Mental health affects every aspect of our lives, and as Shannon Purser once said, “It’s not just this neat little issue you can put into a box.” Although, for a really long time I tried my best to do just that. Because I’ve always been more comfortable pretending I am totally fine than admitting when I haven’t been.
Writing pieces about my own mental health struggles, and mental health in general, has helped me to work towards destigmatizing and normalizing that conversation for myself. I’ve become more comfortable with this sometimes uncomfortable topic. Learning that it is okay, to say when I am not okay. It is okay to make the invisible, visible.
Social Media: It feels like connection. However something also feels really off
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 …
Journaling For Better Mental Health
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 …
It’s Okay To Not Be Okay
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 …
Saying No to Social Engagements is Totally Okay
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 …
Learning to Like Imperfectly Perfect Me
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 …
Speaking openly about my suicidal thoughts
I don’t think anyone that knows me would consider me a depressive person or someone who has struggled at times with depression. Generally I try to emit a happy persona. But I mask what’s sometimes under the surface of it all. In truth, I’ve battled the deepest darkness, and occasionally …
Embarrassed about my mental health, why do I feel ashamed?
My mental health problems have been with me since I was a teenager, but I’ve mostly lived with them as a secret companion. Despite being diagnosed with depression in my late teens, having struggled with anxiety and negative thoughts as I’ve grown older, plus joyous recurrent bouts of depression. I …
Phone scrolling before bed. It feels like self-harm for my mind, so why do I do it?
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 …
When University isn’t living your best life
University is THE place to make lifelong friends, live your best life and create memories that last a lifetime. When I got my place at Nottingham Trent University 18 years ago, that was the dream. Well it was definitely the image I had in my head, the ‘real’ start of …
No-one tells you how you are going to feel and how to grieve
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 …
I’m overwhelmed from constantly being overwhelmed
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 …
Coping Strategies For Anxiety – How I handle anxiety day to day
This is a guest blog by Lucy Chamberlain: Many people dismiss anxiety or just don't understand it, so it gets shrugged off as unimportant. But it's something many people live with and we should not feel compelled to hide it or pretend it doesn't happen. No one should suffer in …
What did Depression feel like for me? Trust me, You really don’t want to find out
When I was 19, I was diagnosed with depression. At the time I didn’t know much about mental illness. It wasn’t something I’d heard people speak about and I didn’t know anyone who’d had depression. And even now at 37 I’ve rarely shared what I went through with anyone other …
Living with anxiety and its myriad of offshoots
This is a guest blog by Lucy Chamberlain: I was once having a coffee in a cafe before work and I suddenly became hot and scared. I felt extremely on edge and self-conscious. Shaking and couldn't move from my seat. Panic stricken. I wanted to reach out to the cafe …
Are you Experiencing Seasonal Depression? Or Are We Facing A Mental Health Pandemic, Post Covid-Pandemic?
I’ve balanced varying degrees of depression throughout my life, the worst being in my late teens where it lead to a drop out of University. But throughout these past two years, I’ve swayed back and forth between thinking I was doing okay (I mean, I wasn’t. But I was clinging …
Don’t Be Fooled By Social Media. Not Everyone is Living Their Best Life
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 …
The JFDI Strategy
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 …
