The Quiet Pressure to Be More Have you ever been told to “speak up more” or “put yourself out there”? Maybe you’ve felt the expectation to be louder, more social, or more outgoing to fit in. We know that, over time, those messages can make you question whether you’re enough just as you are. Many…
Eighteen years ago, I reached a moment where the pain felt unbearable. Aged eighteen, I believed there was no way forward, no space for me in this world. The weight of expectations, unspoken fears, and the feeling of not belonging had become overwhelming. But somehow, I am still here. In the years since that suicide…
The problem of loneliness in the UK appears to be compounded for introverted personalities with research suggesting that introversion is found to be significantly associated with loneliness (Buecker et al., 2020). While many people feel they have few close friends in the UK, with 12% reporting that they have only one, the number of close…
Have you felt like you don’t matter? I wonder how many of do. I, for one, spent years feeling this way. Like it doesn’t matter if I’m at that event, with those people, or if I even exist. Who will notice? Who will be affected? Reduced feelings of ‘mattering’ have been found to contribute to loneliness…