Healing and Self-Care

There is a strange kind of loneliness that appears when you can hear other people having fun. Bonfire Night is a perfect example. You can be perfectly content sitting at home until the first fireworks start outside. Suddenly you're imagining families wrapped in scarves watching displays together, couples standing beside bonfires and groups of friends drinking something warm while you're sitting on the sofa wondering why nobody asked what you were doing. Then Christmas arrives

Apparently Christmas is the season of giving. Unfortunately, some people interpret this as giving away your money, time, spare bedroom, emotional energy and every free weekend between November and January. Christmas has a strange way of making perfectly reasonable boundaries suddenly feel selfish. You don't want to attend something? "But it's Christmas!", You don't want someone staying for five nights? "But they're family!", You don't want to spend £100 on presents? "Don't be

Christmas comes with an unusual amount of emotional pressure. You aren't simply expected to celebrate it, you're expected to love it. You should be excited, grateful, festive. Surrounded by people you adore while wearing an excellent Christmas jumper and somehow serving twelve perfectly cooked vegetables simultaneously. And if you aren't feeling particularly merry? That can feel like another thing you're getting wrong. The reality is that Christmas anxiety can affect people f

Summer ends and something feels different. The evenings suddenly seem darker, mornings become colder, and the freedom that comes with long summer days begins to disappear. Perhaps you're sleeping differently; maybe you feel less motivated to leave the house, or you might notice yourself worrying more, feeling restless, or simply feeling slightly unlike yourself without being able to explain why. If you've found yourself wondering, "Why does my anxiety get worse in autumn?", y

Trying to understand what affects you can be useful. Trying to understand what affected you, why it affected you, what it means, whether it will happen again and what that person really meant when they said "fine" at 2.17pm can become something else entirely. If you want to track emotional triggers, there is an important balance to find. You want enough information to notice patterns without turning every uncomfortable feeling into an investigation. A journal can help because

Have you ever had the feeling that something keeps happening, but you cannot quite work out what connects it all? Perhaps some days feel noticeably harder than others. Maybe certain situations leave you drained, irritated or overwhelmed. You might notice that your mood changes without being able to immediately explain why. This is where using a mental health journal to spot patterns can be particularly useful. Rather than relying entirely on memory, journaling gives you somew

When something keeps happening with your mental health, it's completely natural to want to know why. Why do I feel worse on some days than others? Why was I absolutely fine in that situation last week, but completely overwhelmed by it today? Why does my brain apparently decide that 11:47 pm is the ideal time to revisit an embarrassing conversation from 2014? And perhaps the biggest question of all: What is actually causing this? It's one of the reasons people start looking fo

When people think about fresh starts, they usually think about New Year's Day. New goals. New routines. New habits. But for many people, September feels like an even more natural time to reset. There is something about the beginning of autumn that encourages us to organise our lives, clear our minds, and start again. Whether you are returning to school, sending children back into education, beginning a new job, or simply noticing the change in season, September often feels fu

Starting university is often described as one of the most exciting chapters of your life. You are told it will be full of new friendships, independence, unforgettable experiences, and opportunities to discover who you really are. While all of those things can certainly be true, they only tell part of the story. For many students, the reality is much more complicated. Moving away from home, meeting hundreds of new people, managing your own finances, navigating unfamiliar surro

Have you ever noticed that your mood seems to change with the seasons? Perhaps you feel motivated and energised during spring, more relaxed in summer, unsettled in autumn, or completely drained during the darker winter months. If so, you are certainly not imagining it. Our brains and bodies are constantly responding to the environment around us. Changes in daylight, temperature, routine, sleep, and even the amount of time we spend outdoors can all influence how we think, feel

Most people think anxiety starts with worrying. Worrying about the future. Worrying about what might happen. Worrying about things going wrong. But for many people, anxiety begins somewhere else entirely. It begins with trying to keep everyone happy, not to upset or disappoint anyone. Even when it comes at the expense of your own wellbeing. Over time, this becomes exhausting, and eventually, many people find themselves overwhelmed, anxious, resentful, and wondering why they f

One of the most confusing things about anxiety is how lonely it can feel. Not necessarily because you are physically alone. In fact, many people experience anxiety while surrounded by friends, family, colleagues, or even hundreds of people and yet despite all that company, they still feel disconnected. Separate. Different. As though nobody truly understands what is happening inside their mind. Anxiety and loneliness are closely connected, and understanding that connection can

Have you ever felt the need to double-check that the door is locked or wash your hands repeatedly until they feel just right? While these behaviours may seem like a normal part of everyday life for some, for others, they can be debilitating symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCD). I'll be exploring the truth behind OCD, debunking myths and shedding light on the reality of living with this condition, as I do every day. From understanding the signs and sympt

You know that feeling when someone asks how you are, and your answer is simply: "Fine." Even though you are definitely not fine. Maybe you feel stressed, overwhelmed, frustrated, anxious, exhausted, disappointed, or a strange mixture of all of them. But when asked to explain how you feel, the words never quite come. For many people, emotions are surprisingly difficult to identify. We know when something feels wrong. We know when we are struggling. But understanding exactly wh

When you have been living with anxiety for a long time, calm can feel strangely unfamiliar, alien even. In some cases it might even make you anxious...bizarre I know. Not because you do not want it, but because your body has spent so long operating in survival mode that slowing down can almost feel uncomfortable at first. Many people imagine healing as a dramatic transformation where anxiety disappears completely overnight. But in reality, recovery is often slower than that.

If you struggle with anxiety, chances are you have spent a lot of your life worrying about other people's feelings. You might replay conversations, avoid conflict, or say yes when you want to say no. You take responsibility for problems that were never yours to solve and you worry about disappointing people, upsetting people, or being perceived as selfish. Over time, this creates a heavy mental overload. Your mind becomes crowded with other people's expectations, emotions, a

There are moments when anxiety feels less like a thought and more like a full body experience. Your chest feels tight. Your breathing changes. Your body feels tense, restless, or overstimulated. Even when you try to relax, it can feel like your system refuses to settle. This is often a sign that your nervous system is overwhelmed. A lot of people think anxiety exists only in the mind, but anxiety is deeply physical too. Your nervous system controls how your body responds to s

One of the hardest parts of anxiety is not always the anxiety itself; it is the feeling that nobody else understands it, understands you. You can be surrounded by people and still feel completely alone in what you are experiencing. You may smile, go to work, reply to messages, and carry on as normal while internally feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, or mentally consumed. And because anxiety is often invisible, many people assume they are the only ones struggling this way. But t

One of the most unsettling things about anxiety is how physical it can feel. People often expect anxiety to stay in the mind, but for many, the body is where it becomes impossible to ignore. Your chest feels tight. Your stomach feels unsettled. Your muscles ache with tension. Your heart suddenly becomes something you are constantly aware of. And after a while, you stop trusting your body. Instead of feeling like somewhere safe to exist, your body begins to feel unpredictable,

Anxiety can make life feel smaller and tougher. Things that once felt manageable suddenly feel difficult. Decisions become harder, your thoughts become louder, and even simple tasks can start to feel overwhelming. When anxiety builds over time, many people reach a point where they feel completely stuck. Not necessarily because they do not want to feel better, but because they no longer know where to begin to make it stop, that is one of the most difficult parts about anxiety.