Get happy

As for her personal best day, Halpern is much more of a traditionalist than me. "My wedding day! I was always one of those girls who dreamed of getting married. I fantasised constantly about who he was, what I'd wear, what song I'd walk down the aisle to. There's a line in this book, The Book of Ruth, where she says 'a wedding has nothing to do with real life'. That was the way my wedding was going to be. My dress was a white, poufy, silk, charmeuse, strapless gown that had hand-painted flowers and leaves all over it in shades of grey. It was stunning. I had nine bridesmaids and I didn't care if it took them until the next day to get down the aisle!"

Not all are so conventional when picking their best day. Psychic and journalist Rebecca Dettman, whose website PsychedInStilettos.com offers psychic services for the urban girl, says she has had many top days. "But mine are all linked with a common theme - they're the days when I really broke out of my comfort zone and did something extraordinary. Like the day I walked into a 40-storey skyscraper in New York with my resume under my arm and felt like I was going to throw up from pure nerves and adrenaline! Still, the sense of satisfaction that still reverberates from that experience to this day, six years later, is priceless.

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"'Jumping off a cliff' was also how I began my early career in magazines. I flew to Sydney [from Adelaide], marched into a magazine office unannounced, requested a meeting with the editor, and basically sold myself in a 10-minute spiel. Of course, I was zinging with adrenaline throughout, and the days and weeks afterwards were like torture as I waited for an answer. But the end result was stellar - I ended up working at that magazine for three years."

Fashion designer Sonia Fedele, who's behind the Aliirt label, says throwing caution to the wind also marked her best day - though in a different way. "One of the best days of my life was when I got up the courage to pack up and move to England for work and to travel. What I treasure most is the moment at the airport the day I was leaving. I definitely didn't think I'd get homesick or realise how much my family would miss me until the moment we were saying goodbye. We all had tears streaming down our faces. While we are a close family, we don't usually have these corny displays of affection and I'll never forget the love I saw in their eyes at that moment."

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