I often believe that people who suffer with mental health problems get a raw deal. They are considered sad individuals who can barely crack a smile. That they aren’t able to feel happiness or joy. This is untrue. I can feel great happiness and joy. I can feel the excited happiness that comes when you dance around the room to your favourite song. The happiness that comes from chatting with your best friends. I know the contented happiness that comes…
My favourite song is by Sarah McLachlan and is called Full of Grace. It is a beautiful and heart-wrenching song, about the break down of a relationship. But I’ve always believed that the words work equally well in describing how it can feel to be depressed. And one line in that song has always stood out to me. A line that conveys my feelings of self-loathing. “It’s just that we stayed too long In the same old sickly skin.”…
Trigger Warning: If you suffer from depression or anxiety then you may find this post, about my current depression and anxiety relapse, triggering. “I am not a stranger to the dark Hide away, they say ‘Cause we don’t want your broken parts I’ve learned to be ashamed of all my scars Run away, they say No one’ll love you as you are But I won’t let them break me down to dust I know that there’s a place for us…
I recently wrote a post about why I’m passionate about our children developing emotional intelligence. I believe it’s crucial for them to understand their emotions and know how to deal with them correctly. To help us on this journey to developing Little Mister H and Little Miss H’s emotional intelligence I will be working with Skylark Learning. And we will be using their My First Emotions Box to help Little Miss and Little Mister become emotionally intelligent. As part of…
As a society, we value intelligence. And once our children start school we want them to do well academically. We help them learn to read and we show them how to write their name. Evenings are spent practising spellings and times tables. Yet we rarely teach our children about emotional intelligence. From an early age, we shhh them when they cry. We tell our children to be quiet when they’re angry. And we often use negative language to describe their emotions. They’re…
Trigger warning: Baby loss. The post “I Was Hoping – Reacting To Our Fourth Miscarriage” is about baby loss and miscarriage and you may find it upsetting if you have any personal experience of these subjects. I Was Hoping – Reacting To Our Fourth Miscarriage I was hoping that this time would be different. I was hoping that we wouldn’t have to hear the words: “I’m sorry, but it doesn’t look good”. I was hoping that the fact I was fitter…
Self-harm still feels like a very taboo subject to talk about. I've always been open in this blog. I have written posts about my history of long-term depression, miscarriages and even my suicide attempts. But somehow talking about my personal experiences of self-harm seems more difficult. Even now, as I write this I wonder what you are all thinking.…