Here I go out to sea again The sunshine fills my hair And dreams hang in the air Gulls in the sky and in my blue eye You know it feels unfair There’s magic everywhere Look at me standing Here on my own again Up straight in the sunshine Black – Wonderful Life A bright… Continue reading 2. – Where’s the Attraction?
Category: Mental Health
Blogs written for The Mighty, Moodscope or other mental health websites varying through my experiences to how I manage my mental health .
1. – The Overall Feeling
The Guest House This being human is a guest house.Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness,some momentary awareness comesas an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all!Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,who violently sweep your houseempty of its furniture,still, treat each guest honourably.He may be clearing you outfor some new… Continue reading 1. – The Overall Feeling
Why I Decided to Write About My Eating Disorder
Writing has always been my go-to when I’m in a mental health muddle. It started with keeping a diary after our Father died and I went to boarding school which I hated, I was incredibly homesick. We suffered endemic bullying, military routines and the house mistresses were more Miss Trunchbull than Ms Honey and I’d… Continue reading Why I Decided to Write About My Eating Disorder
Heads & Tails
Heads and Tails My early years were stable, loving and invested but then things happened and what followed was about 25 years of trauma. The bad things just kept coming like a Ninja Warrior course. A couple of years after things had begun to settle down I had my first major depressive episode. It literally… Continue reading Heads & Tails
Elizabeth Sometimes
When I was little, my favourite chapter book was called ‘Charlotte Sometimes’ by Penelope Farmer. It’s a time travel story about a girl who goes to boarding school and every day wakes up alternately in her own time or forty years earlier. So she has to contend with being the new girl in two settings.… Continue reading Elizabeth Sometimes
Learning to Run Again
Learning to Run Again A couple of years ago, during the summer holidays, I was easily running a half marathon distance. I always enjoyed going out for a run and always had a plan for my distances. But for the last year I’ve been finding it impossible to build on anything. Is it because of… Continue reading Learning to Run Again
Viva Las Vegas, Adios Sobriety?
Viva Las Vegas, Adios Sobriety? I’d run out of excuses to have a drink, I’d stopped examining those and knew they weren’t all that they claimed to be. They were just lies. So when an excuse popped up into my head I saw it off, gave it no time, I let it pass through and… Continue reading Viva Las Vegas, Adios Sobriety?
My Binding
Today I attended a Flight of Ideas workshop with artist Beth Hopkins, facilitated by Bethlem Gallery. It is a collaboration between researchers at King’s College, London and Beth to work with people with experience of Bipolar Disorder to look at writing a self-binding advance directive to make decisions about mental health crisis treatment and care.… Continue reading My Binding
The Urge to Splurge
The Urge to Splurge (May 2021) Since going sober, almost eighteen months ago, I’ve noticed that the urges to have a drink come and go in varying degrees. Sometimes it feels like I’m having to actively deal with an urge every day and from early afternoon until bedtime. There are other times when I suddenly… Continue reading The Urge to Splurge
Hypomania
How hypomania feels