the good, the bad and the ugly of life with mental illness
I really don’t know why but this blog has taken a while for me to get to. I think because I am always trying to find ways to help other people when they are struggling, but rarely ever take time to think about what works for myself. It’s also because I don’t want to fully... Continue Reading →
Welcome to my StoryCamp blog number 1!! For those of you who don't know, StoryCamp is an initiative by Time to Change where you improve your writing skills and follow prompts to help spread awareness around topics all to do with mental health! Our first writing prompt was 'Why I believe it's important to talk... Continue Reading →
If you have lived in this world the past month or so, you will know that it is a pretty crazy place to be. Living in the U.K. we have been in “lockdown” for almost four weeks at this point and it has definitely been a situation I never really thought would happen. In this... Continue Reading →
So today is Time to Talk Day. This day is a national event held by Time to Change which is an organisation that works to stop the stigma that surrounds mental illness. I am a champion for Time to Change which means that I am someone with lived experience who works at different events to... Continue Reading →
So growing up I guess I would have been considered a "yesman". You asked me to do/ help with something, I would say yes and not even give it a second thought. This was okay when I was younger but as I grew up I realised what a toxic trait that this could be. But... Continue Reading →
So if you meet me in person, I am a pretty confident person. I will talk to pretty much anyone and really do enjoy having conversations with different people from different backgrounds. And if you're my mate then you will probably think I'm crazy and talk way too much! However, even though I am confident... Continue Reading →
Christmas- the most wonderful time of the year. But that doesn't mean that mental illness is just put on pause for the festive season. In fact, for many people with mental illness, Christmas can bring around extra pressures, making it a very hard time of the year. In this blog I hope to explain my... Continue Reading →
I used to hate reading- I just didn't have the attention span for it and just couldn't concentrate on it. However, when I was stuck at home, I tried reading to give me something to do. It was a bit of hard work at first but now I absolutely love it!! I try to read... Continue Reading →
If you've read any of my previous posts then you will know that I'm 19 and looking for work as well as working on my mental health... it's not easy!! However, I have managed to get a few interviews and although unsuccessful, on the whole they have been pretty helpful and the companies have said... Continue Reading →
So I've been out of work for a little while. With being 19 and being in education for pretty much all my life, it's fair to say that finding a job is difficult. I've been looking for jobs I actually would enjoy and find rewarding, but also would be suitable hours for a starting job... Continue Reading →
When I was younger, I had a large amount of bereavement at quite a young age. Each year from when I was aged 11-14, I had a family member pass away (one a year for four years). This really has affected me greatly in the years following and I would love to help others with... Continue Reading →
As I am soon to start my third course of therapy, I want to discuss what the experience of therapy is really like (I will give you a hint- you don't lie down in a chair with a doctor asking you lots of questions). Is it easy? Definitely not! Like anything involved with mental illness... Continue Reading →
Social media is a very popular subject with the media. Headlines are constantly saying how detrimental social media is to our health and well being and how our generation is ruining the platforms (as we are meant to be ruining everything). But is social media really as bad as everyone makes out? In this blog... Continue Reading →
Although my anxiety can get bad, there are things that help to take the edge of and help me chill out. In this blog I hope to describe these things and explain why each of these is so helpful to me. 1. Family I am very lucky to have extremely supportive parents. They have helped... Continue Reading →
School days are meant to be the "best days of your life"..... bulls**t! School for me was one of the most toxic environments I have ever experienced, and it is only from taking a break from education that I realize what a harmful environment it was. For me, I was one of these people that... Continue Reading →
On A-level results day I was so so nervous about my results. I had missed a significant amount of the last year due to my mental illness and did not in the slightest feel prepared for my exams. But to my (and everyone else's) surprise, I achieved ABB in biology, chemistry and physics respectfully. I... Continue Reading →
As I mentioned in a previous blog, a major part of my anxiety is a phobia. My phobia probably sounds weird to a lot of people but I have a phobia of throwing up. The official term for this is emetophobia with emet coming from the Greek (I think?) for vomiting. In this blog I... Continue Reading →
I'm 18 years old. I have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression and PTSD. The world around me suggests that my illness is something that I should be ashamed of- but I'm not. My mental illness does definitely have the ability to control me but it does not stop me from being a normal person underneath... Continue Reading →
So. Anxiety. Yeah that's a thing. Anxiety is as you probably know, a mental illness that can manifest itself in many different ways. In this post I want to highlight what having anxiety is actually like- social media and just a general lack of talking about the subject can give people many wrong misconceptions about... Continue Reading →
With yet another UK lockdown underway, mental health has understandably become a huge topic of conversation. People are repetitively referring to the ‘mental health crisis’ that is going on, especially in regards to young people with the continuous changes to their education. However, a mental health crisis has been going on for years, people have... Continue Reading →
We have officially been given our second prompt for story camp (WOOP WOOP!!). This theme is "3 things... ". The aim of this theme is to provide information about mental health with brevity about it to ensure that people are not overloaded with information which may be overwhelming. There's one problem- I am absolutely awful... Continue Reading →
Thursday 6th February marked national Time to Talk day which I explained in more detail in my previous blog. Our Time to Change Southampton and Portsmouth Hub had quite a big presence across both cities. I volunteered to help in Southampton, which happened to be my first time engaging with the general public as a... Continue Reading →
my life with mental illness 