriously ordinary, and I always think it’s because I haven’t explained it properly.
Gloriously is the word that some people struggle with, and I get it, but I do love the word. Synonyms for gloriously are,
Brilliantly
Beautifully
Magnificently
‘If it is beautiful, amazing, fantastic and awe-inspiring, it's glorious’
A gloriously sunny day.
A glorious bluebell wood.
A glorious laugh.
The idea of ordinary to me is so vital. Ordinary doesn’t mean boring or less than; it means the beautiful rhythm of life.
The dictionary says that ordinary means, ‘Not different or special or unexpected in any way’. Routine. Usual. ‘Ordinary people like you or me’
Ordinary does mean there will be days we fight with our partner, with our kids. When we fall out with our friends, when we mess up at work, when we feel we’re a bit shit, when it seems like today nothing good is going to happen ever again. Ordinary does even mean really horrible things happening …because they sometimes do; that’s life.
Ordinary also means a perfect day with a bunch of friends, it means your cat sleeping on your head, a sunny winter swim in the lake and an hour in bed on a Sunday morning with a great book (yes, those are my heart sings … you reflect on yours).
Gloriously Ordinary is those two sets of things together… life being not different or special … but different or special in an amazingly, fantastical way. It’s not about life itself always being glorious, but about the expectation (and reality) that my life can be as perfectly imperfect as the next person’s.
Gloriously Ordinary is Ciaran being welcomed and included at his local school, his 14-year-old friend Ashleigh reminding a room of adults in his Year 9 review that being a bit noisy in lessons and not always sitting down is not a problem for the other kids. It’s him being able to complete his bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award overnight trip because his friend Luke came up with the genius solution of putting his phone in a sealed envelope so they knew they had backup if there was a problem (vulnerable young person!), but they could also demonstrate that they hadn’t needed to use it (oh and it’s the near miss with the camping stove!).
Gloriously Ordinary is Mum continuing to go to church, driven there and supported by other members of the congregation, even when she often asked them who they were and where they were going.
Gloriously Ordinary was my amazing GP, facilitating my decision not to get support from secondary mental health services. It was her understanding how devastating a decision to detain me under the Mental Health Act could be when the kids were still living at home, and Mum was alive, and planning with my family and friends exactly what we were going to do to make sure that didn’t happen. It’s my friends taking me dancing and not minding that I cried.
NOT Gloriously Ordinary is starting from,
‘Do we have a service for that?’
‘Is that possible?’
‘I’m sorry that’s not what we do’
May your week be both glorious and ordinary … and Gloriously Ordinary.
PS. Did you see? The Gloriously Ordinary Sundays Podcast episode 14 is here. You'll hear that I am absolutely thrilled to introduce you all to the lovely Marianne Selby-Boothroyd, who's joining the Gloriously Ordinary Lives team... that's right, the Gloriously Ordinary Lives team! How exciting is that? Have a listen, and we'd love to hear what you think!