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The promise of hope
byI have struggled over the past few days to articulate what I am thinking and feeling. It’s complex and confusing and quite frankly, overwhelming….
Surviving the Apocalypse
byOne definition of ‘apocalypse’ is ‘an event involving destruction or damage on a catastrophic scale’. Covid-19 feels like if fits the bill to me….
Community, Health anxiety and Coronavirus
byI am finding the current state of the world to be highly alarming. I have pretty bad health anxiety at the best of times…
Hope unfulfilled
byI have always had hope. Despite the depression and anxiety that binds me, I am quite optimistic in my big picture thinking. Yet, hope…
Cold Cups of Tea and Hiding in the Loo.
bySo, with the launch of Annie’s new book I have been pondering the realities of parenting. I have to say, since meeting Annie I…
Life and Death
byMy grandfather died two weeks ago. It came as a big shock to me. He was one of those solid sort of characters that…
New year… Same me
bySo, I have been wanting to properly get back into blogging for a while, but as mentioned in my last post, I feel somewhat…
What would I say to you?
byWhy is it so much easier to give help than receive it? As mentioned in my last post my mental health has sort of…
Mum guilt and mental health
byThere is so much pressure when it comes to parenting. You should do it one way and shouldn’t do it the other, but everyone…
Examining the Panic
byToday, we went to an aquarium and I found myself in a state of such physical panic as to be utterly unsettling. I was…
Motherhood and Mental Health
byIn my drafts I have two blogs titled Maternal Mental Health week. One from 2018 and one from 2019. They remained drafts because honestly,…
I believe in fairies
byWhen praying for healing I often find myself in a Peter Pan sort of mentality. I am terrified that my lack of faith, or…
Just don’t think about it
bySo, I have realised recently that my mental health over the past year seems to noticeably deteriorate after someone has asked me how I…
The System
bySo, I am going to jump back onto that old thing – the system for treating mental health. We all know (I hope!) that…
One year on…
byTime flies when you haven’t got a clue what you are doing. One year and 11 hours ago I was in a pool, in…
Broken Referral
byIt has been a busy year. Elijah will be one year old in a couple of weeks and since he was born we have…
High Functioning
byMany people we encounter day to day do not fulfil the imagined role that people with mental health problems are thought to have. They…
Cry for Help
byI have had depression and anxiety for a long time. My whole adult life I have been living with these illnesses with increasing ease….
All change
byI haven’t blogged in while. It’s been a bit of a busy time, what with having a baby and trying to finish my book…
The Church
byThere is a bit of a rant that has been building in my head for a while. Something that irritates me, but that I…
Finding Faith
byThere are times when faith is an overwhelming prospect. How, when life is just feeling like a consistent and growing challenge, do you keep…
The perks of being used to discomfort
byI haven’t written in a while. I am working on two big new projects, which will both be near completion over the coming months,…
The value of talking
byThere is a lie that society tells us. There is increasing awareness of this lie, and growing numbers of people speaking out to put…
The myth of the ‘Fresh Start’
byEvery year at this time I start looking to the next year; I’m not a fan of new years resolutions, because I can’t keep…
Why it hurts – #kenlivingstone
byKen Livingstone has come out with some extraordinary comments today about depression. He was appointed to the Labour defence review, which caused much comment…
The Ghost Life
byEvery now and then I re read all the Harry Potter books. I am just starting them again now and whilst reading the first…
WMHD – an encouraging day!
byToday has been a really encouraging day for me. I have spent the day in Hammersmith taking part in the Big Mental Health day….
Change induced brain malfunction
byI saw my psychiatrist on Monday and was happily chatting to him about how well I was doing. Exhausted, yes – but seeing someone…
Rush hour panic
byMost of the time I have my anxiety relatively well under control, but every now and then it slips out and I find that…
Where is God?
byI process the thoughts in my head through writing, it is how I work out where I am at and when I write it…
In sickness and in health
byI am feeling pretty desperate at the moment. Between Mike and me, there is such a range of physical and mental ailments that at…
A rapid descent
byMy usual posts talk about the struggle I face with my mental health. Generally, I post when I am struggling to verbalise what I…
My mental health – MHAW15
byMental health is a huge label to put onto the illness I have. It is sort of like going up to someone and saying…
Christmas Pondering…
byChristmas is one of my favourite points in the year (the other being my birthday, and this year we can throw in the wedding,…
All Things are Possible
byToday I spoke at Premiers Woman to Woman conference, on the theme of ‘with God all things are possible. This is a tricky subject…
A question of success
bySecond blog in two days? Yup. There HAS to be something wrong. Or I have too many drafts sitting around and am finishing them…
A paleo beginning
byI have not been very present on here recently. I have about 6 started blogs, some of which may see the light of…
Pressure, Expectation, Nehemiah
byIt has been a while since I last wrote. This was not for a lack of things to say, rather because working out how…
Finding time for God
byI am too busy for my faith. It’s a controversial thing to say really, as I profess to be a committed and faithful Christian…
Just being honest…..
byHonesty and honour are a couple of words that I am a big fan of. I love honesty – I think the more honestly…
Jumping into holes
byI am ill. Sitting in my bed, and feeling thoroughly sorry for myself. These moods take over on a regular basis but are made…
Easy as ABCD?
byYesterday I spoke at the Christian New Media conference, looking at the after effects of writing hopeful depression, the church and mental health and…
Let my people go
byI have been following the various different organisations that tackle modern slavery around the world for a couple of years. However, I have been…
Why believe?
byI have been thinking recently about why I am a Christian. When I think about the fact that I believe in ‘God’, some deity…
What a week!
byI don’t know how many people reading this have experienced that feeling of wishing you were dead. Not because you were suicidal but because…
Disconnect
byI am ill. Again. This time I feel excessively sick, and tired. Not sick and tired, as in angry or fed up, more vomitous…
The Burden of Fear
byOver the past few weeks the issue of fear in my life has come up again and again and again. My mentor bought it…
Come sing that The Lord is good!
bySo, I have a bad back. Bought on by tension due to stress and a bad bed (new mattress tomorrow) so I decided that…
Contradictions of the mind
byThere are going to be a few rhetorical questions within this post, please do not fear for my mental state nor feel the need…
Complicating Character
byI like titles that contain alliteration. It makes me happy! That aside, I have been thinking over the past month or so since I…
Dominant differences
byIDEALIST ALERT: below is content of an exceptionally idealistic nature. If such things upset you, I suggest looking away now. GRAMMAR ALERT: Appalling grammar will…
Hopeful depression
bySo I realised this morning, my mind has been astonishingly blank the last week or so. Not that I have thought nothing – just…
Restorative Justice
byThis is a blog I have written for the @liveitlocally blog – The Community Mission Blog on the value of restorative justice. For more…
How do you start writing a blog?
byI didn’t really know how to start this blog. What is a suitable ‘hello’ post? It is clear, from the fact that this site…