Helpful tips and personal stories. Exploring relationships and connecting with others when you’re feeling socially anxious, shy and not good enough. You are not alone.
What if you knew that the way you see the world isn’t the same as reality? If you were to train as an NLP Practitioner like me, one of the very first things you’d learn is that your thoughts aren’t reality. It turns out that we respond to our own internal representation of the world […]
I spent my childhood loving a man who I called Grandad. When I was 11, a series of events led to a situation whereby I found myself on the receiving end of the bitterness, anger, aggression and hostility stored within him; and just like that, I casted him as a villain in my life, soon […]
We all know that thoughtful feedback shared with us from a place of compassion helps us to grow, even if this isn’t always easy to hear. But there are some people who seem to spend much of their life hurling judgement and critical ‘advice’ at others with very little consideration and compassion behind it. Hurtful […]
In true nerdy fashion, I’m sat in my pre-booked seat at 18:45 (because hey, you can’t leave it to chance to get good seats on the night), finally watching the heavily anticipated film, Joker. If you monitor ‘movie news’ you will already know it is being met with controversial reception. While I respect the opinions […]
One big assumption that people often make about introverts is that we hate going to parties. More often than not, as an introvert with anxiety, this assumption is correct for me. But as I have grown older, the definition of a party has changed. A few years ago, an invite to a party would conjure […]
As I was driving, alone in the darkness, tears streaming down my face, despair took over and told me how easy it would be to end my pain right here, right now, high speed. The tears came the moment I reached the sanctuary of my car. This had been building up for some time but […]
Have you ever heard the phrase ‘everything can change in an instant’? I realised how true that is a few weeks ago, when an unexpected discovery helped me find a new way to challenge my feelings of anxiety and depression. I had forced myself to go out for a short walk, and as usual I […]
You know how it is when you get talking to someone and that quiet excitement bubbles up inside because they feel so aligned with where you are and it’s almost like the universe has sent them your way? Well, I was lucky enough to have one of those awesome connections yesterday. It’s funny to think […]
Have you ever thought about joining a community gardening group, but lacked the confidence to do so? If yes, you are like me a few years ago before I discovered my hidden garden guru. I wanted to find out more about gardening and wasn’t sure what to do next. So I signed up for an […]
Most of the time I feel like I’m running late for my own life; while everyone else seems to be on time for theirs or maybe even ahead of schedule. Sometimes, I wish I lived in outer space. In space, time doesn’t matter like it does here on earth. I lay in bed, unable to […]
An Introspective Analysis Looking back, I never used to feel “socially anxious” whilst growing up. I remember feeling shy as a kid when meeting relatives or strangers, but even when I first started working I felt okay. Anxious feelings kind of crept up on me into adulthood and, I think for me personally, feelings of […]
In the early budding stage of our relationship, my boyfriend’s sister invited me to her wedding. Upon receiving this news, I mentally responded in two ways. Firstly I was filled with elation, after all, she was betting on us being together a whole year into the future, a potentially risky move for a bride. Who […]