I’m just going to come out and say it. Writer’s block can be a b*tch. Whenever I want to write, for my blog or working on my novel, I hit a wall. It’s even worse when I need to write, for an article or blog at work, that’s when I hit a wall. Full throttle. […]
The Toxic Relationship Stereotype to Avoid
There seems to be a toxic relationship trope in romantic fiction or comedies. A theme that I find incredibly problematic. It goes like this. A group of friends sit around and talk about ‘training’ their partners. They talk about improving the way they dress, dropping their bad habits or getting them to help around the […]
If Tomorrow Never Comes…
Last week I went for a walk in the park. Whilst not groundbreaking news it’s the sort of thing I always intend to do. Intention whilst an incredibly powerful thing – we talk a lot about doing things intentionally – it only works when there is follow through. When we moved to our new home […]
Depression Daze #5: Guess Whose Back?
Sometimes you’re back and I fear that you won’t go away. That you’re here to stay indefinitely. Looming over me. Conspicuous in your presence. Always lingering in the background. An unwanted guest. An insidious presence. Some perceive you as a black cloud or even a black dog. Clouds blow away in a gust of wind. […]
Every Mind Matters. This is Life.
It’s amazing to see so many people speaking out about mental health and mental illness. I’m all for people jumping on the bandwagon. As long as they stay on the bandwagon and keep riding it. You’re impact is going to be limited if you jump on and off every so often. We definitely need more […]
Why Happiness is an Inside Job
Recently I’ve noticed a few books on the market called ‘happiness is an inside job’. And I knew instantly that this was a topic I had to write about. Something in my head clicked. I wanted to speak about this, I knew I had something to say. I just had to work out what it […]
Road to Recovery: Understanding My Anxiety
Since before I was diagnosed with anxiety I could never put my finger on the cause. There seemed to be no underlying uniting factor that applied to almost all situations. My anxiety didn’t seem to have a running them for when or why it happened. Sometimes it happened at home. Sometimes when I was away. […]
What Can We Do About Suicide?
Suicide Prevention Day happens every year. And it’s importance can’t be overestimated. The Office of National Statistics suicide figures show that the number of suicides in the UK are at their highest since 2002. For young people’s (aged 10 – 24) numbers are at their highest for 19 years and for young women it’s reached […]
The 11 Tips You Need for Effective Listening
Listening is a skill most of us, if not all of us, think we posses. Most people with customer-facing roles or caring roles are trained to listen. We grow up being told to listen to instructions or to pay attention. But how well do we honestly do this? One time running a non-judgemental listening activity […]
Best Practise for Supporting Someone in Distress
Is supporting someone something that happens often? Many of us may wish to support someone in distress. But fear that we do not have the skills to do so. Our main fear may be that we could make the problem worse. But as a society we so often underestimate how much is needed to provide […]