***TRIGGER WARNING*** This post has examples of ableist language which some might find confronting and / or triggering. Please only read on if you feel able to. For more information on charitable organisations who can support your mental health when you’re experiencing physical challenges, please visit my Get Support page. ***TRIGGER WARNING*** The subject of ableism is relatively new to me. Although I’m disabled, my disabilities have become more prevelant in recent years and, as a result, I’ve had to learn a huge amount in a short time. It’s the same for anyone with a new, progressive health ..read more

****TRIGGER WARNING**** This post will talk about mental illness, suicidal ideation and baby loss. Although there is no unnecessary or gratuitous detail, please only read on if you feel able to. For help and support with your mental health, please visit the mental health and suicide prevention support line page on this website. Thanks for visiting ****TRIGGER WARNING**** “Mum, can I have a puppy?” “No!” “Please! I swear I’ll look after it better than the hamster.” “No! You’ll get bored of it, and I don’t have the time or the money. Now stop asking.” As an adult who’d been denied pets througho ..read more

****TRIGGER WARNING**** This post will talk about mental health, mental illness and the symptoms of personality disorders and other mental illnesses. Although there is no unnecessary detail, there are some descriptions of stigmatic comments that might be triggering, so please only read on if you feel able to. For help and support with anything mental health related, please visit the mental health and suicide prevention support lines page of this website. ****TRIGGER WARNING**** We all have elements of our lives we want to keep private…some more salacious than others , but when it comes to per ..read more

How mental illness takes away my faith in the people I believe, including myself. Being labelled with a personality disorder is a bitter pill to swallow for many, including me. Don’t get me wrong, when I was told my challenges had a reason, that I wasn’t simply ‘crazy’ and I could get help, it answered a huge number of questions, but it raised a few too. Most people with BPD (or any other PD really) will know that anyone who hears about your mental illness will probably think about it first in everything you do. Cried because of upsetting news on the TV? Her BPD is playing up. Argued with your ..read more

Welcome everyone to another teeny tiny haiku. This is part of my series of creative distractions within the COPE campaign, and a list of your own distraction ideas can be found on the stress hacks page of this website. I’ve been struggling with trust issues recently, it’s something I hope to write about in more detail soon, and it’s causing problems with my support network and in my personal life. As someone reminded me recently, I have to trust people again or nothing will change, but when my trust is given and not looked after, it chips away at my ability to do it all again in the future. I ..read more

Through my COPE Campaign I’ve created a list of Stress Hacks for Adults and Stress Hacks suitable for kids, all of which are designed to distract you when you are struggling. Specifically, I wanted a list of ideas to try when you’re sat on hold for someone to help in a crisis because hold times have been increasing astronomically since the pandemic. As with everything in life, this isn’t a one-size-fits-all all situation, and while some ideas might work brilliantly as a creative distraction, others will feel like the wrong fir for you. Trial and error is something I recommend – I hope I’ve pub ..read more

Welcome everyone to yet another haiku. I can’t believe how many of these I’ve written, although I think I say that every time. This is part of my series of creative distractions within the COPE campaign, and a list of your own distraction ideas can be found on the stress hacks page of this website. As my recent blog post about mental illness and the government narrative shows, if nothing else, we all need to love ourselves more. Sadly it’s not something I excel at, and I know most people with mental health challenges have the same problem. But writing about self-love in a haiku felt limiting i ..read more

Anyone regular to my blog might have noticed a bit of a hiatus. I apologise for being absent for 2 weeks, but frankly, the stress of existing alone has been enough for me lately. I’m back though, and I’m starting my posts with a subject I’ve touched on before – mental illness in the media how you manage the reporting of cruel narratives from the people suppose to be in charge (who should know better). As anyone living this way will know, when you’re mentally imbalanced you are constantly trying to hide the complexities of your brains narrative from those around you. Sometimes it’s easier than ..read more

Hi everyone and welcome to my 37th Haiku Hope – part of the COPE campaign bundle of creative distractions. This time I wanted to write about something that’s really bugging me – the yawning chasm between my real age (42 – which already feels older than I imagined) and the age my body looks and feels (about 80 – which is funny and scary all at once). My health is a constant conversation in this house, with regular changes in pain locations and an impact on my cognition that’s impossible to miss. About 2 years ago I started forgetting words mid-conversation, and I lost several years of memories ..read more

There are so many things to be frustrated about when you live with chronic pain and / or chronic fatigue. As soon as your pain becomes ‘chronic’, the level of explanation needed just to get across to family, friends, doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers, what you’re experiencing can mean that you spend most of your time talking about it. People get frustrated with so much dialogue, but to me at least, the repetition is born out of the listener failing to listen. It seems no matter how much I explain my pain (Which is mostly in my joints and pelvis) the people involved in my life tend to col ..read more