Your personal experiences of feeling socially anxious, shy and not good enough and how this has affected your lives. Sharing your stories about how you have been stretching your comfort zones and growing confidence to move through anxious feelings to live a life aligned with who you really are.
Not good enough Growing up, I was shadowed by a constant cloud of uneasiness in social settings. I felt I just wasn’t good enough. This caused me to be less productive than I could be, constantly living beneath my potential. I can’t pinpoint exactly when I got bitten by the ‘shyness bug’, but I have…
Since a young age I believed that I was not smart enough. This belief followed me for a long time. I feared I was different from the others as I felt it took me a long time to learn new things. Last year, I discovered the reason for this is that I am dyslexic and…
How did you choose what to do after school? Did you choose a-levels based on a career path you wanted to take? Took a subject you enjoyed perhaps? Did you study as many subjects at college as you could to keep your options open? Not me. Following the herd I knew I didn’t like a…
I have been ‘quiet’ all my life. Sitting in a room full of others taking turns reading out loud from a book we were studying at that time. It’s my turn to read and my hearts racing, my heads feeling light and I want to hide away. I was the one who dreaded school presentations;…
You know that feeling when you are having a moment to think? You’re sat looking at something you love, you breathe deep and a sense of calm follows. This is what I have with my great love of nature. This love has expanded as I have grown older, developed a business within nature and in…
My dear friends, How are you? It seems like an age since we last spoke, and even longer since I last saw you. I understand that you must see me as a terrible friend. I hardly make time to see you anymore. I don’t seem to start conversations on messenger. I rarely text or give…
Being seen as imperfect Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to do the things that we think we shouldn’t do. To behave in a way that doesn’t necessarily fit with how we’re seen. To do the things that scare us and show ourselves as the vulnerable, imperfect human beings we are. I’ve given myself…
We can all be courageous with a good enough reason Did you see me getting vulnerable on BBC Spotlight? If you missed it, here I am with Stacie, Fi and Gemma from our speaking club, sharing our mental health stories about suicide ideation and attempts with BBC Health Correspondent, Jenny Walrond. When Jenny asked if…
When body image keeps you from swimming This photo was taken at the end of my NLP Practitioner course with Lizzi at Going Coastal. As the business name suggests, Lizzi’s practise revolves around the coast and I spent many hours coaching against the beautiful backdrop of Perranporth beach. As someone who enjoys the sea every…
Who’s to blame? My sister loves to remind me of this story, and every time she does I feel a pang of shame but it’s the strongest story that I have showing how I used to think. When I was young, my family were walking to my Nan’s house and I tripped and fell over….
Keep dancing… don’t worry about being perfect So many of us won’t allow ourselves the freedom to be silly and expressive. We’re so worried about what other people think of us; we feel we must be calm, cool and collected to be ‘good enough’. “We hustle for our worthiness by slipping on the emotional and…
Never enough I’m not alone in being self-conscious of my appearance. By the age of 16, I was a size 8, or “far too skinny” and “barely eating” as my dad reminded me recently. I always thought I was too fat. Never skinny enough. Never pretty enough. Never tall enough, tanned enough or blonde enough. I…