Happiness & 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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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? …

After a two year hiatus from overseas travel – cheers Covid – last March I went to the iconic city of Paris. A place known for its great wine, even better cheese, bohemian ambience, historic monuments. And also, the home of the Mona Lisa.  It’s top of the list for …

I used to see myself as all my shortcomings and held my many flaws against myself. I saw imperfection when I turned within. The inadequacies were all I focused on. We’re taught that we have to be perfect from a young age. Our minds, bodies, lifestyle, everything about us should …

I’d always hoped intuition would kick in with age with a resolute answer to this question, but I feel more confused than ever about whether or not I want to have children. If you’d asked me a few years back at 35, I’d have responded with a confident, ‘No’. It …

The amount of times I’ve thought to myself at work, ‘How have you got here?’. Followed by, ‘At what point will someone realize I shouldn’t be?’. If you’ve ever felt the same, welcome to imposter syndrome. A self-deflating little bugger of a mindset that makes you think you’ve somehow fooled …

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the power of our words. Like how the negative ones can have a harmful effect, if someone said, ‘I hate you’ or ‘you are stupid’, that hurts. But the positive ones, well I think those guys do something really quite special. They can …

Last week I was defeated by a rogue non-Covid flu type thing. I didn’t look like shit, but I felt like a truck load of shit had been thrown at my poor broken body. I phoned my Mum the night before on the way home from work, and said I …

Shopping stimulates a rush of happiness and dopamine, which can create an addictive habit. Maybe it was the buzz of the purchase, looking forward to that shiny new thing arriving, or the satisfaction of a good shopping spree. Whatever my reasons, that moment of buying stuff felt really good. Unfortunately …

I’ve always had a complicated relationship with my phone. Many a night I’ve spent hours watching videos, reels, scrolling through feeds, reading comments on social media, and googling apparent need to know there and then answers. I kid myself that I have a healthy relationship with this little piece of …

Recently I read a fantastic article from Annie Mac on the ‘insidious nature of WhatsApp’ as she describes it, and how it’s likely the cause of her feelings of disconnection from her friends and family. She wrote, “In that creeping, insidious way that tech has of influencing our behaviour, WhatsApp …

It’s nearly New Year, that time where everybody posts about all the awesome things they did in 2022. The social media ‘my year’ summaries are both great (because genuinely it’s pretty cool to see people had such a great year and accomplished their goals or did amazing things). But it …

I’ve been an optimist my entire life, but in all honesty this hasn’t always served me positively. Whilst there were so many situations where a positive mindset was a powerful tool – especially when it came to an optimistic view of the future and expecting or trying to find the …

This is a guest blog by Lindsay Thornton: No sounds like the easiest word to say doesn’t it? But studies have found that a high amount of people really struggle with the thought of saying, "No". Especially to a loved one or in a work environment. But I have to wonder, are …

. Ever struggled to find the right balance between wanting to do a good job and knowing when to say you can’t take on anymore because you don’t want your commitment to doing a good job leading to 50+ hour weeks? I feel you. Pre-Pandemic, my career dominated my life. …

Over the past few months, steadily my motivation has been dwindling. It’s been harder to get on with tasks at home. A slog to get myself out for a morning run. The dog walk has felt like an arduous chore, rather than the enjoyable thing it used to be. Motivation …

This is a guest blog by Lindsay Thornton: Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve felt on top of the world and full of positivity and then suddenly, BANG! You’ve come crashing back down to earth because those around you have radiated so much negativity that it’s left …

This is a guest blog by Lindsay Thornton: Have you ever been asked, “Now you’re married, when is the baby coming?” Or, “You’ve got one baby, when are you having another?” How about, “You’ve been dating for years now, when are you settling down and going to get married?” Or, …

Here’s a big truth about single life. On some days, I feel lonely. I’ve often written about how wonderful single life is and for the most part it really is, for so many reasons. But feeling lonely sometimes utterly sucks. I hate to admit sometimes feeling this way, because people …

This is a guest blog by Lindsay Thornton: It’s hard to avoid the current media storm around the return of the highly anticipated hit TV show Sex & The City. As they return to our screens for their brand new chapter, “And Just like that”….. the show, like in the …

Social Media. An endless stream of happy smiling faces. Wealth and success. Picture perfect moments. Awe inspiring lives. Envy inducing lifestyles. That social media world looks pretty darn fabulous. And of course it would, because it’s not real life. This is a reminder to myself, to you reading, and for …

Rest and relaxation. Sounds lovely doesn’t it? That idea of just chilling out, no plans, nothing to do. Long dreamy moments to align and reflect. However I've always struggled to put rest and relaxation into practise. This is the era of busyness culture after all; where a busy life equates …

This is a guest blog by Lisa Holmes: Chances are, if you are reading this you could be in your 30’s and thinking, “No, I've never thought about the menopause.” I hadn’t either. Before all of this I had never even heard of the term peri-menopause. Until I was in …

This is a guest blog by Lucy Chamberlain: The last few years I've really been analysing the way I have parented. Parenting is judged from all angles and most critically by ourselves. But today I had an epiphany about my parenting ways; Hindsight is a wonderful and entirely useless thing …

I feel like I’m overwhelmed constantly with, well just life really. I didn’t used to be this way. But things that didn’t used to feel like a lot feel like so much now. Like days when there are multiple what’s app threads to respond too and my brain just cannot …

Recently I was driving to the South West of England alone, when two men in a van began honking, waving and generally trying to distract me along the motorway. They were smiling and laughing as they mirrored my speed. Maybe to them this was a joke or a bit of …

This is a guest blog by Lisa Holmes: I don't believe in stages of grief, like a run of a ladder. For me grief has been every feeling and emotion weaving its way in and out, like a squiggly drawing or a knotty piece of string. When I think one …

For the last 10 months I’ve been trying to show myself a little more love by working on some serious (-ly lacking) boundaries, prioritizing self-care and pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Part of that journey has been getting really comfortable spending some alone with myself. So far I’ve …