"Let's exchange the experience"

I just really love the song 'Wuthering Heights' by Kate Bush, so much so that I have dancing Kates tattooed onto my left arm. My 50th birthday was a celebration that featured people dressing up as Kate, a Kate birthday cake, and even a game of 'pin-the-bush-on-Kate'! 

Kate wrote the song in 1978 when she was just 19. NINETEEN! What were you doing when you were 19? When I was 19, I can promise you, I wasn't writing iconic songs that have stood the test of time. 

For the last ten years, around Kate's birthday (31st of July), people all over the world gather in their communities for Wuthering Heights Day, dressed up and recreating that iconic dance. It's a day that showcases not only creativity and empathy but also a shared love for this timeless song. 

One of my favourite parts wasn't even the dancing; it was simply watching all the Kates arrive. Every possible interpretation of Kate—sporty, sparkly, Scottish, Goth, rainbow, little, and even canine—came from near and far with no judgment about how you 'Kated up'. Just "HI KATE!!!!" 

It didn't matter who you were before you arrived. For a while, we were all Kate. 

I should also confess that I am absolutely not a dancer. I have not perfected the dance. In fact, I've largely come to accept that coordination and I must respect each other from a distance. 

But I adore the song in all its whimsical perfection. I also cherish the fact that hundreds of people (670 on Saturday in Sydney) choose to come together every year to celebrate it. Not because anyone is trying to get the dance exactly right, but simply because, for a little while, it's fun to be part of something wonderfully, unapologetically joyful. 

Then came the moment we had all been waiting for. One by one, the crowd of Kates (what is the collective noun of Kates? A Bush?) grew until, almost without noticing, we'd reached what can only be described as 'Critical Kateage'—that's 670 people making a deal with God! Suddenly, there wasn't just a handful of people in red dresses. There were hundreds. And together, as one gloriously chaotic Bush of Kates, we danced. 

For the people watching. 

For each other. 

For the sheer joy of it. 

When the music finished, we ran up that hill for the usual group photo, singing and dancing along to that iconic song. 

Then, just as Kate fades away into the misty moors, people gradually drifted out of the park. One Kate here, a small group there. Until the park was left waiting for next year's Kate am-bush. 

As I walked away, I found myself wondering how many people had arrived alone. Loneliness sometimes doesn't always look like being alone. Sometimes it quietly settles into spaces between busy lives, changing friendships, loss, distance, or simply feeling like you don't quite fit. 

On Saturday, none of that seemed to matter. For a few hours, nobody was a stranger. Nobody cared whether you had the perfect dress or knew every step of the dance. You just had to love the song. 

Perhaps that's one of the quiet antidotes to loneliness—no fitting in, but belonging. 

It also made me think about Kate herself. She was 19 when she wrote 'Wuthering Heights'. 

I wonder whether she could ever have imagined that, nearly fifty years later, hundreds of strangers in parks all over the world would gather each year because of a song she wrote as a teenager. That is one extraordinary ripple effect. 

I hope she knows. 

I hope, somehow, she sees the joy her music continues to create. 

Because on Saturday in one park alone, 670 people laughed, danced, sang, belonged, and for a little while, forgot whatever else they carried with them that morning. 

Not many of us will write an iconic song. 

But perhaps all of us have the capacity to leave ripples that travel much further than we will ever know. 

I hope Kate knows where her notes have landed. 

Until next time...

Last weekend, I joined around 670 people in a Sydney park, all dressed as Kate Bush, dancing to Wuthering Heights. It was joyful, slightly chaotic, and unapologetically whimsical. Afterward, I realized I wasn't just reflecting on Wuthering Heights; I found myself thinking about another inspiring Kate Bush song. Kate has said that Running Up That Hill is about two people exchanging places to truly understand each other's perspective. That struck me because there was something beautifully circular about the whole day. Wuthering Heights Day celebrates stepping into Kate Bush's creative world, while Running Up That Hill is about delving into someone else's emotional realm. Much of my work centers on helping people step into the perspective of those living with dementia. Different settings, yet both present the same invitation: to cultivate curiosity, suspend judgment, and see the world through another person's eyes. Empathy is not just a feeling; it’s a practice. Sometimes it begins with being willing to exchange our own perspective for someone else's. It leaves me wondering: how many misunderstandings could be softened if we embraced empathy and exchanged perspectives before sharing our opinions?