I was bullied at school and had no one. I felt so anxious that I started refusing to go to School. I even suffered with psychosis for a while. My Mum tried to support me as best she could, but didn’t know how to. But my doctor contacted the school which lead to me being educated at Education…
Thinking back to infant school, I don’t remember having many problems. I didn’t feel unconfident, but there were times where I felt like the attention was on me. It was like what I was doing was wrong and people were judging me. I felt different. There were incidences in infant school where I was made…
Change is something that I find incredibly daunting, and is often the root of anxiety for me. I find myself feeling very safe in normality and routines, and so big changes are often something that I struggle with a little. Something that I have noticed, however, is the importance of celebrating positive change. An example…
Speaking at Cornwall Business Fair alongside Sally Heard, CEO from Cornwall School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE), I opened up about the hidden challenges of social entrepreneurship: feeling like you’re not good enough and don’t belong here. The imposter experience is something I think the majority of us have experienced, be that in our careers or personal…
Feelings of anxiety often stem from a lack of control over uncontrollable aspects of situations. Thinking I need to be able to control everything to ensure that I don’t feel anxious is often what fuels the anxious feelings. Having grown up referring to this as the ‘vicious circle’, I have realised that whilst I recognise…
It’s like there’s a yoyo inside my head rocking back and forth. Dizzy. I’m in my first year of sixth form when I notice it. Completely out of the blue. What’s wrong with me? I’m going to countless GP appointments, having tests for diabetes, blood pressure checks and a referral to an ENT doctor. No…
Imagine an excited, little 11 year old armed with a huge backpack and her two best friends on her first day of secondary school. We’re lucky enough that one of my friend’s older sister is already at the school, and she shows us to our tutor room. Naturally, I’m nervous, but I think everyone is…
Before joining college, I had low self-confidence. I was socially anxious, and at school I was typically described as someone who never talked; the quiet one. The same was said about me by my friends’ parents whenever I went to their houses. My first year of secondary school was when I recognised I was having…
Retreating at school I hated school. Well, I loved learning but did not enjoy the people. I was told that my disinterest in education was because I was dyslexic and that I wouldn’t amount to anything worthwhile. This knocked my confidence, looking back I realise that what I was feeling at the time was the…
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…