Amy Roullier is The Authentic Optimist. Part time writer, full time pro at oversharing. With a no BS approach to conversations around single life, mental health and wellbeing
We all need connection. We want to be included, to be liked, to feel part of a community, connected with others, validated in our actions, life choices and who we are. But in this day and age of social media and the internet, are we really achieving that connection in the way we hoped for? I’ve been wondering this a lot lately. If you’ve read any of my other blogs, …
You might be contacting because you seek forgiveness. You might be contacting because you want to test the waters as to whether I would consider forgiving you enough, to take you back. However I am empowered by the act of no action. The ability to let you pass on by without any need to see what you want this time. There is no need for regret. As I feel only …
Is cooking for one worth it? Absolutely. Although I definitely didn’t feel this way a couple of years back. As someone who lives alone, I was one of those people who hated cooking and to be honest, didn’t think it was worth all the effort of laying out the cutlery, spending half an hour whipping up an exciting meal, and then tackling all the washing up, just for little old …
I know body acceptance is a thing. That I should love my body for all that it is, and not over-ride how I look now with how I hope to look one day. But that shit is hard. A few years ago, I became very aware that this vessel has to get me through another forty plus years. I hadn’t treated it that well up to that point. So I started …
Is journaling good for wellbeing? I had not anticipated how valuable journaling would become to me. How this place for me to write my deepest thoughts and feelings, to explore my emotions and figure out a bit better, who I am. Would improve my mental health, increase my self-awareness, help me to move on from past trauma and make sense of experiences. Journaling became my form of self-therapy. A meaningful way to process. And I’ll be forever grateful that I chose to start doing it once again.
Are you putting your partner and your relationship, ahead of you?. I used to be that person who put my partner on a pedestal. Prioritized my relationship above all other things. Their interests, hobbies, their wants and needs consistently came before my own. Basically, I regularly backbenched myself. Why? Because that’s the way I thought I was supposed to do it. How did it make me feel though, truthfully? Completely …
Pre pandemic, if someone had suggested a 100% stay at home role I would have firmly declined. I used to work four days a week traveling across the country meeting customers within a highly sociable role. I loved being out and about. And as a singleton living alone, socializing and making contact with new people was a great thing. However, when Covid struck the world, like many peoples, my role became …
Every aspect of life is impacted by mental health. Which makes it a bit silly when I think back on how uncomfortable I’ve felt admitting that mentally, I’ve experienced peaks and troughs. When pretty much every element of life impacts our emotions, feelings and state of mind. So here’s my admission. Throughout moments, phases, weeks and entire years of my life, I have not been okay It’s taken a really …
I don’t know about you, but for the last few years I’ve found too much going on in my social calendar to feel really heavy. Stressful, even. I didn’t practise healthy social organisation skills, said Yes to pretty much anything and started to feel quite overwhelmed. Sure, there are worse problems to have. Having too many possible social engagements is in a lot of ways, a lovely problem. But the …
It sucks to even say that we might need to make more friends as an adult, doesn’t it? Somehow it emits a ‘desperate’ kind of vibe if we acknowledge that our friendship community might need a little growth plan. And surely we should have accumulated more friends as we’ve aged? That pool of buddies shouldn’t be dwindling. Then there’s the whole figuring out how to do it, and the social …
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