Affectionately known as Action Nan, Pat Smith stands tall with fire in her belly. You can feel her passion from the back of the room. You can also sense that standing centre-stage on a red carpet in the TEDxTruro spotlight isn’t where she feels most at home. I imagine doing a TED Talk is a […]
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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 […]
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Over time, I’ve noticed a switch in my mentality. From taking a powerless perspective of things happening to me, completely wrapped up in how I felt at the time, to being able to focus on what I’ve learnt from those situations. Essentially, I’ve been moving from taking a negative and powerless view of my experiences […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Feelings of social anxiety seem to have happened gradually for me; they kind of crept up on me into adulthood. So I started thinking about how the development of society may have subconsciously affected me, such as the “big brother” phenomena, the rise of public CCTV placement instilling the idea of being continually watched, without […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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In the past 12 months, I have gotten engaged to my wonderful and supportive girlfriend, bought a house and adopted a perfect, if a little crackers, cat that I received the permission to name Logan. It was shaping up to be a fantastic year. Then we moved into our beautiful new terraced house. Almost in […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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