tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67361637755123523002024-03-26T08:00:33.171+00:00I'm NOT DisorderedAimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comBlogger1281125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-24552431630494796642024-03-26T08:00:00.000+00:002024-03-26T08:00:00.161+00:005 THINGS I’VE LEARNT ABOUT PETS & MENTAL HEALTH | WISHING THE KITTEN A VERY HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH MAMMY’S BISCUITS<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRcRpjMwIVKMBJ6Q4HR1SOoyo4LM3axmk5a9UOGSkriOtKDV6TlezI8DnxXRW2me8ghgxIT8HQPq0qNnGWxILAXqwPPM6FvwB3Qj6Gs7MTD3Mqjlb62ETeCw-3f2EQWgleLnVpX7Fyc083zctHjGeftUQr_ZbqNAITCqoyqVB4IgOfYxLw11xcdWlreCiP/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(5).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRcRpjMwIVKMBJ6Q4HR1SOoyo4LM3axmk5a9UOGSkriOtKDV6TlezI8DnxXRW2me8ghgxIT8HQPq0qNnGWxILAXqwPPM6FvwB3Qj6Gs7MTD3Mqjlb62ETeCw-3f2EQWgleLnVpX7Fyc083zctHjGeftUQr_ZbqNAITCqoyqVB4IgOfYxLw11xcdWlreCiP/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(5).png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://mammysbiscuits.com/"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">https://mammysbiscuits.com</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/MammysBiscuits"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Twitter:
@MammysBiscuits</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/mammys_biscuits/"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Instagram:
@Mammys_Biscuits</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MammysBiscuits"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Facebook: MammysBiscuits</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“When
you feel someone else’s pain and joy as powerfully as if it were your own; then
you know you really love them.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Ann
Brashares<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">*This
post features a Mammy’s Biscuits product: the ‘Birthday Girl’ bandana – you can
browse & purchase their other designs </span></b><a href="https://mammysbiscuits.com/accessories"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">here</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">*<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I honestly don’t care how stereotypical this
sounds; but I literally and genuinely cannot believe that I’m writing this blog
post to celebrate my little maine coon/ragdoll mix kitten – Ruby – turning one
year old! Now, if you’ve read, I’m NOT Disordered for even just a little while,
you’ll likely know that I have pets and that I absolutely love them to pieces,
and they help my mental health immensely. Because I’ve had quite a few (three
who have passed and the three I have now) over the almost ten years since I’ve
been in my own home, and I know I’ve written numerous blog posts at various
stages of their lives, I wasn’t sure if there’d be an angle (also due to the
fact I’ve actually already published a post in connection with Ruby’s Birthday,
you can read it </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2024/03/an-open-letter-to-ruby-in-run-up-to-her.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">)
left to cover in writing this 1<sup>st</sup> Birthday post for Ruby! But,
fortunately, the first one I thought of – a post about the reality of life with
pets and mental health – hadn’t been done before so, I decided to tackle it…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dlSP0BjKt9Rm5v8jS6ihIPbsf2KOTh_Zf37_kcF7ZaXRDAfxHDQxzAOL093a9qRIZiDBDOmkbJP-7QgvtvHCh-hkVA9PZwXI1oboxro0KeVlC_pF2s9aO1mMqCWyEYIFOU_1E71N51i46GSL5DSq6WcGXSZasuedogq84W22SkXa22icWefN1xI8GExe/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dlSP0BjKt9Rm5v8jS6ihIPbsf2KOTh_Zf37_kcF7ZaXRDAfxHDQxzAOL093a9qRIZiDBDOmkbJP-7QgvtvHCh-hkVA9PZwXI1oboxro0KeVlC_pF2s9aO1mMqCWyEYIFOU_1E71N51i46GSL5DSq6WcGXSZasuedogq84W22SkXa22icWefN1xI8GExe/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Making
the decision to get a pet can be a hugely important and 100% necessary process for
absolutely anyone and everyone – whether they have mental health difficulties
or not – who is considering adding a furry friend to their life. It’s so
essential that a great deal of thought and preparation goes into the decision
of getting a pet so as to provide a higher chance of stability in being capable
of continuing to take care of the pet rather than having it for a few weeks before
discovering you’re unable to take on all the relevant responsibilities that
come with a pet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">The
most likely consideration though, is typically around shift patterns and a
person’s employment in deciding whether you’re home often enough to spend ample
amount of time with the pet and to have plenty opportunity to engage in
necessary acts of maintenance e.g. taking a dog for walks or cleaning out a
rabbit hutch! However, when you have a mental illness, this act of thinking
through getting a pet can look a great deal different with there being two
large areas for consideration:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Is
your decision to get the pet impulsive?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Are
your safety levels stable enough to be responsible for an additional life?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">These
were two massively important elements to getting Ruby because my mental health
was pretty much in the toilet at the time! But this actually became one of the
largest reasons to get her… My calico rescue cat, Emmy had been put to sleep
October 2022, and when her best friend; my mini-Lionhead bunny; Luna, started
behaving differently, the Vet recommended getting her a friend and explained
that it would be much easier to introduce her to another bunny rather than a
new cat. So, in January 2023, I got my second mini-Lionhead, Gracie! Whilst it
was so lovely to see them bond almost immediately and to see that Luna was so
much happier now that she had a new furry companion; almost every time I was
home, they two of them would be in another room together washing each other or
just cuddled up together. And so, I began to feel really lonely; and this only
worsened when I got home from being sectioned under the 1983 Mental Health Act
in February 2023 and found the two of them even more obsessed with each other! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Getting
another cat seemed like the instant fix to my loneliness, and I felt confident
that in doing this, my mental health would improve too. I knew, however, that
this conviction was likely something that only I would be sure of and out of
concern that others – particularly my loved ones – might question and doubt
whether this would happen, I didn’t tell anyone when I found Ruby and paid the
deposit for her. To be honest, I was so scared that telling someone and them
disagreeing that I should get her, would cause an argument and would leave me
feeling completely dismissed and unsupported. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Not
long before I was due to pick Ruby up though, the Crisis Team had asked me if I
had anything to look forward to and I was so excited at that point that I just
blurted out: “well, I’m getting a kitten in a few days!” Then they ended up
mentioning it to my Mum when they were on the phone with her, and I was
pleasantly surprised when she told me that she trusted me to be making the
right decision in getting Ruby and this was such a hugely helpful gesture that
really solidified my confidence in going to pick Ruby up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ZZncQAfKPYm2YBViiu-AyQAZwsFgf94LV6IKnnPsSxmDhkhpjPigG4qea2vvkPq_T131tXzo3w8I7fS2mLlmtHQQpExK1_jDUtYzlVz_2hmXLZWknzBuwlXztJqZ0s256uEKp_sn2fxA4e8jofymY-mumrfZDWrXga_mXhBge9ayOnOp1LgW1IQMkcZ8/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9ZZncQAfKPYm2YBViiu-AyQAZwsFgf94LV6IKnnPsSxmDhkhpjPigG4qea2vvkPq_T131tXzo3w8I7fS2mLlmtHQQpExK1_jDUtYzlVz_2hmXLZWknzBuwlXztJqZ0s256uEKp_sn2fxA4e8jofymY-mumrfZDWrXga_mXhBge9ayOnOp1LgW1IQMkcZ8/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">From
the very beginning of my mental health deteriorating – when I was first
sectioned after attempting suicide as a result of struggling with
hallucinations for around ten days – I discovered that your childhood is often
the first area of your life professionals look into for a reason for your mental
ill health. I appreciate that this is typically because what happens when
you’re young can be massively influential as you grow older, but initially it
was actually a question I wanted to really avoid so I definitely didn’t
appreciate being asked it. When I finally reported the abuse to my abuser’s
boss, I was named a manipulative liar and completely dismissed, which meant
that I had absolutely no drive to tell anyone else. So, it actually wasn’t
until my second psychiatric hospital admission, that I finally reported it and
from doing so, I found myself finally able to answer questions about my
childhood…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Over
the years, I’ve explained numerous times that my childhood was idyllic because
it was so full of love, support, laughter, happiness, and innocence. And I
think that last bit became the most important element because it meant that
when the abuse started, I was totally thrown off-guard. I mean, I hadn’t known
such terrible people existed; there wasn’t a whole lot in the media about rape
and abuse, and my sex education at school had pretty much just revolved around
putting a condom on a banana! So, I didn’t even know the name for what was
happening to me, the only reason I knew it was wrong was purely because it felt
so wrong. And so, this has made me think a lot over the years about my thoughts
on being so innocent in my childhood and I’ve come to the conclusion that there
needs to be a balance in it. That all children should have some sense of
innocence so that nothing really matters the way it inevitably will as they
grow older, but that children should also have some education in difficult
topics like abuse and mental health so that they have a healthy understanding
of what they should do if they’re in some sort of situation that is relevant to
these things.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">So
– it might sound stupid and a bit ‘much…’ but my thoughts on innocence have
definitely shaped how I bring up my pets. I mean, of course I get that they’re
not exactly my children, but they certainly feel like it! I feel 100%
responsible for all three of them and I feel that they completely rely on me. I
also think there’s a lot more talk about the fact that pets and, actually, animals
in general, are so much cleverer than a lot of people give them credit for and
that they are very often totally in tune with the thoughts and feelings of
their humans. I have this one video of Ruby from not long after I first got her,
and I was sat on my bed crying and she came up and sat in front of me and just
stared into my eyes so lovingly and then every so often she kept putting a paw
onto my chest above my heart as though trying to heal it! Ironically, I was so
touched that she made me cry even more! And I was honestly so glad I thought to
try and film it when she first came up because I don’t know if anyone would
have believed me without the evidence! And I think one big reason for it to
have been a bit unbelievable, is the fact that I hadn’t had her too long, so it
was kind of… strange? But I think it’s a huge illustration of our immediate
bond and the very deep, heart-felt, connection that has surrounded us since the
moment I first held her. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Another
reason for me crying more when Ruby did this though, was that I felt a sense of
guilt and disappointment in myself that she was seeing and hearing me crying. I
had wanted for her to see nothing but good, wholesome, happy, and productive
things. I didn’t want her to develop any even awareness of upset, pain, and
negativity. I wanted to protect her from the reality of mental illness, and I
wanted to feel that it didn’t play any part in shaping her, her personality,
and her behaviours. When my first cat; Dolly, was just a kitten, due to a
massive miscommunication the Police caved my door in, and she was home alone.
After it, she became so aggressive and hostile towards any visitors that it got
to the point where my Support Workers couldn’t come into my home because she
had scratched one of them and drawn blood. My reassurance though, was that she
was absolutely lovely to me; but then she clawed my face, and I rang the Vets
in tears, and they said it was either trying a mild sedative medication daily
or put her to sleep because she couldn’t be rehoused when she was that
aggressive. Obviously, I opted for the medication and after almost a year on
it, she seemed calmer and more friendly, so we slowly weaned her off it… But I
was always so focused on the impact my mental health had on her, and I very
obviously don’t want that to ever happen again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">When
you think about it, it’s just like with humans – we can be shaped and changed
by things that happen in our life just as understandably as Dolly was. I mean,
in mental illness and particularly in making suicide attempts or self-harming,
regret is talked about a lot… Whilst there’s a massively long list of things
which I wish hadn’t happened, I do still recognise that I wouldn’t be where I
am – or who I am – today, if it weren’t for all of those things. I mean, if I’d
never been abused, I might not have developed mental health problems. And if I
hadn’t developed them, then I might not have had a reason to start blogging.
And if I hadn’t started, I’m NOT Disordered, would I have ever experienced the
incredible notion of feeling that I’ve found a purpose in my life? Would I have
had all the amazing opportunities and experiences that I’ve had as a direct
result of the popularity and success of my blogging career? Would I have had
the sense of achievement I’ve felt in every milestone of and in any sort of
monumental moment for I’m NOT Disordered? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">So,
with Ruby, if I’ve tried my best to contain any difficult moments and coping
mechanisms in the bathroom with the door shut so that she can’t get in and see.
I’m quite a dramatic crier though, so I’m totally aware that she might be able
to hear that, but I’m really reassured by the thought that she’s never seen me actually
hurting myself. It makes me feel like less of a failure and a better Mum for
shielding her from that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQC4Z28BC9EEyN23XbDl4HQtrKXMVXgln5iDVL3EK_tJS4g6tRDWorHgYcRTRXeyw3EXAr9b0QZb-2yT4Gp2wjlTA0yN3JNSgxZcpp2X7okKZoiRoyVKED0eH1flufPXhrK67J9QtCBZLNMezhvkm5GgURMYGMreVkdbL9mM0GhhDoDUbZQsjE58vZu6t4/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(3).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQC4Z28BC9EEyN23XbDl4HQtrKXMVXgln5iDVL3EK_tJS4g6tRDWorHgYcRTRXeyw3EXAr9b0QZb-2yT4Gp2wjlTA0yN3JNSgxZcpp2X7okKZoiRoyVKED0eH1flufPXhrK67J9QtCBZLNMezhvkm5GgURMYGMreVkdbL9mM0GhhDoDUbZQsjE58vZu6t4/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(3).png" width="640" /></a></b></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Fortunately,
despite there being many instances for this to not happen, I haven’t been
sectioned since getting Ruby in May 2023, so I’ve not had a single lengthy
hospital admission. I have had my fair share of overnight ones though, and boy;
have they been difficult?! I’d like to think of myself as very much a
‘look-on-the-bright-side’ type of person, so the way I’ve tried to put a
positive spin on just how upset I get being away from Ruby when I’m having to
stay in hospital overnight for any length of considerable time, is that at
least she gives me the motivation to avoid it happening as much as I can. Wanting
to stay at home with her and be snuggled up to her at night and not in a
hospital bed hooked up to a drip, is the best drive and determination that
encourages my recovery and resolution to work harder at keeping myself safe. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">It's
actually something I’ve spoken a lot about recently with the Crisis Team and my
Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) – the fact that when I used to live with my
Mum, I never really had any drive or care about being in hospital and how long
I was in for. I mean, for at least the first few months or so in the specialist
psychiatric hospital over 100 miles away from home, I didn’t get homesick at
all! Of course, I missed my Mum and seeing her; but having to basically live in
one bedroom (with an en-suite) all that distance away, didn’t really phase me
or upset me. I didn’t see getting to go home as inspiration or influence to be more
eager and easily willing to cooperate and engage with staff, the medication
they were prescribing, and the therapy they said I needed. Now, of course, some
of this lack of motivation or care might have been attributed to just how poor
my mental health was and how much I was struggling to stay safe, but I do feel
like part of it was just not feeling like my Mum’s was my ‘home.’ I mean, I was
spending so much time in hospitals that it almost felt like it was just a bit of
a stopgap sort of place to stay in between admissions!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Moving
into my own home though, on my discharge from hospital (December 1<sup>st</sup>,
2014), I started to feel settled and when I brought my first cat home a week
later, I finally got the sense that I was ‘at home’ too. It feels nice having a
sort of ‘base’ and somewhere that I can be which makes me feel grounded and
somewhat safe and peaceful. I say ‘somewhat safe’ because obviously I have hurt
myself in my home (in the bathroom as I talked about earlier), but when I’ve
done so; I’ve always still felt some sort of a sense of comfort that I haven’t
experienced when I’ve self-harmed or made a suicide attempt anywhere else. But
I don’t think it’s about the home as a place – it’s about who I share it with…
When I’m in hospital now, I massively miss having my pets around me. I miss
hearing their little paws running across the wooden floors. I miss hearing Ruby
meowing for attention. I miss seeing the bunnies washing each other. I miss
knowing that – if they aren’t snuggled into me – I can just go into another
room and spend time with a loved one. And that feels so much more powerful and
helpful than having professionals – even those who are trained and educated in
helping and supporting people with mental health problems – around me 24/7. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">So,
for me, aside from missing them, the largest difficulty that comes when I think
about my pets after I have been hospitalised, has been the sense of failure and
feelings of disappointment that I’ve had to battle with whilst there. In all
honesty, I find it pretty easy to view anything I do as a failure or to feel
that as a result of something I’ve done, I’ve let down at least one person
(usually my Mum or one of my best-friends). And I think that almost natural
ability to turn things into being about disappointing someone, is equally as
difficult to cope with when I look on a situation as a perfect illustration of
letting my pets down. And I think that this is not only because my pets been so
much to me, but also because I feel that each of them has helped my mental
health in so many different ways, and I almost feel like I’m being ungrateful
or undeserving if, regardless of their love and the joy they bring me, I
self-harm.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">The
fact that believing I’m a disappointment to people and to my pets is such a
common thought process or mindset, means that I’ve almost been forced to learn
a number of ways to cope with this in a safe and healthy way that doesn’t involve
me feeling I had to punish myself and self-harm in some way. The coping
strategy I’ve found to be the most beneficial for this difficulty, has been really
recognising and fully accepting that I can’t change the things I have done and
to use that acceptance as reason to move forward. To realise that all I can do
now is try my hardest for these things to not happen again so that my pets weren’t
left alone for me to go into hospital. And I think that so long as I know and
ensure that I’m doing all that I can to better myself and my mental health,
then I can live with myself and feel confident and reassured that I truly am
trying to be the best Mum I can be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wx3GiSRlD9iCgRdcU1gSS5-l0_46nM_FcIJQnbu2Apn9X0dknKohlN36tLvKwxTDdEKjePFxa0XnDTCIL3bDIlOKUEWu5xo58OEvcQiJCvEEK-CtKxJuZTx2DIxYhYj7quAkDOlaevu20cCY7h26Z3YigYyDN8f4s6hmYS09cMHgeE1UuViA7x5bQn_e/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(4).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wx3GiSRlD9iCgRdcU1gSS5-l0_46nM_FcIJQnbu2Apn9X0dknKohlN36tLvKwxTDdEKjePFxa0XnDTCIL3bDIlOKUEWu5xo58OEvcQiJCvEEK-CtKxJuZTx2DIxYhYj7quAkDOlaevu20cCY7h26Z3YigYyDN8f4s6hmYS09cMHgeE1UuViA7x5bQn_e/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(4).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I
think that one of the saddest elements about getting a pet is that you really
need to be in a stable and good financial situation. Now, to me, money
shouldn’t matter – of course, I know that it does and why it does! – all that
should matter is that your pet is loved. And I genuinely think it’s wrong that
you need to have money before you can do that! However, everything seems to be
about money these days and I’d say that I’ve actually genuinely struggled in
that respect of taking care of my pets… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I
think that my largest flaw in regard to the financial aspect of having a pet,
is my inability to budget money towards any Vet emergency costs, and it’s kind
of frustrating because this is certainly something I’ve learnt – numerous times
– would be really really really helpful! I mean, Dolly was in and out of the
Vets for about a week before she was finally put to sleep, so her final bill
came to over £1,000 and fortunately, the veterinary practice we were with at
the time let me do a payment plan to repay the amount gradually.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">The
other pet death that taught me about money was when I lost my first bunny;
Pixie in 2021 because I also struggled to be able to afford to pay the cost to
have put to sleep and this new veterinary practice refused to euthanise her
until the payment had gone through! I remember thinking ‘you’re saying this is
the best thing for her, but you want money before you’ll do it?!’ It left me
massively torn between the outrage that they were in the wrong job if their
priority was money over putting a pet out of their misery, and the shame and
embarrassment that came with thinking I was totally inadequate and useless for
having to borrow money from others to pay the vet fee. It left me feeling
totally irresponsible and thinking I was an absolute failure for not being able
or properly prepared to care for my own pets. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I
think I’ve definitely improved since then though, because before getting Ruby I
really budgeted and ensured I had enough to purchase her, to buy all the bits
and pieces she needed, to cover the costs of her first injections at the Vets,
and to be able to afford the things she’d continue to need e.g. food and litter
etc. Unfortunately, there was still a potentially large cost I hadn’t thought
about… getting her spayed. I think that I just naively thought that since I’d
be keeping her as an indoor cat then there was no real need or justification to
put her through the surgery that would stop her getting pregnant when there was
really no chance of that happening anyway! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">These
past few weeks, however, Ruby has started to come into season or ‘heat’ and
whilst I’m fully aware she isn’t in pain, her cries and seeing her so unsettled
and frustrated isn’t nice to see/head. Especially when I know there’s something
I can do to help her. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">So,
I looked into the prices of getting her spayed at her usual vets and it was
around £90 – which I actually don’t think is too bad considering it’s a
surgical procedure – but then I found out they have a scheme in partnership
with Cats Protection (who I actually collaborated with on a series of posts in
Ruby’s first month) for those in receipt of state benefits. All you have to do
is take in proof of your benefit entitlement and complete a form/voucher and
then all you have to pay is £10! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Now,
of course this is an amazing price reduction (so, if you’re thinking of getting
your own cat spayed or neutered and are claiming benefits, it’s definitely
worth making enquiries at your local veterinary practice to see if they offer
the same or a similar scheme), but it did make me feel a bit awful that I
hadn’t done it sooner. Again though, it was about acceptance and recognising
that if I had known about it when I got Ruby then I’d have obviously done it a
lot sooner.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-L72kqR6vrbtAzQ1283_VI05z9cVvB6RRgVfkVvX91p78E_Rpr225bZwMcJhnqDWqM1Utae8XHBkmF8Ltc1wMlZzpNkvFVm4Ynn90iAXJMfNegf7hdEe5eq9GoVNi6GrqrhcP60Fr_jfSZ5810_LK5gS80hBz6m5GVwF4tkcAMMbaKjN_al2btEUXqT8/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-L72kqR6vrbtAzQ1283_VI05z9cVvB6RRgVfkVvX91p78E_Rpr225bZwMcJhnqDWqM1Utae8XHBkmF8Ltc1wMlZzpNkvFVm4Ynn90iAXJMfNegf7hdEe5eq9GoVNi6GrqrhcP60Fr_jfSZ5810_LK5gS80hBz6m5GVwF4tkcAMMbaKjN_al2btEUXqT8/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I’ve
often voiced my opinion that my pets (past and present) have saved me – each in
their own special and incredible way. I mean, my first cat Dolly really helped
me settle into my home and adjust to life outside the psychiatric hospital I’d
been in for over two years. Then my first bunny, Pixie, helped me to
differentiate between the rabbit hallucinations I was experiencing and her very
real and soft fur that I could stroke. My second cat, Emmy, gave me the massive
boost I needed to safely cope with and come through the traumatic loss of
Dolly. One of the bunnies who I have now, Luna, really saved me and helped me
to bounce back when Pixie was put to sleep. Gracie, the youngest bunny I have
now, really worked her magic on my mental health and safety levels after the
loss of Emmy and I loved seeing Luna have someone to play with and to cuddle up
to. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Finally,
Ruby!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I
really don’t want this to sound like any sort of diss against my other pets –
I’d like to think I’ve made it pretty clear in this post just how much I love
them and how much they mean to me – but I’ve never experienced a sense of
connection with any of them that is in any way similar to that which I feel I have
with Ruby. She genuinely gives me ‘soulmate’ vibes! Like, it’s ridiculous the number
of times I’ve actually said out loud to her “where have you been all my life?!”
I mean, I honestly can’t believe I ever lived without her, and I definitely could
never imagine my life without her… And it is this, which is one of the largest consequences
I struggle with because of the feeling that my pets have saved me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">In
fairness, I think that it’s only natural that if you find something or someone
helpful – particularly when it’s helpful to a degree of it meaning ensuring your
actual, literal, safety is secure and your -mental wellbeing is healthy and
stable – you can very easily (and, like I said; understandably) find yourself feeling
somewhat reliant upon it/them. As though you almost subconsciously develop a
belief that you wouldn’t have made it this far and that the sole responsibility
and credit for that goes to this other thing or person. When really… Well, it’s
like in mental health help, support, and care services where the notion that is
really widely accepted is that professionals can throw all these tools and tips
at you on how to cope better and be safer, they can offer you a ton of
medication to brighten your mood or calm you down, and they can refer you to
all the therapies under the sun(!); but if you don’t engage or cooperate then
all those things will fall flat on their face and be rendered useless and completely
pointless! So, it’s important to recognise a balance in being grateful for
those who have provided help, support, and motivation, whilst also really acknowledging
your own effort, dedication, determination, and the passion that you’ve put in
to make everything successful and worthwhile.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Due
to putting – or at least feeling as though you’re putting – a huge reliance on someone/something
that you deem to be saving you can really leave you in a state of panic at the
thought of them becoming poorly or dying. However, even though this can often
mean a lot of anxiety, for me; that worry has ended up being a positive thing
with my pets. Firstly, because it has meant that if the slightest thing happens
then I’m in full-on protective Mama mode and getting them straight to the Vets.
Something I actually pride myself on with my pets is that I have developed a
real knack for having a feeling when something is seriously wrong, and I feel
that this is largely due to the importance of my relationship with each of
them. It’s like we have this connection that keeps me completely in-tune with
their health. I mean, when Pixie got poorly, I said from the beginning that I
had a bad feeling about it and sadly, I was right. And when Emmy developed a
sore on her face and the veterinary practice, she was with were trying to
dismiss it, I knew there was more to it and took her to be seen at another
practice where they immediately said she could have lost one of her eyes had it
got any worse. Now, whilst these are very obviously sad situations, I have felt
somewhat reassured that I’m a good Mum because of them and the fact they have
proven I have good instincts with my pets. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">The
other benefit to my concern that I’ll lose one of my pets is that I feel it actually
really helps me to cherish and appreciate the time I have with them because I
recognise it won’t last forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://mammysbiscuits.com/"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">https://mammysbiscuits.com</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/MammysBiscuits"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Twitter:
@MammysBiscuits</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/mammys_biscuits/"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Instagram:
@Mammys_Biscuits</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MammysBiscuits"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Facebook: MammysBiscuits</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-20305886554395401942024-03-17T12:00:00.001+00:002024-03-17T12:00:00.166+00:00AN OPEN LETTER TO RUBY IN THE RUN-UP TO HER FIRST BIRTHDAY!!! | PLUS HER BIRTHDAY WISHLIST!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNarX7fFDslHdmSET6rTrG69EHRGHRYNExnVQty9miDTdBHAjKMQm4tkR8vOw3YEAHxgoWTOZ_nEK2W9u9FWAFhDSm1HeWTaIilURNA2plGFGZ569x0RQ9E6sQmglPK9dzkWv88DKPoSOhd9GhSsZrCVIR2dCDoCFPvDjpu1gLTNx3TQ6O4MmqwBwk6pJ9/s2000/Cream%20Simple%20Minimalist%20Photo%20Film%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNarX7fFDslHdmSET6rTrG69EHRGHRYNExnVQty9miDTdBHAjKMQm4tkR8vOw3YEAHxgoWTOZ_nEK2W9u9FWAFhDSm1HeWTaIilURNA2plGFGZ569x0RQ9E6sQmglPK9dzkWv88DKPoSOhd9GhSsZrCVIR2dCDoCFPvDjpu1gLTNx3TQ6O4MmqwBwk6pJ9/w640-h512/Cream%20Simple%20Minimalist%20Photo%20Film%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lying
close to you, feeling your heart beating,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And
I’m wondering what you’re dreaming,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Wondering
if it’s me you’re seeing,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Then
I kiss your eyes,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And
thank God we’re together,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And
I just wanna stay with you in this moment forever.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Don’t
Wanna Miss A Thing – Aerosmith<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In
the almost automatic decision – which didn’t feel like a decision because it felt
so predictable and natural(!) – to write a blog post celebrating my kitten’s
first Birthday on March 26<sup>th</sup>, I toyed between writing it as a little
letter and writing a full-on, detailed piece about pets and mental health. In
the end, I decided to do both! So, here’s Ruby’s letter and on the 26<sup>th</sup>
the other post will go up…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Dear
Ruby,<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Your
first Birthday is proving to be a huge reminder of how far you can come in the
space of one year, and that’s left me feeling really proud of just how far you
and I have come in that time. How special and incredible our relationship has
grown to be and how close we are – to the point where I’m filled with the
absolute certainty that we really are soulmates. And the fact you were born on
the anniversary of losing my Nana? Well, she always said, “everything happens
for a reason,” and I feel like in a way, she sent you to me. That she saw just
how desperately I needed you. She saw that despite being so made up that Luna
had a new buddy in Gracie, the two of them bonding as well as they almost
immediately did, had left me actually feeling really lonely. And, having been
in a psychiatric hospital where I was literally surrounded by people 24/7 for
the entirety of my two-and-a-half-year admission, loneliness isn’t something I easily
cope with. With my mental health already struggling in the beginning of 2023, I
was sincerely worried that feeling alone in my own home genuinely had the
potential to send me further down the dark tunnel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">All of
this meant that making the decision to add you to the family was a complete
mixture of being a really obvious conclusion as well as it being challenging
and difficult to really determine that I would actually be able to look after
you. That I was stable enough and safe enough to care for and be responsible
for another life when really, I couldn’t even take care of my own! But, in the
end, I recognised that getting you would be the motivation and boost that I
needed in order to really get a handle back on my mental health and better
manage my safety… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I’ve never
been one to blow my own trumpet – that has improved with my blog and its success
and popularity have bettered my self-confidence – so, with my mental health, I’ve
never felt like I’m a good enough reason to try hard at recovery. I’ve never
considered myself worthwhile or important. And so, when I was in the
psychiatric hospital years ago, I made the decision to engage in therapy and
cooperate with staff for the sake of my Mum and other loved ones. I thought
that I would do that until I developed the willpower and determination to do
things for myself, but that never really happened… So, I’m almost always
looking for a reason to stay safe. Someone or something to make it worthwhile
trying; and so, in my mental health deteriorating again in February 2023, my
desperation to find that motivation led to my thoughts of getting you, Ruby. And
I feel so honoured, so lucky, and so incredibly privileged, to have been right
about you; to have been right that getting you has given me so much more drive
to reach out and get help when I need it and to do everything in my power to
stay safe. You make me work so much harder at my recovery and whilst sometimes,
that still isn’t good enough and I don’t always maintain my safety – even now
you’re here! – you’ve given me a much better chance at life. A much higher
possibility that I will make it through all of this. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">This
first year with you – if you put all the mental health things from this past
year to one side – has been the greatest year ever! I’ve never felt so… alive.
You know? I know that sounds strange because the weird thoughts and my struggle
maintaining my safety have meant I’ve actually, seriously risked my life numerous
times since getting you last year. However, when I’ve been safe and happy and
balanced and stable; I’ve never felt so present. So full of life. So positive
and productive. And I honestly 100% believe that’s because I have you by my
side now. Every time I’ve lost a pet, I’ve felt my heart break a little and have
seriously felt that a piece had broken off it – the piece that had belonged to
that pet. But you? Well, I feel like you have both filled and mended all those
broken bits. That you’re healing me. Saving me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Aside
from being responsible for your little life, another reason why you’ve given me
determination is because literally every time I look at you, I find myself
thinking; ‘where have you been all my life?’ I mean, it’s unbelievable for me
that I’ve only just met you and yet, I feel like you were always meant to end
up with me. Like we’re destiny. Soulmates, even. And as I just started
struggling with the strange thoughts and all these symptoms – seemingly of
psychosis – in February 2023, it feels like perhaps you were brought into my
life for this reason. To help save me. To be my forever companion… You know,
moving into this home, a lot of people referred to it as my forever home, but
with it only have one bedroom I knew it wouldn’t be. And I feel like I actually
had that similar sense with my previous pets (Dolly, Emmy, and Pixie). As much
as I obviously loved them and cared for them so incredibly unconditionally, I
also couldn’t imagine them being here for the rest of my life. I don’t have
that with you. It’s like finding a partner; I can seriously imagine growing old
with you! I can imagine looking after you when you’re all old and struggling to
get around and play as much as you used to. I can see myself snuggling with you
during the night for years to come. You are my forever. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Please
know that you are always loved and appreciated. That I will never not cuddle
into you when you start purring during the night and start making a little spot
to snuggle up in to sleep next to me. And that whilst sometimes nothing feels
good enough to counteract the strange thoughts and feelings and experiences,
that is no dismiss of you. That’s an illustration of their power and influence,
not a sign that you aren’t helpful. To be honest, this fact makes me feel angry
and sick at the same time because I feel so terrible that these things have
that amount of control over me and my safety. But, no matter how out of control
I feel, I never want to leave you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Thank
you for being you.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOOxVhNp19vo9AuGJ6zPDFwPY9RLkRvh-HBkSFBQw_-O8cV7mNMPfEk8TZngiuvfY-wdjydM4W5hm0UQcKOVPExnZezlH_WndKjo18vEAq-uFAxeK8by8YJQCUWrP9V-B0qobPOMu6AXgBuFby4kTyKHLotpCHwnW5tpIjeKGE3-VoMqTZqpbtUy5hQm-t/s1640/Three-Frame%20Tea%20Set%20Photo%20Facebook%20Cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOOxVhNp19vo9AuGJ6zPDFwPY9RLkRvh-HBkSFBQw_-O8cV7mNMPfEk8TZngiuvfY-wdjydM4W5hm0UQcKOVPExnZezlH_WndKjo18vEAq-uFAxeK8by8YJQCUWrP9V-B0qobPOMu6AXgBuFby4kTyKHLotpCHwnW5tpIjeKGE3-VoMqTZqpbtUy5hQm-t/w640-h360/Three-Frame%20Tea%20Set%20Photo%20Facebook%20Cover.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-GCQJPL4fyk70F1lRoN0TlHreUvr8XCWya0pk3bWDMYbcKZn73ZO1cQi__GHFeMpdB5TQ6WqqaFzlQ0rVeoyScAZcGu4Hd07llpcaPm9FjJHOSmbgcrI2rflXsVRy0KD2DbO9rnRWSzTxwMNCuxa59lXLvK4zgL6TKlY2uJkPOWkqfuBBfNnjM5Irqgo0/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-GCQJPL4fyk70F1lRoN0TlHreUvr8XCWya0pk3bWDMYbcKZn73ZO1cQi__GHFeMpdB5TQ6WqqaFzlQ0rVeoyScAZcGu4Hd07llpcaPm9FjJHOSmbgcrI2rflXsVRy0KD2DbO9rnRWSzTxwMNCuxa59lXLvK4zgL6TKlY2uJkPOWkqfuBBfNnjM5Irqgo0/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bojafa-Assorted-Retractable-Feather-Interactive/dp/B08G4Y3TK2/ref=sr_1_46?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.M_1X6veP4uBbjzAC9AqXwBSpnn1p0dHxAniB6Z5-1hEP5MaKbBI8jsEcD2wA3TmlGtPAU5FI9wVszI5ah30-dxn-iJTKNs2R4MNXTb2HcmV7hWanQSc1Po0c9Q8JkTpeK3BWW8LYbC3APmBmP77ZWkA-IzovWlW9fFTxod2wHhM-BeeBgljuoXm0im7Aj_eTIVU9AzWc_B187qTbGYc_-FH01pnc087YYOJaudbJp7-E5aZ_5TTfld3Zqts9wE0xXdUi7_PXw2fwMexbmWKanjJFgD2ur2hymLCR6OajUdQ.TfkzdzYDBMAPfLajd_vwEH1WReW99wjcQqaDDaaI0tg&dib_tag=se&keywords=cat&qid=1710619099&sr=8-46">Feather
Wand Toy</a>: £10.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/MEWOOFUN-Window-Hammock-Indoor-Cats/dp/B0C3LWNWF7/ref=sr_1_27?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.M_1X6veP4uBbjzAC9AqXwBSpnn1p0dHxAniB6Z5-1hEP5MaKbBI8jsEcD2wA3TmlGtPAU5FI9wVszI5ah30-dxn-iJTKNs2R4MNXTb2HcmV7hWanQSc1Po0c9Q8JkTpeK3BWW8LYbC3APmBmP77ZWkA-IzovWlW9fFTxod2wHhM-BeeBgljuoXm0im7Aj_eTIVU9AzWc_B187qTbGYc_-FH01pnc087YYOJaudbJp7-E5aZ_5TTfld3Zqts9wE0xXdUi7_PXw2fwMexbmWKanjJFgD2ur2hymLCR6OajUdQ.TfkzdzYDBMAPfLajd_vwEH1WReW99wjcQqaDDaaI0tg&dib_tag=se&keywords=cat&qid=1710619099&sr=8-27">Window
Hammock</a>: £29.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/sspa/click?ie=UTF8&spc=MTo1NDMyNTYyMjA3NDA1MDc1OjE3MTA2MTkyNDk6c3BfbXRmOjIwMTExNjYzOTIyMjk4OjowOjo&url=%2FPetlicity-Massaging-Scratching-Grooming-Comfortable%2Fdp%2FB07XLTV24X%2Fref%3Dsr_1_11_sspa%3Fdib%3DeyJ2IjoiMSJ9.M_1X6veP4uBbjzAC9AqXwBSpnn1p0dHxAniB6Z5-1hEP5MaKbBI8jsEcD2wA3TmlGtPAU5FI9wVszI5ah30-dxn-iJTKNs2R4MNXTb2HcmV7hWanQSc1Po0c9Q8JkTpeK3BWW8LYbC3APmBmP77ZWkA-IzovWlW9fFTxod2wHhM-BeeBgljuoXm0im7Aj_eTIVU9AzWc_B187qTbGYc_-FH01pnc087YYOJaudbJp7-E5aZ_5TTfld3Zqts9wE0xXdUi7_PXw2fwMexbmWKanjJFgD2ur2hymLCR6OajUdQ.TfkzdzYDBMAPfLajd_vwEH1WReW99wjcQqaDDaaI0tg%26dib_tag%3Dse%26keywords%3Dcat%26qid%3D1710619249%26sr%3D8-11-spons%26sp_csd%3Dd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY%26psc%3D1">Arch
Massager Post</a>: £12.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/sspa/click?ie=UTF8&spc=MTo3NzkyMjAyNDY0NjE5MDc1OjE3MTA2MTkzMjQ6c3Bfc2VhcmNoX3RoZW1hdGljOjIwMDc4ODk3NTk2MzAzOjoxOjo&url=%2FPawHut-Activity-Center-Scratching-Cushion%2Fdp%2FB08BX18GGZ%2Fref%3Dsxin_15_pa_sp_search_thematic_sspa%3Fcontent-id%3Damzn1.sym.db22ed06-2ba3-4221-aa74-9532d76572a9%253Aamzn1.sym.db22ed06-2ba3-4221-aa74-9532d76572a9%26crid%3D3V6P0SACQV5CT%26cv_ct_cx%3Dcat%2Bscratch%2Bpost%26dib%3DeyJ2IjoiMSJ9.p6ydvO0Sb0AdSdsLSoDAeLueS3bhTMde-tYuXSBqTmMRe-mNiHZK50SS-AjYVnm50snAogNV9M-TC2ukzoH86g.y7ZjPkrALquiuP4878GhJohzpLl8wsatjGel46YmXSA%26dib_tag%3Dse%26keywords%3Dcat%2Bscratch%2Bpost%26pd_rd_i%3DB08BX18GGZ%26pd_rd_r%3Da741c312-0836-40d9-b3cb-5697139bf322%26pd_rd_w%3DIeIYN%26pd_rd_wg%3DJfF0X%26pf_rd_p%3Ddb22ed06-2ba3-4221-aa74-9532d76572a9%26pf_rd_r%3DKBD8K9K3PCNPB0FDRA6S%26qid%3D1710619324%26sbo%3DRZvfv%252F%252FHxDF%252BO5021pAnSA%253D%253D%26sprefix%3Dcat%2Bscratch%2B%252Caps%252C136%26sr%3D1-2-ad3222ed-9545-4dc8-8dd8-6b2cb5278509-spons%26sp_csd%3Dd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM%26psc%3D1">Cat
Activity Tree</a>: £35.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CH88TGGX/ref=twister_B0CH86WF4P?_encoding=UTF8&th=1">Cat
Spring Toy</a>: £9.49</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDRsrkqIb6fGG9uQT-XoZ1JMOy3UsoojEeWNghugPg8Zv_rudkRIPDl8oS1nEVn0WHXBaB99IRN9Bem2_d02toDF-HlEIyGhtUgMEEfZ8ZnO1Kz59Iadtjidam7XeShWWV-9Se4IW0y04hZRB_eCp8jMIgu9vYu6nfe7JImPf90hAe_Yx0y4xbzYWZD-4n/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDRsrkqIb6fGG9uQT-XoZ1JMOy3UsoojEeWNghugPg8Zv_rudkRIPDl8oS1nEVn0WHXBaB99IRN9Bem2_d02toDF-HlEIyGhtUgMEEfZ8ZnO1Kz59Iadtjidam7XeShWWV-9Se4IW0y04hZRB_eCp8jMIgu9vYu6nfe7JImPf90hAe_Yx0y4xbzYWZD-4n/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/kong-softies-buzzy-llama-cat-toy-beige">Llama
Cat Toy</a>: £8.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/scruffs-kensington-faux-suede-cat-bed-navy-blue">Faux
Suede Cat Bed</a>: £31.50<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/catit-vesper-rocket-cat-furniture">Rocket
Cat Furniture</a>: £47.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/petstages-swat-and-play-quiet-mat-cat-toy">Light
Up Play Mat</a>: £18.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/pets-at-home-chaise-catnip-cat-scratcher-7132326p--1">Chaise
Cardboard Cat Scratcher</a>: £10.00<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ0cGqqhCqQyu00wVgHd_qkDaq4jV-rtvjTl7D-rJBbd1at-j_uIHctNkZ8bdjfesQRD5RlMNGAS7BJliRAUbCpmkDK-cNd0MxKxyy5halGGc1vF_iXKBp-udF-2w8vJwt7gmFHDVMTXodSG_KJQ-kjrt4UXEpDyTQJN2EcSlatPottswNSEzGh-DcxA84/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ0cGqqhCqQyu00wVgHd_qkDaq4jV-rtvjTl7D-rJBbd1at-j_uIHctNkZ8bdjfesQRD5RlMNGAS7BJliRAUbCpmkDK-cNd0MxKxyy5halGGc1vF_iXKBp-udF-2w8vJwt7gmFHDVMTXodSG_KJQ-kjrt4UXEpDyTQJN2EcSlatPottswNSEzGh-DcxA84/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a> <a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1628829201/the-wiggle-wand-cat-toy-2024-new?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=kitten+toy&ref=sc_gallery-1-3&pop=1&search_preloaded_img=1&plkey=9cf4a3e98931a8c0032aeb7c4437e260757c5e50%3A1628829201" style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif;">Wiggle
Wand</a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif;">: £25.54</span></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1567845454/interactive-cat-board-game-whack-a-mole?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=kitten+toy&ref=sc_gallery-1-10&pro=1&frs=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&plkey=15b62d80c332465ab35e968938593e5bf6b1bcee%3A1567845454">Interactive
Cat Board Game</a>: £34.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/874718620/catnip-fun-bubbles-for-cat-or-kittens?click_key=45f086b2577d10db6e048874b380d2d40599b55c%3A874718620&click_sum=2daa6401&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=kitten+toy&ref=search_grid-707024-1-46&frs=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Catnip
Bubbles</a>: £10.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1685780311/cat-scratching-bowl-bed-round-oval-pet?click_key=0e3a8b9f5f9f8b5fd4f0345cc50712743238c4cd%3A1685780311&click_sum=06156992&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=kitten+toy&ref=search_grid-707023-1-15&pro=1&frs=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Scratching
Bowl/Bed</a>: £26.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1172251423/catnip-jellyfish?click_key=35872a9d4e94bbbef4859146d31d3040dfcbe4e8%3A1172251423&click_sum=2819cf6c&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=kitten+toy&ref=search_grid-873576-2-9&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Catnip
Jelly Fish</a>: £8.00</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiTaXDhRGF_N6YJM-7FaOtSHvK3EJccF5Tk8Wa6yqf__DmkXRpNL962F3Uw9R1wVd2lwYuZA-VlviYp9d1qqeuR2AZIr5EeL2cZ_1M7Ltpvkj9Mfua3scmmfCLI9d6WWh5tqmt4XrOG6UgNBRmXCP_GLzJFFXVre_65wzb_yn2chzeSMprYDYivaKl-WL4/s2000/Black%20and%20Brown%20Vintage%20Autumn%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiTaXDhRGF_N6YJM-7FaOtSHvK3EJccF5Tk8Wa6yqf__DmkXRpNL962F3Uw9R1wVd2lwYuZA-VlviYp9d1qqeuR2AZIr5EeL2cZ_1M7Ltpvkj9Mfua3scmmfCLI9d6WWh5tqmt4XrOG6UgNBRmXCP_GLzJFFXVre_65wzb_yn2chzeSMprYDYivaKl-WL4/w426-h640/Black%20and%20Brown%20Vintage%20Autumn%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="426" /></a></div><p></p></div><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-86762584222959947122024-03-12T18:26:00.001+00:002024-03-12T18:26:52.339+00:005 QUICK TIPS FOR GIFTING | IN COLLABORATION WITH PAPER EMPORIUM | INCLUDING AN EXCLUSIVE 30% DISCOUNT CODE!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-UbjVO3vXFCDmg3OVFhiiOJSMm9VY1LdsMOzLThyKpKUkSRtxi7tKOgdLYpl_4hUx06u8TzQw8diMqvWtIYpRImvYbeTB6ObnpKh5qOfyNzaUD9QwtP84Dmcv7uIbwyvOSyjciVb9rsdc1ltR42Hl0I86xypXMpRznsIZk5Pn1-71OU70PRCBR0UTlj2/s935/417703495_10231632327771846_489852109499850360_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="526" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil-UbjVO3vXFCDmg3OVFhiiOJSMm9VY1LdsMOzLThyKpKUkSRtxi7tKOgdLYpl_4hUx06u8TzQw8diMqvWtIYpRImvYbeTB6ObnpKh5qOfyNzaUD9QwtP84Dmcv7uIbwyvOSyjciVb9rsdc1ltR42Hl0I86xypXMpRznsIZk5Pn1-71OU70PRCBR0UTlj2/w360-h640/417703495_10231632327771846_489852109499850360_n.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">**DISCOUNT
CODE: BLOG30**<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PaperEmporiumCo">PaperEmporiumCo - Etsy UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/paperemporiumco/">Paper Emporium
(@paperemporiumco) • Instagram photos and videos</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So,
I was browsing Etsy for Mother’s Day gifts for the previous blog post (which
you can read <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2024/03/a-gift-guide-for-mothers-day-in.html">here</a>)
when I came across <a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1029301545/custom-star-map-print-night-we-met?ref=yr_purchases" target="_blank">this incredible gift</a> from the amazingly talented Paper
Emporium which I immediately personalised and added to my basket as a gift for
my Mum for Mother’s Day! It’s basically a print (which you can choose to have
framed at an extra cost) and you type in a location, a time, and a date and
then they print what the sky looked like on that exact occasion. You can
obviously choose to use any sort of special date or anniversary, but I picked
the date, time, and place where I was born. Then you can type in a title that goes
above the star image (I put: ‘The Day You Brought Me Into The World’) and a
message (I wrote ‘Forever Grateful For You xxx’) for the bottom of it. I was so
proud and chuffed with this gift that I got in touch with the lovely Paper
Emporium team and pitched the idea of a collaboration and they even created the
exclusive discount code (BLOG30) for a whopping 30% off any of their items!!<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a> <b><o:p></o:p></b><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">MY 5 QUICK TIPS FOR GIFTING<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Don’t
be too specific when you search for gifts on Etsy; it can rule out a lot of
surprisingly good ideas for presents that you might not have thought of. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Utilise
the ‘filter’ feature to set your budget for the gift so that only those within
it will show and you won’t end up scrolling through pages and pages of things
you can’t even afford. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Make
a list of five main themes for the person you’re gifting; consider including any
hobbies, favourite movies or Netflix series’, bands they like, brands you’ve
seen them buy from.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">A
pretty safe bet is thinking of something the person you’re gifting already has so
you know they use and like it, and buy an accessory for it e.g. a phone case, portable
printer paper etc. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Never
be ashamed or embarrassed to need to put a budget in place; you can make it fun
too and set a mutually agreeable price range if you’re exchanging gifts with another
person. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUB0gfQXBqwm8AOAEfaXpnS3_JnYdMm5wBWddNeN2sShWY8m9M3KP4gCPYsZseGuZdk6JkfSjAv2mTn9ohOlnOU0sKrHYMBoAzSJ4nAscgMEvDuW2cwq_GRQ-Z3So3iURwkEpuI5-v1ExCaQ2IarCHe5Szj1ZPQO0AXz78nrQWx1iagCNNNhAeGnKuwS_8/s960/417519546_10231632327811847_7480420243576552280_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="540" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUB0gfQXBqwm8AOAEfaXpnS3_JnYdMm5wBWddNeN2sShWY8m9M3KP4gCPYsZseGuZdk6JkfSjAv2mTn9ohOlnOU0sKrHYMBoAzSJ4nAscgMEvDuW2cwq_GRQ-Z3So3iURwkEpuI5-v1ExCaQ2IarCHe5Szj1ZPQO0AXz78nrQWx1iagCNNNhAeGnKuwS_8/w360-h640/417519546_10231632327811847_7480420243576552280_n.jpg" width="360" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">PREVIOUS
MOTHER’S DAY CONTENT ON I’M NOT DISORDERED<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2014/03/happy-mothers-day-mumma.html">Happy
Mother's Day Mumma | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2015/03/mothers-day-three-lessons-my-mum-taught.html">Mother's
Day: Three Lessons My Mum Taught Me | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2022/03/advice-for-mothers-of-cats-happy.html">ADVICE
FOR THE MOTHERS OF CATS | HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS
PROTECTION | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">**DISCOUNT
CODE: BLOG30**<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PaperEmporiumCo">PaperEmporiumCo - Etsy UK</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/paperemporiumco/">Paper Emporium
(@paperemporiumco) • Instagram photos and videos</a></span></b></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-91522696446910056312024-03-06T14:39:00.002+00:002024-03-06T14:39:19.684+00:00A GIFT GUIDE FOR MOTHER'S DAY | IN COLLABORATION WITH ETSY UK<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrRs-SHcDHTE8q6BFBdVuJ3w4PTzzvWHSjIcLwjVJXvo3zqsXyyn9q82dB998e9PBrvORc4bk9hf9Tm_f7mLtYlJQ5KBJTaeigkKWltOSkpVV9By54BlGuCWbBcn7QElyX24DCYfRH66pmOQrZOGogwtGUtxUMF1s4VEcFOdrrirfMpTL5KKquarQgb8I/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrRs-SHcDHTE8q6BFBdVuJ3w4PTzzvWHSjIcLwjVJXvo3zqsXyyn9q82dB998e9PBrvORc4bk9hf9Tm_f7mLtYlJQ5KBJTaeigkKWltOSkpVV9By54BlGuCWbBcn7QElyX24DCYfRH66pmOQrZOGogwtGUtxUMF1s4VEcFOdrrirfMpTL5KKquarQgb8I/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></b></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Unconditional
love is the greatest gift we can ever give.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Amy
Leigh Mercree<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/featured/hub/gift-guide-mothers-day-gifts?ref=MDAY24_UK_cat_nav">The
Mother’s Day Gift Shop (etsy.com)</a></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If
you’ve read, I’m NOT Disordered for a while now, you’ll likely know that I
actually really enjoy creating more light and fun content – it’s very obviously
a really nice break from the usual, deep and overwhelmingly honest posts about
my mental health. So, when I realised it’s Mother’s Day this Sunday (the 10<sup>th</sup>
March 2024) I thought it the perfect opportunity to be able to put together
this little Gift Guide in collaboration with <a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/">Etsy
UK</a> – who have the most amazing variety of items for absolutely anyone and
everyone who you would like to gift this Mother’s Day on their Mother’s Day
Gift Shop (which you can visit <a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/featured/hub/gift-guide-mothers-day-gifts?ref=MDAY24_UK_cat_nav">here</a>)…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuOxanOgK10Pv1QEk-ZmPXE8Kp5HDV6HMV2NBb3IMdUrf8xHcPwk1NOe2bQTfciKPGe43TMkKoqvNr3Nx_DNr1jNdY2-ByB8f2thjai9aaLxkwXV-gjtyEHa9gH1o65Uh1tiCxXSUPUKAvFLhehyVyeMEzlEeG6TEacKHdAjEEa8JoHV4FFxYcHnEiSbz/s2000/Beige%20Tan%20Aesthetic%20Modern%20Home%20Office%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage%20(4).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuOxanOgK10Pv1QEk-ZmPXE8Kp5HDV6HMV2NBb3IMdUrf8xHcPwk1NOe2bQTfciKPGe43TMkKoqvNr3Nx_DNr1jNdY2-ByB8f2thjai9aaLxkwXV-gjtyEHa9gH1o65Uh1tiCxXSUPUKAvFLhehyVyeMEzlEeG6TEacKHdAjEEa8JoHV4FFxYcHnEiSbz/w426-h640/Beige%20Tan%20Aesthetic%20Modern%20Home%20Office%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage%20(4).png" width="426" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1639172210/mothers-day-card-happy-mothers-day-card?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mothers+day+card&ref=sr_gallery-1-44&pro=1&frs=1&bes=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Dried
Flowers Mother’s Day Card</a>: £6.75<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1653988347/a6-card-3d-cards-mothers-day-card?click_key=07812885af93d78e41404435697433b4dd366736%3A1653988347&click_sum=df74ac42&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mothers+day+card&ref=search_grid-718054-1-41&bes=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">3D
Mother’s Day Card</a>: £3.50<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1411680022/plantable-mothers-day-card-floral-card?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mothers+day+card&ref=sr_gallery-1-39&frs=1&bes=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Plantable
Mother’s Day Card</a>: £3.75<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1181590268/3d-pop-up-handmade-custom-tulip-card-for?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mothers+day+card&ref=sr_gallery-1-29&frs=1&pop=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Pop-Up
Card</a>: £10.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1681316913/funny-mothers-day-card-thanks-for-the?click_key=a2a8063c29ff68362e8c6bab231dc40840a7bf15%3A1681316913&click_sum=637c7c98&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mothers+day+card&ref=search_grid-718053-1-13&frs=1&bes=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Funny
Mother’s Day Card</a>: £3.70<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/771026403/mothers-day-butterfly-multicoloured?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mothers+day+card&ref=sr_gallery-1-16&frs=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Butterfly
Card</a>: £3.89<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1665410644/london-bear-mothers-day-card-mummy-mum?click_key=057524107d73bf52b078a9257ff8084ae8031784%3A1665410644&click_sum=ab7520fb&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mothers+day+card&ref=search_grid-497454-1-4&pop=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Paddington
Bear Card</a>: £3.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1668502646/personalised-wooden-mothers-day-card?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mothers+day+card&ref=sc_gallery-2-4&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&plkey=e759fbe3de9e1a7048e88fb6b00f9bba6a0907fb%3A1668502646">Personalised
Wooden Card</a>: £18.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/880297339/mammy-mummy-birthday-card-mammy-happy?click_key=3645e6cd4c25f423787ce8ce2e5af5021c873590%3A880297339&click_sum=d25d9603&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mothers+day+card&ref=search_grid-216188-2-14&frs=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Scrabble
Card</a>: £4.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/779352913/supermum-bear-mothers-day-card?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mothers+day+card+mama+bear&ref=sr_gallery-1-2&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">SuperMum
Card</a>: £3.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQqmcFYPPLPYnZa6qv9oPawjGXI7ZRKX7LiFMETnK5R_YsbBdP4jH8kmQqfaC9667X1gJ8dlCyMQgARaLeSAocaRq-HPBLbHIaGFimydEd6c93nGF45Kv-DFEp__Gh7475e85IAM6jxZQudyTRLfWdFdhyphenhyphenVEoEzFMReBICg0zPfEW0DEuRLwnWFwSldIt/s2000/Beige%20Tan%20Aesthetic%20Modern%20Home%20Office%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQqmcFYPPLPYnZa6qv9oPawjGXI7ZRKX7LiFMETnK5R_YsbBdP4jH8kmQqfaC9667X1gJ8dlCyMQgARaLeSAocaRq-HPBLbHIaGFimydEd6c93nGF45Kv-DFEp__Gh7475e85IAM6jxZQudyTRLfWdFdhyphenhyphenVEoEzFMReBICg0zPfEW0DEuRLwnWFwSldIt/w426-h640/Beige%20Tan%20Aesthetic%20Modern%20Home%20Office%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="426" /></a></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1222866587/cornish-candle-gift-box-handcrafted-soy?click_key=316c7925ea8f46f559af3d672364a22cb955a468%3A1222866587&click_sum=5f687946&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-684964-1-3&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Made
in Cornwall Gift Box</a>: £13.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/679372599/bath-salt-luxury-collection-5-blends-in?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Luxury
Bath Salt Collection</a>: £15.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/922972426/spa-gift-box-for-her-mothers-day-gift?click_key=c90e5b7e13a76c88c78a2100ff345fdc863d3493%3A922972426&click_sum=42a03183&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-684964-1-8&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Spa
Gift Box</a>: £24.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/799517312/peach-posy-bathe-in-beauty-soap-flowers?click_key=b2c768aaaccf18f350fdaa7abbdf18e8f167391f%3A799517312&click_sum=f32a96d1&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-905564-1-23&frs=1&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Peach
Posey Pamper Kit</a>: £15.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1014696795/lavender-gift-pamper-boxhome-spa?click_key=7c5beaa3909a808edb9de546b0cd84b1e6661d07%3A1014696795&click_sum=25fd56cc&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-905563-1-13&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Lavender
Pamper Gift Box</a>: £19.80<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1198711796/natural-home-spa-kit-vegan-cosmetic?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=sc_gallery-1-16&pro=1&frs=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&plkey=e46b77bdc5d05aea52954d2272e073b3fd000346%3A1198711796">Vegan
Cosmetics Spa Kit</a>: £22.45<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/233632555/gin-tonic-lip-balm-with-the-real?click_key=40757f309783916d60591f5cd2f3eb00d0319a96%3A233632555&click_sum=9f3a1e61&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-905564-1-29&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Gin
& Tonic Lip Balm</a>: £3.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/786162500/personalised-letterbox-soap-gift-set?click_key=3c76b7b08339a0bef55cced0760abc01ad327caa%3A786162500&click_sum=6789f497&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-290090-3-22&frs=1&etp=1&local_signal_search=1">Soap
Letterbox Gift Set</a>: £22.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1412163063/ocean-lover-letterbox-gift-box-pamper?click_key=d5f0035d0f19daa15a6b77953d3da42f2b0a3065%3A1412163063&click_sum=1d4a1242&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-602238-4-3&sca=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Ocean
Lover Pamper Gift Box</a>: £14.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1366640790/get-well-soon-thinking-of-you-hug-in-a?click_key=0d849a0fd036efbb3b9aba11cdac89f0d2c2c143%3A1366640790&click_sum=239cbfa1&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-602238-4-6&frs=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Self-Care
Package</a>: £13.09</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUp9eLTLM9tm9xi80CKy10_MzEKEI5LTiwULg2L1xU3ZJtCHwaHkRmeaFcJSeyvYI88Z2xPdTfYyRvDz31NvSmYVQFV7V-5nhu9bgPr7HYvvSotbv0OvuI664NPg_4AJm_DzoDOWEEP_zNC7G6Nfbl8xu-vISD85HVkunuqBY-QmToc28eFz5xGMXXdkIw/s2000/Beige%20Tan%20Aesthetic%20Modern%20Home%20Office%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage%20(3).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUp9eLTLM9tm9xi80CKy10_MzEKEI5LTiwULg2L1xU3ZJtCHwaHkRmeaFcJSeyvYI88Z2xPdTfYyRvDz31NvSmYVQFV7V-5nhu9bgPr7HYvvSotbv0OvuI664NPg_4AJm_DzoDOWEEP_zNC7G6Nfbl8xu-vISD85HVkunuqBY-QmToc28eFz5xGMXXdkIw/w426-h640/Beige%20Tan%20Aesthetic%20Modern%20Home%20Office%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage%20(3).png" width="426" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/993814789/personalised-rose-gold-foil-birth-flower?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=sr_gallery-1-13&frs=1&pop=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Birth
Flower Scarf</a>: £20.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1553797994/gift-for-hersoftest-satin?click_key=b0421836da721e46c8aa9ae5c8e61c7d334f371c%3A1553797994&click_sum=a13a0aa8&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-290089-3-12&pro=1&bes=1&sts=1">Satin
Pjs</a>: £19.76<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1184058923/mummy-sweatshirt-mum-birthday-gift-mum?click_key=fdc3627ffe335e8262f98cda33d0c9716037b952%3A1184058923&click_sum=9d1ba61f&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=clothing+for+mum&ref=search_grid-615474-1-3&pro=1&bes=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Mummy
Sweatshirt</a>: £27.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/612196166/family-birthstone-mothers-bracelet?click_key=e47df5bf7412ab666a95b66b1bce5155944b55a2%3A612196166&click_sum=6e4d82ae&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=clothing+for+mum&ref=search_grid-615475-1-5&pro=1&frs=1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Family
Birthstone Bracelet</a>: £17.60<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1219177056/this-mummy-belongs-custom-mama-hoodie?click_key=acf65d46b30e3df69f186e685425e08f06b9d87e%3A1219177056&click_sum=c082992b&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=clothing+for+mum&ref=search_grid-615474-1-4&pro=1&pop=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Mummy
Belongs To Hoodie</a>: £29.60<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/805035386/womens-you-got-this-embroidered-slogan?click_key=f5a0507e7d7cf2c07459d40259e198792d9198c4%3A805035386&click_sum=976e09bd&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=clothing+for+mum&ref=search_grid-836075-1-48&pro=1&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">You
Got This Slogan T-Shirt</a>: £15.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1640079000/boy-mama-t-shirt-mothers-day-shirt-new?click_key=42c33bd8e7193267fdaa3abb0225d7948fbe0c52%3A1640079000&click_sum=86b7ba1b&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=clothing+for+mum&ref=search_grid-1026893-2-3&pro=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Boy
Mama T-Shirt</a>: £18.20<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/970102018/cat-mum-and-dad-matching-couple-t-shirt?click_key=c934cc1ef9ff616ee126d45cb9db4321a997527f%3A970102018&click_sum=6d320ac7&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=clothing+for+mum&ref=search_grid-508484-2-25&pro=1&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Cat
Mum T-Shirt</a>: £31.49<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/457561456/wild-flowers-sleep-mask-cotton-eye-mask?click_key=33625a68e2b5f98d62d91175f18b7026739991ac%3A457561456&click_sum=a792b395&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=clothing+for+mum&ref=search_grid-455540-3-1&pro=1&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Wild
Flowers Sleepmask</a>: £24.31<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1582628447/dog-mama-embroidered-sweatshirt-custom?click_key=597d5d970b00c20fb5e939ab7deaba54d530ba2d%3A1582628447&click_sum=0da647e8&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=clothing+for+mum&ref=search_grid-455540-3-30&pro=1&etp=1&sts=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Dog
Mama Sweatshirt</a>: £35.52</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzCDbNmNQt0dv0lTofC2_O4Nslxz7vbaQV_q_ewRoIzUPq2BLPDf-nkRc5x9bUDiBYktAaz7Xu1JrIPokLu4ulddybpdK1qU1X25Gq03B1ON38t7lTJ2CJ_tKogcX0BOMp8Scr-8loeepfkpI7CaUF9pIMahzGe2iB33KgsHUvOWcEAYCnJOz-N0VRW_9D/s2000/Beige%20Tan%20Aesthetic%20Modern%20Home%20Office%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzCDbNmNQt0dv0lTofC2_O4Nslxz7vbaQV_q_ewRoIzUPq2BLPDf-nkRc5x9bUDiBYktAaz7Xu1JrIPokLu4ulddybpdK1qU1X25Gq03B1ON38t7lTJ2CJ_tKogcX0BOMp8Scr-8loeepfkpI7CaUF9pIMahzGe2iB33KgsHUvOWcEAYCnJOz-N0VRW_9D/w426-h640/Beige%20Tan%20Aesthetic%20Modern%20Home%20Office%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" width="426" /></a></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1514410368/engraved-birth-flower-jewellery-box?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=sr_gallery-1-11&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Personalised
Birth Flower and Name Jewellery Box</a>: £8.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1297173543/personalised-crystal-keyring-rose-quartz?click_key=c9d3651664f2168d75a7c6d4fa51a5dea8ddb3d8%3A1297173543&click_sum=45acb407&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-905564-1-17&frs=1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Personalised
Crystal Keyring</a>: £5.29<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1420002405/mum-gift-daughter-gift-mum-birthday-gift?click_key=45942c9329ed9c054b16a7ccd5dafc87fd637e96%3A1420002405&click_sum=fa324d45&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-905564-1-32&frs=1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Mum/Daughter
Print</a>: £7.20<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/942350647/personalised-song-plaque-playlist?click_key=6e42253066a1e370bdd02061de9024a2e7d49eb9%3A942350647&click_sum=ddcd9ae9&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-290090-3-29&frs=1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Song
Plaque</a>: £6.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/201690484/handwriting-bracelet-personalized?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=gift+for+mom&ref=sr_gallery-1-3&pro=1&etp=1&sts=1&organic_search_click=1">Personalised
Handwriting Bracelet</a>: £27.38<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1532612369/custom-makeup-bag-personalised?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=clothing+for+mum&ref=sr_gallery-2-9&pro=1&frs=1&pop=1&sts=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Custom
Makeup Bag</a>: £18.44<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1670344416/personalised-mothers-day-candle-190ml?click_key=389e1c58bad00fc50937c2f7a011d7e06a0df60f%3A1670344416&click_sum=1dcfbd45&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=personalized+gift+for+mum&ref=search_grid-258102-1-10&pro=1&frs=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Personalised
Mother’s Day Candle</a>: £10.50<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1390621975/luxury-beach-bag-travel-bag-personalised?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=personalized+gift+for+mum&ref=sc_gallery-1-13&pro=1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&plkey=02e8ea7402854e1c3ad4f5a0ec3302f795d747e9%3A1390621975">Personalised
Beach Bag</a>: £21.24<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1662063115/personalised-photo-bookmark-valentines?click_key=ad32ca61aabd86fc841158bca8f5664ecaad3080%3A1662063115&click_sum=45e5a33d&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=personalized+gift+for+mum&ref=search_grid-258102-1-16&pro=1&bes=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Personalised
Photo Bookmark</a>: £10.49<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1457602228/personalised-family-print-custom-family?click_key=9f6fea277b9d355a2fa162a57469f2d72c496643%3A1457602228&click_sum=947f9357&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=personalized+gift+for+mum&ref=search_grid-258103-1-41&pro=1&frs=1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Personalised
Family Print</a>: £9.67</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYYE8fhYDwmHj6cD-w7xA434Yg-0-6hHQVqa418soUMnlim2z9fSzoPV-hhrZTAOycuR7kko-ejAQEyRUOzZmumKX_rYdNxXe9EoP4eNU9gSf_03RC2hvd6QlwcpZnBniQeBssp9KGTKwOPP41W2r9BVSqvYWqreS7JZneMheo4TqEB-yLxGxdwvcpJmr-/s2000/Beige%20Tan%20Aesthetic%20Modern%20Home%20Office%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYYE8fhYDwmHj6cD-w7xA434Yg-0-6hHQVqa418soUMnlim2z9fSzoPV-hhrZTAOycuR7kko-ejAQEyRUOzZmumKX_rYdNxXe9EoP4eNU9gSf_03RC2hvd6QlwcpZnBniQeBssp9KGTKwOPP41W2r9BVSqvYWqreS7JZneMheo4TqEB-yLxGxdwvcpJmr-/w426-h640/Beige%20Tan%20Aesthetic%20Modern%20Home%20Office%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" width="426" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1283750487/thank-you-for-being-the-best-mum-gift?click_key=03f24616a33cb8252eac142aad6857f7cbcc6249%3A1283750487&click_sum=6163e99f&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-684964-1-4&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Bee
Keyring</a>: £7.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1178145918/handmade-reusable-heat-pad-zero-waste?click_key=9ed3e6cb6deef14aebb51efbdf77c75013ecf427%3A1178145918&click_sum=5046f684&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-905564-1-10&frs=1&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Handmade
Reusable Heat Pad</a>: £14.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/629744104/mindfulness-journal-moan-and-move-on?click_key=3147fb7db91cb26dea4343e6f1e145aac5e17d7d%3A629744104&click_sum=8a839a7d&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-905564-1-28&pro=1&frs=1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Moan
& Move On</a>: £4.76<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1106033465/chocolate-fondue-kit-o-movie-night-o?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=sr_gallery-1-40&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Chocolate
Fondue Kit</a>: £14.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1020913791/french-lavender-wild-herbs-soy-wax?click_key=959877717a9602cac4dae6d37a0615e9a6e19a2d%3A1020913791&click_sum=3901d612&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-905564-1-41&frs=1&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Soy
Wax Candle</a>: £10.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1012521985/5-scented-tea-light-candles-candles?click_key=1950c0adb53421a555f3645e14078de7c8d61e16%3A1012521985&click_sum=3d866167&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=spa+gift&ref=search_grid-905564-1-47&frs=1&etp=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Tea
Light Candles</a>: £11.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1465902314/bouquet-of-crocheted-flowers-pink-tulips?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=home+gifts+for+mom&ref=sr_gallery-1-23&frs=1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Bouquet
of Crocheted Flowers</a>: £23.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1465902314/bouquet-of-crocheted-flowers-pink-tulips?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=home+gifts+for+mom&ref=sr_gallery-1-23&frs=1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1">Mother’s
Day Vase</a>: £11.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/948331228/personalised-mums-kitchen-apron-baking?click_key=d657f6260b09ced939584ede07710df7c86fe417%3A948331228&click_sum=6ba78d7a&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=home+gifts+for+mom&ref=search_grid-769894-2-12&pro=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Mum’s
Kitchen Apron</a>: £12.59<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/955730020/100-mum-pie-chart-coaster-cute-mothers?click_key=3bd2fd89cd620fe095490185d958cf0778f1ec78%3A955730020&click_sum=17bdbabb&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=home+gifts+for+mom&ref=search_grid-683861-3-45&frs=1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&search_preloaded_img=1">Mum’s
Pie Chart Coaster</a>: £5.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-13119233621369167752024-03-01T11:00:00.001+00:002024-03-01T11:00:00.253+00:00HOW TO MAINTAIN YOUR SELF-ESTEEM AFTER SELF-HARM | SELF-INJURY AWARENESS DAY 2024 | IN COLLABORATION WITH PINTEREST<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLvh8qsbZTXLL7PU0O2muB2lHz8E5GvOlw7673SKH1TdkbgB8LaSG7GptYip3cYt9sptaug-ELK0rtLH7gMmgvBlTAskTJN_vvwXL_EitSzDQL_gW-gDoj8DHXSZmvATGEEvyqPfyKvleSQAqsRWGGz5lAyfkvaw_wFa6rybktbGnYQVLo6BQb8FuLKDM7/s1640/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends..png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLvh8qsbZTXLL7PU0O2muB2lHz8E5GvOlw7673SKH1TdkbgB8LaSG7GptYip3cYt9sptaug-ELK0rtLH7gMmgvBlTAskTJN_vvwXL_EitSzDQL_gW-gDoj8DHXSZmvATGEEvyqPfyKvleSQAqsRWGGz5lAyfkvaw_wFa6rybktbGnYQVLo6BQb8FuLKDM7/w640-h360/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends..png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">To
mark Self Injury Awareness Day 2024, I’ve teamed up with </span><a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Pinterest</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">
to utilise their incredibly massive host of images in tackling the topic of
developing and maintaining a good, positive level of self-esteem after having
utilised self-harm as a coping mechanism…</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYDK3hIFxR18-lrR9u2NzbOvuBW88EXhOhgqI7GpoqYxkmW3pnH3X6Y_fSG0ZRXPBuYsO_o_J3bfnDgETEThaUq7-ewyhxtr_oKMIX4_rDRC20hlep_fs0OCnHVYVaJJMT2EGj1wcvwupHqjS8S_Tf6hz30vAFkF9xrRRrnwUhZOLLJKcTiGGwCxV-TV7M/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYDK3hIFxR18-lrR9u2NzbOvuBW88EXhOhgqI7GpoqYxkmW3pnH3X6Y_fSG0ZRXPBuYsO_o_J3bfnDgETEThaUq7-ewyhxtr_oKMIX4_rDRC20hlep_fs0OCnHVYVaJJMT2EGj1wcvwupHqjS8S_Tf6hz30vAFkF9xrRRrnwUhZOLLJKcTiGGwCxV-TV7M/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">This piece
of advice might seem a bit surprising to be coming from me after my post a few
days ago on their huge failings and my subsequent, resulting complaints against
the Crisis Team (if you missed it, you can read it </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2024/02/all-my-current-thoughts-feelings-after.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">). In keeping with typical I’m
NOT Disordered’s fashion though, I’m going to keep this bit honest, open, and
real and start this bit by saying that I 100% recognise that psychiatric
services and the various professionals who can be involved in a mental health
crisis, aren’t always beneficial with self-harm…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">After a
year or so in the specialist psychiatric hospital, a girl was admitted and the
first thing I noticed about her was that she had her sleeves rolled up and had
no scars or wounds on her arms. Firstly, I think it’s actually quite sad that
seeing someone who hadn’t self-harmed in that way was a rarity for me.
Secondly, after speaking to her, I finally learnt that self-harm could take
many different forms because her admission was a result of her continuously
misusing her Diabetes medication as methods of both self-harm and suicide
attempts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Unfortunately,
I think it’s quite a common understanding that psychiatric hospitals aren’t
necessarily always the best place for someone, and I felt that – by the time I
was being discharged (another year or so later) – this girl was a prime example
of this fact, and I say this for two reasons… The first is that when my
discharge began being talked about and planned, she asked me what had been the
thing that I felt had really changed things around for me. Without thinking, I
replied honestly and told her that it was after having gone AWOL on some
unescorted leave from the hospital and making a suicide attempt that left me on
life support for the second (but longest) time in my life. When I finally woke
up, I was transferred to the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) on the
floor above the ward I’d been on for over a year. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Now,
this PICU… Well, it was a ward that I’d heard terrible rumours and stories about
and being directly below it on our ward meant we often could hear screams,
bangs, and alarms going off up there. And what’s massively more horrific than
that; one patient actually suffocated and killed another patient (it’s still on
BBC News </span><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-34317784.amp"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">) on that ward a month before I
left the hospital! So, to be put on it whilst also feeling really physically poorly
from being under sedation for so long, felt like – not to sound too dramatic –
hell on earth! I was being sick almost constantly and when I wasn’t being sick,
I was asleep and for the entire time, I was on ‘eyesight observations,’ which
meant that when I finally felt physically able to take a shower, I had to be
watched the entire time. And I just remember this one, massively powerful
thought coming into my head; ‘I don’t want this to be my life.’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that mindset really proved to be the kick
up the bum I needed to really start cooperating with the hospital staff, taking
my medication, attending the therapeutic groups and engaging in Therapy. I
mean, it wasn’t as though I had wanted everything that had happened until that
point to have happened, it was just that I had felt… apathetic, towards the
whole thing. I literally didn’t have a single care about what happened in/to my
life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">So,
after being honest and telling this girl how that entire experience had shaped
my mindset into finally working towards recovery, the next thing I knew, she
was basically doing all that she could to be sent to the PICU too. I remember
hearing the staff shout at her; “we know you just want to copy off Aimee and be
sent there, but you’re not going when you’re not genuinely poorly like she was!”
That shouting-match led to a huge fall-out between the girl and I with me
feeling so very guilty and seriously responsible for everything she was doing. And
then pretty much the entire ward chipped in with their opinions on the matter
and I was encouraged by everyone saying that the girl really was a grown adult
and could make up her own mind as to what to do and how to interpret what I had
said. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">A while
after our argument, I was passing her room and heard a funny noise and
something just made me wonder and at first, I moved to continue down the
hallway, but then I thought that if something happened, I wouldn’t be able to
forgive myself for not helping just because we’d argued. So, I looked through
the observation window in her door and saw her with a ligature around her neck
and her face was turning blue and swollen. I immediately tried to open the door,
but she’d locked it and so I just – almost instinctively – started kicking it
to try and break it in whilst screaming for staff to come and help. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">After
oxygen and a trip to the local A&E, the girl survived, but by the time I
was leaving the hospital, her beautiful, empty arms were bandaged, and she was
awaiting surgery for a self-inflicted injury. And the entire thing probably looked
kind of ironic from the outside; the fact that I’d come in with scars across my
entire body and the service and professionals had been really beneficial for my
mental health, yet the girl without those, became more poorly from being in
there. And taking into account the fact that we both had the same diagnosis,
both met the same criteria to be in that same hospital (which was also a specialist
service for people with a Personality Disorder!); I think it’s the perfect
illustration of the fact that what helps one person might not help others (no
matter how many important details people seem to have in common) – one size definitely
does not fit all!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">For me,
there have been several ways in which the services and professionals have
helped me in terms of self-harm… I think that the first, largest, and most temporary
way, was by being sectioned to the specialist hospital for two and a half
years. Before I was admitted in 2012, I had spent the previous three years
constantly in and out of both medical and psychiatric hospitals with numerous
acts of self-harm that escalated to almost three times a week and my records
documented over 60 admissions during that three-year period. I honestly think
that if I hadn’t been sectioned to that hospital, I wouldn’t still be here. I
mean, there were no specialist services in my locality for my diagnosis of
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and professionals were becoming
dismissive, rude, and offensive towards me in response to the regularity and
frequency of the really dangerous, potentially life-threatening instances I kept
creating/finding myself in. So, I could easily imagine that had I been left to
my own devices for much longer, deprived of this specialist help and support,
then things would have only continued to escalate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">The
second largest, more long-term helpful act from services and professionals to
tackle my self-harm was being given Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBhLvLRRKjeoCL980Inrvfysn1M5Ap17DCCmMepcUvfI0MGdxH49VCGzMXXqyyWqDISqOQ4oB_tLjs7lhpYFXuXOne-50sNx4VHlrjyLMfjp6VF9VWFLYtxCQl0V5CQfpUFqNHJLIiIMWHlBN21kkCnfpb1QBmcM7s7dGXGf7xjSSrilT0QdCSe2dXQHH/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBhLvLRRKjeoCL980Inrvfysn1M5Ap17DCCmMepcUvfI0MGdxH49VCGzMXXqyyWqDISqOQ4oB_tLjs7lhpYFXuXOne-50sNx4VHlrjyLMfjp6VF9VWFLYtxCQl0V5CQfpUFqNHJLIiIMWHlBN21kkCnfpb1QBmcM7s7dGXGf7xjSSrilT0QdCSe2dXQHH/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">So that
leads me nicely onto this second way of developing and maintaining self-esteem
after self-harm; utilising one of the skills I learnt in DBT – self-soothe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">In DBT,
you’re taught four modules; Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation,
Interpersonal Effectiveness, and Mindfulness, and it is in the Distress
Tolerance module that you begin talking and thinking about utilising
self-soothing activities as a means to help you to cope with and get through
difficult feelings and situations. Similarly to many of the coping strategies
DBT teaches you and talks about, self-soothing was definitely one which made me
feel incredibly stupid. I say this because being taught that you could try
taking a bath, getting cosy on the settee, read a book, do your make-up to cope
instead of self-harming, truly made me think ‘how the hell did I not think to
try this instead of what I was doing?!’ And my frustration really came forward
with the recognition that had I thought to do so, I seriously could have
avoided so many horrible situations (including hospital admissions). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Also,
similarly to other coping skills DBT teaches you, in learning about the helpful
components self-soothing can bring to your mental health and general safety
levels, you have to make the skills applicable and able to work for you and
your very unique and individual mental health needs. I mean, it’s like I said
earlier; one size doesn’t fit all – especially not in the mental health world –
so it’s essential that you put in the time and effort to take the skills you’re
taught and figure out ways in which you can make them helpful for you. I mean,
for me, ‘taking a bath’ will currently never work because my home has a
wet-room so there is no bath – I once joked that if I tell professionals I’m
taking a bath they should be worried that it likely means I’m now hallucinating
bathtubs! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">So, to
adjust ‘self-soothe’ to be relevant and beneficial for me, I take it to mean
the really, genuinely, pampering moments and activities that make me feel
soothed and better about myself. I like to take a shower, do my make-up, put
fresh pjs on and get into a clean bed, do my nails, faff around with my hair when
I have new extensions in, get snuggled up in a blanket with my kitten… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">In a
way, I think it’s a good thing that you sometimes have to put in extra time and
energy to make DBT skills applicable for you because it really highlights a few
things:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">It
teaches everyone who takes DBT that each person is different and has individual
needs that mean they find different things helpful and enjoyable, and this can help
to minimise any chance of judging others and belittling their favourite things
to do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">It
can be really testing on just how eager and passionate you are to feel better
and to stop self-harming because for those things to happen, you have to put in
the time and effort to apply and test out what you are being taught because
simply learning about it isn’t enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">It
ensures that you put your own stamp on your experience of DBT and have more
control and influence over how you benefit from it and the impact it has on
your mental health and your self-harming in particular.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">It
can end up providing you with a better understanding of yourself and why you
enjoy the things you enjoy, and, in turn, this can, fill you with confidence
and determination to promote those things and to not be deterred or undermined
by anyone who tries to degrade them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Aside
from making self-soothing relevant to me, the other difficulty I had with
putting it into practice and using it as an alternative coping strategy, was developing
the recognition that I was actually even worthy of doing these lovely,
enjoyable activities. I mean, I had spent the previous six or seven years (from
the abuse starting in 2006 until the start of DBT in 2012/2013) being told
constantly and consistently – both by myself and others – that I was unworthy
of anything pleasant. That I would never achieve anything in life. And that I
was undeserving of not just my own, but also anyone else’s help, support, or
attention. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">To get
around this debilitating mindset, I decided to take things one step at a time
and that rather than force my entire head to believe I was downright worthy of
engaging in self-soothing activities, I would just concentrate on actually
doing them and just see if they even helped first. Baby steps. I mean, I think
it would be totally unreasonable and impractical to expect me to just reverse
something that had been a permanent fixture in my head for so many years! Like,
how could I suddenly change that just because this DBT Therapist in the
specialist hospital was telling me that it wasn’t true? How could I trust and
believe in something so big and important from someone I had known a mere number
of months?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">So, I
just found the courage and strength to firstly just allow myself to test the
theory out instead of full-on tackling my belief in it. I tried to look at it
as ‘what’s the point in fighting too hard if it doesn’t even help?’ I realised
that if I had tried self-soothing activities and found them beneficial then it
would really help and motivate me to put in the extra time and effort that
might be needed to fight the ultimate fight that would help me feel deserving
and worthy of continuing to use these skills. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Now,
don’t get me wrong; just because this happened – both self-soothing helping me
and me finally finding myself to be worthy of help and support and generally
pleasant experiences – it doesn’t mean that’s it; I’ve reached that point and
I’m staying there. For a long time, I was still having to fight to believe this
on a daily basis, but then gradually, that grew further and further apart and
moved to maybe weekly, and then the odd week, then a couple of times a month…
And even all these years later, I’m struggling to keep it in my head, but by
this point, using self-soothing activities as an alternative to self-harm or to
maintain a good level of self-esteem, has become a bit of a habit more than a
choice or it being an actual decision-making process. This is something the
Therapist said would happen – when you had to fill in Diary sheets documenting
which skills you’d used on which days, why you’d used them, and how they’d
helped – she had explained that eventually, you get to the point where you
can’t record that information because it’s all just coming so naturally to you
that it’s stopping you from being able to pinpoint particular skills/moments. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguHtNROqrOcwn8kQOdYYXVJBMn22_pgxiRooR6gxRBgGIgFTeCFaISQS3j2o1ydNi4oozr3hkIxdcIQ4I6-c4PW0K40uLydDqGFDy2vfOYNIeaqzfmtYd5h1LXvPckQzESVo_98dJwgdkMYFnFy3rSqXoxLIigv_5RksIgRTtBEJTWNdk641KakeCTs9oE/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguHtNROqrOcwn8kQOdYYXVJBMn22_pgxiRooR6gxRBgGIgFTeCFaISQS3j2o1ydNi4oozr3hkIxdcIQ4I6-c4PW0K40uLydDqGFDy2vfOYNIeaqzfmtYd5h1LXvPckQzESVo_98dJwgdkMYFnFy3rSqXoxLIigv_5RksIgRTtBEJTWNdk641KakeCTs9oE/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">My
Top Five Feel-Good Songs:<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Praying
– Ke$ha<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">This
Is Me – from The Greatest Showman<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I
Lived – OneRepublic<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Warrior
– Demi Lovato<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">One
Last Time – Ariana Grande <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">My
Top Five Feel-Good Movies:<o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">The
Greatest Showman<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Date
Night<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Frozen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Alice
in Wonderland<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Legally
Blonde<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd3mPjdAc3p1eBpAcpnUMkmQ4vEptFYzr8WK6bM3HnbNKcnk-hushNOCk7jLZoZ76hzc8RRs7PZVPhXrOl3x06jndCFQ0Yr7v8e5FbHzC9PiakufVdiEvdagSF7hRKn1GfshylEO0_Z8IcUfVmiKNIS5XiEAzuWnyqDdpZxdrXutfg8IxSxZ7MuqJl4uyC/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(3).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd3mPjdAc3p1eBpAcpnUMkmQ4vEptFYzr8WK6bM3HnbNKcnk-hushNOCk7jLZoZ76hzc8RRs7PZVPhXrOl3x06jndCFQ0Yr7v8e5FbHzC9PiakufVdiEvdagSF7hRKn1GfshylEO0_Z8IcUfVmiKNIS5XiEAzuWnyqDdpZxdrXutfg8IxSxZ7MuqJl4uyC/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(3).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">So,
when it comes to developing and maintaining my self-esteem, I rely heavily on
the positive things in my life and this massively includes I’m NOT Disordered,
the achievements it has accomplished (did you notice we’re almost on 1.3
million readers?!), the opportunities it has afforded me, the feedback I get
from readers about the content I create, and my enjoyment of creating that
content. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">If you
told someone who knew me when I was younger that I had become a blogger, I
don’t think many people would be that surprised because I always loved writing –
one of my teachers in Middle School once told my Mum that she could see me
becoming a Journalist when I was older – and enjoyed doing anything creative
(which is why I took Textiles as an optional subject to study at High School). Unfortunately,
my Textiles teacher was incredibly negative and in my years of study with her,
she didn’t give me a single bit of constructive criticism; it was always so
derogatory and almost shaming. She took away any confidence I had in my
creative abilities and looking back and thinking about how she made me feel,
I’m actually genuinely proud of myself for overcoming all of that negativity
and unproductive feedback and continuing with my creativity and re-developing
my confidence in it, to the point it is now at.</span></p><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-81452897669181556932024-02-25T19:14:00.002+00:002024-02-25T19:22:03.717+00:00AN EXCLUSIVE CHAT WITH MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS & 3 ALICE IN WONDERLAND QUOTES MADE RELEVANT TO MENTAL HEALTH | ALICE IN WONDERLAND: THE MUSICAL | IN COLLABORATION WITH IMMERSION THEATRE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNm4he2BG_jTsVt0o3R_IsY5ENYJl8q7PxLoqhsS0LUyTLkdPSRCcqhfF31q-ft06Livibt5jhfrKTGPxjTlg9-TyOjJ7weWaz4K0RHw23G_vUr_MRqoe25n9akYgwZksFTicOECfMu7dvX7GIYQN-dBwcDxpG3aBV3v0QSlthA_vAQrHek8LJeQ7ogjOW/s2000/Cream%20Simple%20Minimalist%20Photo%20Film%20Photo%20Collage.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNm4he2BG_jTsVt0o3R_IsY5ENYJl8q7PxLoqhsS0LUyTLkdPSRCcqhfF31q-ft06Livibt5jhfrKTGPxjTlg9-TyOjJ7weWaz4K0RHw23G_vUr_MRqoe25n9akYgwZksFTicOECfMu7dvX7GIYQN-dBwcDxpG3aBV3v0QSlthA_vAQrHek8LJeQ7ogjOW/w640-h512/Cream%20Simple%20Minimalist%20Photo%20Film%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.immersiontheatre.co.uk/"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">www.immersiontheatre.co.uk</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Immersion_Thtr"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">@Immersion_Thtr</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/immersiontheatreuk/"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">@immersiontheatreuk</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">“Stories
make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">Madeleine
L’Engle<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">On
attending a show at </span><a href="https://www.playhousewhitleybay.co.uk/"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Whitley
Bay Playhouse</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">, I just happened to spot the poster
for Alice in Wonderland: The Musical and I think that I literally jumped for
joy with pure, childish excitement! I’ve loved Alice in Wonderland for well over
ten years now with my obsession starting when I read the book whilst a
sectioned (detained under Section 2 of the 1983 Mental Health Act) inpatient of
a psychiatric hospital. I almost immediately discovered just how beneficial the
level of imagination used in the plot was for my ability to use reading the
book as the opportunity for some emotional and psychological escapism. It
provided me with the chance to really block out my environment and, actually, my
entire situation. It afforded me this amazing skill to just fully immerse
myself in Wonderland, become engrossed in Alice’s adventure, and really become
invested in each of the hysterical, but seriously wise, characters. So –with my
love for Musicals also in mind – seeing this poster was incredibly exciting and
I genuinely pulled my Mum along to the Box Office and bought tickets. Then, I
came home and contacted Immersion Theatre to pitch the idea of this piece being
a collaboration and I’m so honoured to have received a ‘yes!’ and to have been
given the opportunity to actually have a chat with two of their cast. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">So,
I’ve put together this post full of snippets from my chat with Chris Laishley
who plays the Mad Hatter and Meg Matthews who plays both the parts of the Cheshire
Cat and the Queen of Hearts, as well as a few bits about how I relate to three
of my favourite quotes from the Alice in Wonderland story…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSEfQ67VosrGfq4ulR331nyb_O3EeVXUp_fTDzKWFHw7bgI-Icvo1bI2P-DNvgCzHigpC6voWJB1g4BTTiea_go_zBkRY6-ihsdP6xk4pyscQeovmd81q-51UG3bHxssx2S55pKhqOuqmgMY7qKZUyPRlbOBQgIgdHawzri_44x4mCxguFxED23-O-HlYH/s1640/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends.%20(2).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSEfQ67VosrGfq4ulR331nyb_O3EeVXUp_fTDzKWFHw7bgI-Icvo1bI2P-DNvgCzHigpC6voWJB1g4BTTiea_go_zBkRY6-ihsdP6xk4pyscQeovmd81q-51UG3bHxssx2S55pKhqOuqmgMY7qKZUyPRlbOBQgIgdHawzri_44x4mCxguFxED23-O-HlYH/w640-h360/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends.%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">QUOTE #1: “I give myself very good
advice, but I very seldom follow it.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">Recently,
I was talking to a friend about her starting therapy, and something came up
that I said it might be worth telling her therapist that this was something I
noticed she tended to do – that, because of her past, she could take a
relatively insignificant instance and blow it into something a lot larger. And
I more than willingly admitted that I genuinely think that the only reason I
can pick out and spot or observe that type of action or behaviour, is because
it’s something I think that I’m actually guilty of doing myself! Like, a lot!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">I feel
like being great at giving advice but terrible at taking it yourself – is
actually a really common difficulty that many people struggle with, and I think
that this is largely because it’s so incredibly easy to show a better
understanding and (ironically) insight(!) of a situation when you’re not the
one who is actually in it! I mean, there have been so many instances when I’ve
spoken to someone – like my Mum – who has been outside of a situation and asked
what I should do about something, only to be given advice that is so simple,
easy, and straight-forward that it leaves me questioning how I didn’t just
think of that myself! It reminds me a bit of when I first started undergoing
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and we were taught all these safe and
healthy coping skills to use in replacement of using self-harm or other
negative and risky methods for dealing with difficult things. The two which
help me the most are self-soothe and distract. Now, how on earth had I never
thought to do something nice for myself or to engage in a hobby or some sort of
activity rather than ending up doing something I very obviously didn’t enjoy
nor greatly benefit from, and which I tended to even regret doing afterwards?! Like
surely if you hate what you’re doing then you desperately search for an
alternative?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">So, I
think that the answer to this is firstly, that for the self-soothing side of
it; I was so convinced that I didn’t deserve anything even remotely positive in
life. I mean, I honestly didn’t think I was worthy of anything but pain and –
ultimately – death. That was a mindset I had to really work hard on through DBT
and the most effective way I came through this was by considering what I would
say if a friend came to me with this experience and these thoughts and
feelings. What would I advise them to do? What would I say to them and how
would I support them? And so, eventually, I developed (and have managed to
maintain) the recognition that I didn’t deserve what happened to me, I wasn’t
to blame or in any way responsible for it, and I don’t deserve to keep
punishing myself the ways I am and suffering in the ways in which I am. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsk9A13DaMHWKnts__LbRojiwss3nfwglmMvbaeXBUBN9I2ltE7_X_wPkVoJpPRnq1Fh_w6MdiXuVeRG4MOCn6Dc2kFjvaVwUrDP2hiWZ7MFtHGBnLHYZGan5ZG5ntsHgrYv7TvZVVxDxDSZecS1_Kau4I22Es-3XK-sHDLUFfjXOq96huKbrXzFRjHcbM/s1640/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends.%20(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsk9A13DaMHWKnts__LbRojiwss3nfwglmMvbaeXBUBN9I2ltE7_X_wPkVoJpPRnq1Fh_w6MdiXuVeRG4MOCn6Dc2kFjvaVwUrDP2hiWZ7MFtHGBnLHYZGan5ZG5ntsHgrYv7TvZVVxDxDSZecS1_Kau4I22Es-3XK-sHDLUFfjXOq96huKbrXzFRjHcbM/w640-h360/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends.%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">QUOTE #2: “It would be so nice if
something made sense for a change.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">When my
mental health first became poorly, it was very much about the trauma/abuse and
rape, and so, whilst my head felt like such a scary place to be; my thoughts
and feelings around being suicidal and engaging in self-harming made sense to
me. Like, I understood that I felt this way and had these thoughts because of
what had happened to me and because of all my thoughts and feelings around
that. I felt I could pinpoint the cause… But, for my new symptoms and this whole
‘psychosis’ kind of experience and difficulties, I feel at a complete loss if
I’m asked the think of the catalyst on it. Or even, just to determine what has
triggered or worsened an episode or an hallucination.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">Being a
Blogger, I’m often complimented on my writing abilities and have very often
been referred to as ‘articulate’ and so I think it is understandable for me to
say that I really enjoy and benefit from the feeling of being able to understanding
something. I like to be able to have a name or definition for something – it’s
one reason why getting a diagnosis is useful to me and my mental health because
I find it comforting. For me, to be given a diagnosis symbolises that other
people have gone through something similar to my own experiences and this makes
me feel less alone and more reassured that there’s help and support available
and therefore a possibility you can come out the other side. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">Since
these psychosis symptoms first begun last year though, things have stopped
making sense though, and – in all honesty – I haven’t felt very much hopeful
since that change. It’s the weirdest thing though because when I’m having these
psychotic beliefs and intruding thoughts, they actually seem to make all the
sense in the world because I’m 110% convinced that whatever they are/say is
incredibly true. Even when it sounds sort of distant and farfetched. Even when
it doesn’t believable. I believe in it. And I guess that’s the bit that doesn’t
make sense; that you can experience something or hear something, know it isn’t
true, but believe it wholeheartedly anyway. As though the scariest and hardest
thing in the world would be to question it and to try to cast doubt on things. But
still, that – finding the absolute truth and reliability in everything – is
something that you so desperately want. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnE8JVpXbC_yeqDCLDRkqd5jxF6QE5miLGjI6cWBP59ZKYBrzCRF2oeUFNVFj_ZA2mWwgFHcprCuwQzMPRBvzf8PoLapqFZUwx8oUGoNyLgtMWmI3pPpSMAKUNMYBTW8v87-Nfqv5aekwDnSaMZZvmwxjb54MI7JZJJOzHvMcIPttU7D-Nu-YFNpSK4ymJ/s1640/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends..png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnE8JVpXbC_yeqDCLDRkqd5jxF6QE5miLGjI6cWBP59ZKYBrzCRF2oeUFNVFj_ZA2mWwgFHcprCuwQzMPRBvzf8PoLapqFZUwx8oUGoNyLgtMWmI3pPpSMAKUNMYBTW8v87-Nfqv5aekwDnSaMZZvmwxjb54MI7JZJJOzHvMcIPttU7D-Nu-YFNpSK4ymJ/w640-h360/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends..png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">QUOTE #3: “If you don’t think, you
shouldn’t talk!”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">This
quote felt pretty perfect in regard to the three recent complaints I’ve had to
put in against my local NHS mental health Trust: one against their psychiatric
hospitals and two against two separate members of their Crisis Team staff. I
mean, especially the two with the Crisis Team because it was literally exactly
what happened – both staff spoke without thinking (or, at least, according to
both staff they had said what they said without thinking!). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">I
actually my second (and final) complaint response back just the other day and
was told the staff hadn’t even been due to log onto her shift until a while
after my call so she hadn’t really been ‘prepared.’ My thoughts? Maybe don’t
answer a bloody phone call about a <b>mental health crisis</b> until you’re
ready to!! Like, how the hell was it worth the risk? Like, how could she
possibly think ‘I’m not ready to talk to someone yet, but I’ll answer the call
anyway because surely what I say won’t matter that much?!’ Surely, working for
such a team, you have a really natural understanding and knowledge that even in
the role of a ‘Call Handler’ you’ll do important work. I mean, you don’t take
on a job like that without having an appreciation for the role the Crisis Team
play in so many people’s lives; and doing that, should mean you therefore
recognise the importance of being prepared to answer calls when you start
answering them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">Then,
with the response for the other complaint against the Crisis Team, it was
written that they felt staff would benefit from ‘education intervention’ to
help callers feel validated and not dismissed and that the team are empathetic.
Now, surely you hire people for a mental health crisis team based on them
naturally having those qualities (empathy, validating, a good listener)? Like,
surely you don’t take people on who you think ‘they could do with some training
to be better for the job, but we’ll hire them anyway?’ The whole thing stinks
of irony that I learnt to take responsibility years and years ago from constant
and consistent lectures from the Crisis Team, and yet they’re the ones failing
to do so now!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">And,
finally, here's the video from the entire day:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XbbvdohrpeA" width="320" youtube-src-id="XbbvdohrpeA"></iframe></div><p class="MsoNormal">*Photography: DW*</p><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif"></span><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-62195463421214649922024-02-18T00:33:00.002+00:002024-02-18T00:33:33.850+00:00EVERYTHING I’VE ACHIEVED SINCE BEING SECTIONED ONE YEAR AGO<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibla0Q8wA0l454Ut4uDVqrWjBoVV_xSbuvjJtlDzMszCXKYoo-h5ecEQsS0WLzZNSYAvgwmpXldYqXwaaDbwY-cbPMfNllveJQpBWFfzGIQQmrMnQYavEa-HJurKZvOhb8cAEixGEL0h-xuZb9h7eStI9WNXctsTgDEc6pUE7knWF5n8Zf4_dukXJRfuye/s1640/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends.%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibla0Q8wA0l454Ut4uDVqrWjBoVV_xSbuvjJtlDzMszCXKYoo-h5ecEQsS0WLzZNSYAvgwmpXldYqXwaaDbwY-cbPMfNllveJQpBWFfzGIQQmrMnQYavEa-HJurKZvOhb8cAEixGEL0h-xuZb9h7eStI9WNXctsTgDEc6pUE7knWF5n8Zf4_dukXJRfuye/w640-h360/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends.%20(2).png" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">On this day (February 18</span><sup style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">) one year ago,
it was the beginning of my most recent detention under section 2 of the 1983
Mental Health Act, and so I obviously wanted to create some content to mark the
date. I had a huge brainstorm of what angle to take with the blog post, and I
was stuck between talking through the complaint I’d put in regarding many different
instances through the admission and the polar opposite of looking at all the
achievements I’ve made in this past year. Eventually, I decided to do both! But,
they’ll be in separate posts because I wanted to post the achievements piece on
the actual anniversary of being sectioned so as to really enhance the idea that
it’s actually an achievement in itself to have not been sectioned since then
too!</span></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YwE-hnc6IAZT4SY-wDYImbO5QB6R51rHhmav4OsabQPyytsxw_BvMkFB-9n2VII_lfkDjBmIvurrLuxgPJ7-mldElKFS8cyzq9mGMK-q7vjgYTewv1cVdQBnucbY9EPepQSmiE03WcqXxRRHxwW-nbSTZ5xV7AhyphenhyphenWfHjyj2Pi2mvFuHBoIsWdjjC6g1K/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(4).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YwE-hnc6IAZT4SY-wDYImbO5QB6R51rHhmav4OsabQPyytsxw_BvMkFB-9n2VII_lfkDjBmIvurrLuxgPJ7-mldElKFS8cyzq9mGMK-q7vjgYTewv1cVdQBnucbY9EPepQSmiE03WcqXxRRHxwW-nbSTZ5xV7AhyphenhyphenWfHjyj2Pi2mvFuHBoIsWdjjC6g1K/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(4).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Coming
Through Surgery #3<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In Summer 2022 – I still can’t get over the fact that
makes it almost two years ago! – I had a seizure and fell down a flight of stairs.
Unfortunately, the stairs were concrete and had a metal edging to each one, so
I broke my left Ulna and Radius (the two bones in your wrist). I had emergency
surgery within days to put the Radius back into alignment and screw a plate
into it. After about 8 weeks, I was still in so much pain and after being
accused of developing an addiction to my painkillers, I was finally given an appointment
with a different Orthopaedic Surgeon to the one who had operated and after an
X-ray I was told that the plate had been put too high up on my Radius and that
the Ulna hadn’t healed whatsoever! So, I had a second surgery to remove the
plate in the Radius (mostly because it was too high but also because the bone
had healed by then anyway) and to add some screws and a plate into the Ulna
instead. When that failed to encourage the break to heal, I had my third surgery
in March 2023 which saw my lovely surgeon; Mr Pratt, remove the metalware, repairs
the tendons and ligament damage that had come about from the surgeries and the fact
it had been so long with it being broken, and then he put anchors into two
different parts of the break.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Unfortunately, this third surgery still hasn’t
mended the break and having had an MRI on the wrist last October, I’m now
awaiting an appointment with Mr Pratt to get the official results (I’ve already
been told it’s still broken) and plan for surgery number four! The fact it’s
still broken has also meant I’ve been on painkillers since last March and so,
whilst I only take them when I need them, there really is a danger my body
could get addicted to them! It’s been hard though because my surgeon said that
due to the state of my wrist and how fragile it is, I can’t have physiotherapy because
he’s concerned, they’ll do something that will worsen it. So, I’ve had to learn
how to adjust to the fact that my wrist just doesn’t rotate properly – you need
the Ulna to turn your hand around onto its side and then palm-up etc – and so
there are some things e.g. holding a cereal bowl, washing my hair, and shaving
my legs that I’m physically incapable of doing and have had to find alternative
ways/positions in order to still accomplish those – and other – tasks! This
means that I’m actually looking forward to my fourth – and seriously hopefully
final! – surgery because I’m optimistic it’ll mean less pain (after obviously worsening
it for the immediate aftermath of the operation) and better and increased
movement. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXKel9P0fv99HescrScsbmI9QV6rvUs_vm5jFZwP8c2_ae8kSloVgB4wGukD6VWq3Pt8ABqAg7ZvT3X0vngxp-rfnAQBrNie8vFDk_tXHlHSujS3R8Dm0_m573LfT6pG8ErU3pl4S2bqTmEcU2JROVbrjv5RStFpOPLNMd5d_EVscesPpH071BeBamMaeF/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(5).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXKel9P0fv99HescrScsbmI9QV6rvUs_vm5jFZwP8c2_ae8kSloVgB4wGukD6VWq3Pt8ABqAg7ZvT3X0vngxp-rfnAQBrNie8vFDk_tXHlHSujS3R8Dm0_m573LfT6pG8ErU3pl4S2bqTmEcU2JROVbrjv5RStFpOPLNMd5d_EVscesPpH071BeBamMaeF/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(5).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Getting
My Fluffy Soul-Mate – My Little Maine Coon/Rag Doll Mix Kitten; Ruby<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In October 2022, my calico rescue cat; Emmy, was put
to sleep and upon asking the Vet for her advice on the best way to support Emmy’s
furry best-friend; my mini-Lionhead, lop-eared bunny Luna, she recommended getting
her a new friend. I decided on another bunny because I thought it’d be easier
to introduce her to one rather than to another cat and so, in January 2023,
Gracie was added to the family. They bonded with each other almost immediately and
instinctively, but after a few months, I found that they were both rarely in
the same room as me and were mostly either cuddled up together or washing each
other under my bed or under the dining table. So – out of sheer loneliness – I finally
made the decision to get a kitten!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">With my mental health being so up and down –
especially after the sectioning – a lot of people were a bit sceptical of my
decision and I think a key worry was that I’d get another pet and would barely be
home to take care of it because it felt like I was forever in and out of
hospital. So, when I finally9988R chose Ruby from all the pet adverts I’d read
and paid the deposit for her, I was actually on caseload with the Crisis Team
and so I confided in them that I was feeling extra motivated to cooperate and
engage with them because I had this goal of being better in time for Ruby being
old enough to leave her Mum. They ended up mentioning it to my Mum though, but
she joined my excitement and was supportive in helping me get all the items
ready for Ruby coming home. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Now, I don’t want this to be seen as any sort of dig
to any of my other pets, but as soon as the seller passed her into my arms, I
felt such a hugely special connection to Ruby – different to any I’ve ever
experienced with other pets I’ve had and/or have. And I feel so validated in
this notion because absolutely everyone who has met Ruby and I have made the
comment “she’s so attached to you” or “she loves you so much!” I mean, she
follows me from room to room, she sits in the bathroom whilst I shower and then
meows at me when I get out until I stroke her, she runs to the door when I get
home from being out (no matter how long I’ve been out for), and she literally gets
into legit spooning positions throughout the night when she crawls under the
duvet, turns around and comes back out so that her body is under the duvet and
her head is out and rested on my outstretched arm or on the pillow like a
proper little human! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNjqdHZ5pU5X-3XZfMm_wFLhkYEguKgfp7MaF_YGKyhGempnaQZ9KElrcTwOhtDyKVH4ptZf0f2VeS6e7W2czszjyY3PzlcyJgX5WPU2XI2ppPeOqWGMO72j2G78tXePtIaRuFzusY_F_yGb71Dz7DYJslz67u4xKTf29lc9QrFNqSEaegEaEDW9D161-P/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(6).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNjqdHZ5pU5X-3XZfMm_wFLhkYEguKgfp7MaF_YGKyhGempnaQZ9KElrcTwOhtDyKVH4ptZf0f2VeS6e7W2czszjyY3PzlcyJgX5WPU2XI2ppPeOqWGMO72j2G78tXePtIaRuFzusY_F_yGb71Dz7DYJslz67u4xKTf29lc9QrFNqSEaegEaEDW9D161-P/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(6).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Going
On Adventures <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Unfortunately, I’ve discovered that I actually hadn’t
written any blog posts about the adventures I’ve had, but I did create some reels
of each trip on my Instagram…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpaXxGBoYe4/">Rothbury</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CwN0PqAI20X/">Scarborough</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CwF_r1rIq3z/">Beamish
Museum</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cv2k-OqoLYP/">Belsay
Hall</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu473B7oKSO/">Rothbury
pt. 2</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CtKI3tDox8V/">Northumberland
Zoo</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Ct9Uo6bIRqe/">Alnwick
Gardens</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The three largest, most important qualities to these
adventures have been…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">They’ve
made me so grateful to be alive because it’s meant I’m actually able to make
such lovely, fun, and exciting memories that help to really counteract the
thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that life will never get better. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I’ve utilised
my Mindfulness Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) skills to put all my focus into
the activities on these trips, and that’s really helped solidify my memories
and ensure I had the most fun possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That
the trips have really helped build on relationships with the people I’ve gone
out with e.g. my Mum and two of my best-friends; Martin and Georgie and have
been great ways of bonding and making memories together. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn44whkceJ8r4loLpwdACxPvR0m19HMMHLqiJiKVfebwQJzbrEhTpgkYApifFS9ecXq8-XQ6TurRTTP0Kh095yfZn_tX6kK9E1OKv47WITiPc4it4vUi2UYVYQoH3l9MvMbnbo6pumev3j-ZE6UC0p1cepZdklR4Jm3XZ3z6TRGgflmfhX-X3LKboNXgmJ/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(7).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn44whkceJ8r4loLpwdACxPvR0m19HMMHLqiJiKVfebwQJzbrEhTpgkYApifFS9ecXq8-XQ6TurRTTP0Kh095yfZn_tX6kK9E1OKv47WITiPc4it4vUi2UYVYQoH3l9MvMbnbo6pumev3j-ZE6UC0p1cepZdklR4Jm3XZ3z6TRGgflmfhX-X3LKboNXgmJ/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(7).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Blog
Collaborations with Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cats
Protection, Richmond Fellowship, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation
Trust, Disney Plus UK, Phoenix Cove, Etsy UK, Amazon, ASOS, Christmas for CAMHS…
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I was actually
really surprised when I created this list of all the collaboration partners I’m
NOT Disordered has had in the past year! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Something
about my blogging career that I really love and which I think is really influential
on the popularity and success of I’m NOT Disordered, is that I can remember its
beginning. I’ve talked – in other posts – about when I first created my blog
and when I reached my first milestone in so far as the reader count, but I don’t
know if I ever really talked about starting to feature collaborations… It came
off the back of two thoughts:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">When
I wrote posts mentioning TV Shows and Magazines, they attracted more readers, I
realised that this was because the piece was targeting my readers as well as the
followers of whatever I’m mentioning, linking, or including.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">The
benefits blogging was having on my mental health led me to being desperate to
want to use my blog to help others; so, aside from producing content full of tips
and advice, I recognised that I could use my blog’s popularity as publicity for
others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Whilst
these two motivations for starting to take part in collaborations, were balanced
in being insightful in both a personal and professional sense, I didn’t envision
these partnerships would become all that they are now. I didn’t think they
would excel the size of my audience so much. I didn’t envision they would earn
me some incredible once-in-a-lifetime opportunities with these organisations
and at their events etc. I didn’t predict that I’d end up feeling like I
developed a bunch of little, external families with my contacts and the specific
people I work with in these collaborations. I didn’t imagine that in each
collaboration I would develop a whole bunch of new skills and abilities that
could prove so helpful to my blogging career in general. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/why-theres-different-anxiety-with.html">WHY
THERE’S DIFFERENT ANXIETY WITH DIFFERENT SERVICES | MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS
WEEK 2023 | IN COLLABORATION WITH CUMBRIA, NORTHUMBERLAND, TYNE & WEAR NHS
FOUNDATION TRUST | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/hereforthekittens-series-intro-managing.html">#HEREFORTHEKITTENS
| SERIES INTRO: MANAGING MY MENTAL HEALTH IN MAKING THE DECISION TO GET A
KITTEN & ALL THE PREPARATION FOR HER!!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS
PROTECTION & FEATURING AN ETSY DISCOUNT CODE!!! | AD | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/everything-im-learning-from-my-work.html">EVERYTHING
I’M LEARNING FROM MY WORK WITH NEWCASTLE HOSPITALS ON THEIR MENTAL HEALTH
STRATEGY | IN COLLABORATION WITH NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION
TRUST | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/08/relating-my-recent-relapse-to-dramatic.html">RELATING
MY RECENT RELAPSE TO A DRAMATIC SCREAM QUEENS QUOTE | IN COLLABORATION WITH
DISNEY PLUS UK | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/10/world-mental-health-day-2023-in.html">WORLD
MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2023 | IN COLLABORATION WITH RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP | I'm NOT
Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/12/day-one-of-blogmas-unboxed-2023-intro.html">DAY
ONE OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: AN INTRO & THE ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS ADVICE
POST!!!| IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/12/day-nineteen-of-blogmas-unboxed-2023-q.html">DAY
NINETEEN OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: A Q&A WITH THE 'ELVES' BEHIND AN AMAZING
CHARITY: CHRISTMAS FOR CAMHS | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rxGwgoP0M4DvTgqx706hmH7JY9xpbkU7c-eMNN4aEeLt3BpsvAV4eAtDiNRX6s9P1FuVnjxdFDSlO830I4KIQDChMWXz4JUjXdwd4jwo3ZwwZP0VLlQwZJXv-9Q-sfJ477M5N5Iqpp5CfowhFoAII_42_drTeNeZCZwTZN9FrfN0DOmtH3h4yKTolvPJ/s2000/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(8).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rxGwgoP0M4DvTgqx706hmH7JY9xpbkU7c-eMNN4aEeLt3BpsvAV4eAtDiNRX6s9P1FuVnjxdFDSlO830I4KIQDChMWXz4JUjXdwd4jwo3ZwwZP0VLlQwZJXv-9Q-sfJ477M5N5Iqpp5CfowhFoAII_42_drTeNeZCZwTZN9FrfN0DOmtH3h4yKTolvPJ/w640-h512/Beige%20minimalist%20photo%20collage%20(8).png" width="640" /></a></b></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You’re
NOT Disordered: The Ultimate Wellbeing Guide for Bloggers<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I think that this final achievement of my latest
book; You’re NOT Disordered: The Ultimate Wellbeing Guide for Bloggers, is
probably the one which most readers will have predicted I would include in this
blog post. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Before I was sectioned last year, the publication
date for the book had been set for April 20<sup>th</sup>, 2023, but I found
myself falling behind in terms of how much I should have completed by the date
of my admission. Then, when I was in the psychiatric hospital, and I had my
first meeting with the Psychiatrists on the ward, I realised that they weren’t
intending on discharging me any time soon and so I found myself making the
difficult decision to change the publication date. I had set the April date in
accordance with the anniversary of the abuse ending, so I wanted the new date
to be just as symbolic and special, and so I chose November 18<sup>th</sup> in
keeping with the anniversary of the abuse starting. I was actually really
relieved to see that I had so much time left, and it was almost like an instant
weight lifted off my shoulders that saw a huge reduction in my stress levels. I
felt so much less pressure to really force my mental health to be ok so that I
could work on the book.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Whilst I had that relief, I still ended up having a
panic nearer to the publication date because the cover failed to meet the
standards and requirements for Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and it was
something I hadn’t even heard of through my communications and marketing jobs
either! So, I eventually got that sussed out and then the entire book had to be
approved, then I needed all the copies to arrive before the publication party
because I was gifting one to each party attendee. But, going through that
little stressful period actually ended up making everything feel like an even greater
achievement that I was so passionate about celebrating at the party (you can
see the Instagram reel for it <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C1PWbOyopaA/">here</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/03/massive-project-title-reveal.html">MASSIVE
PROJECT TITLE REVEAL!!! | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/06/why-i-care-what-you-think-youre-not.html">WHY
I CARE WHAT YOU THINK | YOU’RE NOT DISORDERED COVER REVEAL!!! | IN
COLLABORATION WITH DINKY DESIGNS FROM ETSY UK & INCLUDING A DISCOUNT
CODE!!! | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/10/most-necessary-items-for-writing-book.html">MOST
NECESSARY ITEMS FOR WRITING A BOOK | 25 DAYS UNTIL YOU’RE NOT DISORDERED IS
PUBLISHED!!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH AMAZON UK | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/how-ive-made-it-this-far-my-new-book-is.html">HOW
I’VE MADE IT THIS FAR | MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!!! | PART 1 OF 4 |
I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/how-ive-made-it-this-far-my-new-book-is_14.html">HOW
I’VE MADE IT THIS FAR | MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!!! | PART 2 OF 4 |
I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/how-ive-made-it-this-far-my-new-book-is_15.html">HOW
I’VE MADE IT THIS FAR | MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!!! | PART 3 OF 4 |
I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/how-ive-made-it-this-far-my-new-book-is_02016080187.html">HOW
I’VE MADE IT THIS FAR | MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!!! | PART 4 OF 4 |
I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Reel:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4Wxj-GD0DJQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="4Wxj-GD0DJQ"></iframe></b></div><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-90731374893518225462024-02-11T22:13:00.001+00:002024-02-11T22:13:15.779+00:00ALL MY CURRENT THOUGHTS & FEELINGS AFTER TWO MASSIVE FAILINGS BY THE CRISIS TEAM<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EezWucfBiCW4GZb06Yax1x5-dSzOI2AK1vi76Auwpam_1Z4uvhEXZW0n7EBF2b6_8zL95d5NE2zZrbkVvMyQYxXziD3bpFrr0jIN63XHx2buo2NLIvvadkcFwYG0sQICCzJNzG9Mu7iTXHgjxT9nDGNOSkOYbhjWIdafmL3GpdIch89G1B-rBRDoEyTE/s1640/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends..png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EezWucfBiCW4GZb06Yax1x5-dSzOI2AK1vi76Auwpam_1Z4uvhEXZW0n7EBF2b6_8zL95d5NE2zZrbkVvMyQYxXziD3bpFrr0jIN63XHx2buo2NLIvvadkcFwYG0sQICCzJNzG9Mu7iTXHgjxT9nDGNOSkOYbhjWIdafmL3GpdIch89G1B-rBRDoEyTE/w640-h360/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends..png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">A lot has gone on recently in my
mental health journey, and as I came to recognise that I hadn’t posted any new
content in over one week and started trying to think of what to blog about, I realised
that it’s been a long time since I’ve talked about recent goings on! Like, I
feel as though a lot of my most recent posts have largely been collaborations
and reflective, regarding advice I’d give or things I’ve learnt rather than
what’s actually currently happening in my life. And now that a number of pretty
big things have happened this past week, I felt inspired and – to be honest –
compelled to blog about them. I really want for this post to take I’m NOT
Disordered back to its very roots in the fact that it was created to blog about
my mental health and what was happening for me in the psychiatric hospital I was
an inpatient in at the time, and I don’t want the very valid fact that blogging
is (still) therapeutic for me, to get lost among adverts, awareness dates,
freebies, events, and complimentary experiences…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">So, in the beginning of December, I
had a bit of an incident with a Crisis Team call handler (I did actually blog
more thoroughly about it </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/12/an-interruption-to-blogmas-unboxed-tw.html"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">here</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">)</span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">…
But for those who don’t want to go back and read that, the basics are… My GP
had recommended I go to hospital to have an infection treated but due to a ton
of strange thoughts and some suicidal feelings, I refused to go. Whilst all
those things were in my head, the part of me that was 100% me and who
recognised how physically poorly I felt, knew I should go to A&E, and so I
called the Crisis Team in the hope that they could talk me through things and
really encourage me to get medical attention. The call handler, however, didn’t
ask why I was calling and told me someone would call back soon, but after three
hours I called them again and it was the same call handler. When I told her
that if she had asked me why I was calling perhaps someone might have called me
sooner, she said that I never tell her why I’m ringing. As soon as she said it,
I was thinking ‘I’m going to have to complain about that’ and so I turned my
iPad on and pretended I hadn’t heard her, so that she repeated it. After the
call handler hung up on me, I went to a nearby bridge which crossed a disused
railway track and jumped from it – twisting my ankle, bruising my back, and
breaking a few ribs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">So, the important bit that I didn’t
write about in that post, is the outcome of my complaint; this was just because
there was no outcome at that point because the member of staff responsible for
investigating the complaint, had applied for an extension on his deadline to
have the response completed. So, besides them accidentally sending me the
unfinished report before approval!!!! – I actually didn’t even receive the
report until the end of January, and to be honest, initially I was quite
pleased with it because they had basically upheld everything I’d said – I mean,
I knew they couldn’t exactly deny things because I’d recorded it; but they
could have very easily just dismissed it (something they tend to be good at
doing on a whole!)! But the investigator explained that he’d; ‘… spoken to the
staff member in question and stated that the reason/s why someone contacts our
service need to be asked without exception as per the call handler protocol.’ He
also said ‘the call handler also did speak of perhaps an assumption and
familiarity with regular callers that she is generally aware of the nature of
their calls. I reinforced to the call handler that moving forwards all callers
should be asked the nature of their call…’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">I said that I was happy with this initially,
but when I re-read it over the following 24 hours from receiving it, I realised
that the only reference to some sort of apology was this one sentence that said
‘the call handler on reflection was apologetic for not having asked you the
purpose of your call and accepted that by not doing so she had acted out of the
agreed call handler process.’ But, other than that one sentence in the entire
four-page document, there was no other mention of an apology. I also noticed this
sentence: ‘as part of an agreed action plan this has also been discussed formally
in her clinical supervision’ and I wondered what that actually meant or
entailed, so I called the Complaints Department. They explained that it
basically meant this would go against her at any appraisals etc. and then said
they would ask the investigator to add an actual apology to the report. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">The final bit which really stuck out
to me in this report/response, was an acknowledgement of something I believe,
but which it’s sad to think they recognise too… ‘It is also felt that our staff
group would benefit from an education intervention in regard to attitudes and
values, to hopefully prevent any perception that callers do not feel listened
to, validated, or that staff lack compassion.’ Now, surely if there’s anyone
who shouldn’t need training to provide compassion and validation it’s a member
of a mental health Crisis Team! I mean, I seriously believe it should be a
vital quality that the staff have, can evidence and illustrate, before even joining
the team! In my eyes, it seriously brings into question whether someone is in
the right job; if they don’t have a natural instinct, attitude, or behaviour that
is essential in their role and have to be educated on how to do it, perhaps there’s
another role they’d be more suitable for.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">Whilst I would 100% agree that the
Crisis Team need such training or ‘education intervention,’ it actually ended
up angering me to see this investigator state his own recognition that this is
the case. I think that’s because it is written so matter-of-factly! As though acknowledging
this huge room for improvement – this massive factor that’s essential for
service users in a mental health crisis – is a small, insignificant act and it
angers me that they say it as though holding their hands up and saying it needs
to be done is completely fine. As though that’s adequate and acceptable. Like,
they shouldn’t need this! They shouldn’t need training to be a person! They
shouldn’t need education to be told which qualities they should have that would
be beneficial for those they’re supposed to be helping and supporting. Those
who are really the bread and butter of their entire job in the first place! In
my eyes, it would be like me saying that I was going to be a Plumber… When I
have skills, education, and personal qualities and experiences which are pretty
well-suited for the communications and marketing industry! And it’s like, why
would you want to do something that you’re no good at?!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">Then, the second incident with the Crisis
Team (which I haven’t blogged about or even spoken about on social media) came
up in the beginning of January when, yet another call handler, misspoke as well
as also failing to ask me why I was calling! When it happened, I was actually
still awaiting the report for the first incident, so I spoke with the
investigator of that one and told him this second, similar incident had
occurred and asked if he should look into both or if it needed to be a separate
complaint. His words? “You’re joking?! Another call handler?!” In fairness, you
could totally hear the genuine anger and frustration in his voice. He came to
the conclusion that I needed to register it as a second complaint because putting
them both together would confuse the deadline date for his report, and then he
said he was going to send an email as we spoke to all of the call handlers
telling them to always ask for the reason why someone is calling.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">This time, similarly, to last, I was
told that they weren’t very busy and a few hours later I called them back and said,
“do you realise you didn’t even ask me why I was ringing?” and the call handler
was like “alright…” And I kind of tutted and said “ok, so you’re not bothered
about that?” And after a little pause she said “well, I mean… are you?!” Also
once again, I recorded the entire conversation and so, when I put the complaint
in, the investigator assigned to it called me and asked that I send a copy of
the recording into the Complaints email inbox. Unlike the first complaint where
the video was 25 seconds long, this was over 1 minute, and I had a number of
technical problems trying to send it because of the sheer size of data that it
was. At one point, the investigator called and said she’d been told I couldn’t
send it in and I tried thinking up a ton of ways to get it to them before
finally saying that she’d heard it over the phone so why did she need it. She
told me that she might want to replay it and go back to bits of it. So, a bit
frustrated and annoyed that I was having to keep trying to make this whole
thing work, I said to her that it’s actually really sad that I have to send in
this proof because really, the call handler should admit to what she has said
and taken responsibility for it, the same way professionals have lectured me
for years to take responsibility for my actions. The investigator told me she
hadn’t even approached the call handler yet(!) so she hadn’t even had a chance
to deny it or provide excuses. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZfBzKO3QT4fmM2mYjs2axOE8EEPIFlVs7JNcSRGt4nLag_lh1rWGldta4k06hw6scpHu_30_hAgw86gaku1aVUu1ddShGjGtuO-n-FUi9x3KEu-_UkXy60lQYiIkPXCd94hT9pXblmOVPsLeW1belnND05CBE2r45c5_3wgcDugeN46janHSu7_BgjX-Q/s1640/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends.%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZfBzKO3QT4fmM2mYjs2axOE8EEPIFlVs7JNcSRGt4nLag_lh1rWGldta4k06hw6scpHu_30_hAgw86gaku1aVUu1ddShGjGtuO-n-FUi9x3KEu-_UkXy60lQYiIkPXCd94hT9pXblmOVPsLeW1belnND05CBE2r45c5_3wgcDugeN46janHSu7_BgjX-Q/w640-h360/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends.%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">I think that this – the question of
responsibility and admitting to any poor actions or attitude that you’ve
illustrated – is a huge motivator in these complaints because, as I said, these
were qualities that psychiatric professionals have encouraged me to embody.
But, not just that, they’re behaviours which those professionals used against
me. Like, the fact I didn’t take responsibility and that I always blamed others
for my decision to cope in a particular way; they turned that into a huge
failing on my part and left me feeling like a pretty terrible person who
actually wasn’t even worthy of their help or support. So, for these
professionals to go ahead and exhibit those same flaws, very obviously and –
hopefully – understandably struck me as massively hypocritical. It left me
thinking ‘who gave them the right to call me out on something they do too?!’ It
really reminded me of the old mindset around ‘Us Vs Them’… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">From
the minute I was first detained under section 2 of the 1983 Mental Health Act
in 2009, I have been incredibly aware of this Us Vs Them mentality and mindset and
yes – I have most definitely believed in it… Many times! And this initially was
the case because it’s incredibly difficult not to think that way when you
honestly believe that the best thing for you is to be dead and you have all
these professionals stopping you from doing that. And they’re saying they have
a ‘Duty of Care’ but for you, that you feel that this actually translates into
‘we’re just doing our job’ and that makes it hard to view them as actually
caring about <b><i>you</i></b> and recognising what’s in <b><i>your</i></b>
best interests.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">It then
becomes an ‘us’ when you recognise that you aren’t the only person being
treated this way and when you meet another service user who voices having that
same belief that they would rather be dead, how do you tell them that they’re
wrong when you feel the exact same way about yourself? And so, you have this mutual,
deep understanding that leads you to come to believe that no one – especially
not staff from the Crisis Team or Police Officers – will ever develop or even
appreciate. I mean, when I talked to another psychiatric hospital inpatient
about the abuse I’d experienced for the first time, and she told me about her
own trauma, I felt a sense of connection, comfort, and reassurance that I just knew
no professional in the entire world could – or would – ever be able to provide or
instil in me. She got it. She knew. And as upsetting and heartbreaking as it is
to hear someone else has gone through anything even remotely resembling the
worst experience in your life, it was almost a relief to know I wasn’t alone in
it. That someone could actually comprehend the sheer turmoil and conflict
inside of me – the thoughts and feelings that I felt professionals were
ignoring, dismissing, and arguing with. It was like there was no one else in
the world who would ever come close to understanding what I had gone through
and why that led me to feel the way I felt. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">The
most difficult element to me finding people who understood, was that in doing
so, it kind of exacerbated the distance I felt with professionals because it
really magnified the gravity of it. It highlighted just how misunderstood I
felt with them and how dismissive and downright ignorant they could be. There
were two difficulties to this…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">It
meant that I was more reluctant to call the Crisis Team or emergency services
and hesitant to cooperate with any professional – even those who might have
genuinely been trying to help me! I developed the belief that if I did confide
in a professional, they would use it ‘against me.’ I started to think – and
fear – that if I were to talk about an hallucination or dark thought/feeling to
someone, they could then use that as reason to section me, use the Mental
Capacity Act on me, restrain me, medicate me against my will. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">It
meant that a lot of outsiders, saw my friendships with other service users as
unhelpful and a bad influence on my thoughts and relationships with professionals.
As though these friends were bad influences; when, actually, they were just unintentionally
proving to be very real reminders that there were so many things wrong with
professionals. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">To claw my way out of this free-fall
into old thoughts and feelings, I had to recognise that they were unhelpful and
that the most powerful and productive response to the hypocritical staff wasn’t
to avoid them or treat them poorly and with no respect; it was to put in the
complaints and seriously hope that they will see the error of their ways. Plus,
really, it’s all about preventing them from treating others the way I was
treated – and, as wrong as this is, what’s the chance of them learning their
lesson if no one highlights where they’ve gone wrong? I mean, it should be
clear to them that they shouldn’t have said something or should have done
something differently, but let’s be real – they either just don’t see it or they
just don’t want to see it. Either way, my concern is that if I don’t speak up
and they behave this way with someone else and that person does something very
dangerous and it ‘works,’ I would actually – wrongly, but understandably – feel
a level of fault, blame, and responsibility. And I refuse to feel like I have
to take any responsibility for the professionals many methods of failing
service users; so, I speak up and I feel at peace that at least I’ve done the
best that I can to avoid these things happening to others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuOj36FfHEpan_TUyWbH3frZtpcFcLb6vYqUQ82mTOp1E1-5QOBMKg4wnUSxefof3e_N0hI2vlio2VQZ7TSCIS5lnrcA2v-7D_vBHsFoVH2KnNBVKlHf8wOwnS-xAfJf2P97Kdj6extkF4eD3pUpBKiA5dBILS7fawqQAWPlkxqMUcSG-a8cOoGbPAaCMl/s1640/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends.%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuOj36FfHEpan_TUyWbH3frZtpcFcLb6vYqUQ82mTOp1E1-5QOBMKg4wnUSxefof3e_N0hI2vlio2VQZ7TSCIS5lnrcA2v-7D_vBHsFoVH2KnNBVKlHf8wOwnS-xAfJf2P97Kdj6extkF4eD3pUpBKiA5dBILS7fawqQAWPlkxqMUcSG-a8cOoGbPAaCMl/w640-h360/Who%20needs%20a%20boyfriend%20when%20you%20have%20the%20best%20set%20of%20friends.%20(2).png" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; text-align: left;">I think that one of the most
important components that I feel is really fundamental to this entire situation
and complaint, is the fact that both incidents are with call handlers and that
has meant that in those two situations, I’ve not gotten any further. I’ve not
been able to speak to a Nurse who might have actually ended up being really helpful
and supported me in keeping myself safe because it’s like I’ve been failed
immediately and after being treat that way, why would I pursue things and still
speak to someone in the Team? Rightly or wrongly, the reality is that one
professional represents a lot more than just themselves; they also represent their
team, their entire Trust, charity, or organisation, and even – to some extent –
all those in the same profession! If one behaves terribly, it shines a light on
so many others and leaves you almost naturally questioning whether they’re ‘all
like that.’</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">With that in mind, I think it’s
pretty obvious and understandable why I say that I’m now so incredibly
reluctant and hesitant to call the Crisis Team after those two instances. And
having a couple of bad appointments with my CPN and then a huge incident with my
Care Manager, has meant I’ve started to feel pretty alone in terms of having
the notion that I’m running out of professionals who care about me, who I
trust, or who are helpful for me. I mean, fortunately I have my two Recovery
Workers from Richmond Fellowship. They’re more informal help though, in terms
of them not being about therapy, creating formulations, getting medication prescribed,
and making huge decisions about my care etc. But I actually think that’s
something that adds beneficial quality to them because I’m at a point in my
mental health and psychosis journey where I’m honestly so terrified of being
100% open about my thoughts, feelings, and experiences, because I feel I have
every reason to believe something will come from doing so. Something which might
be against my will or just completely even without any input from me. I had
someone actually say the other day “they’re not going to section you!” and a couple
of thoughts went through my head…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">You have no right or ability to say
that when you don’t actually know what it is that I’m holding back. I get that
perhaps it’s meant as comfort and reassurance, but when I’m the only one who
knows everything and if I’m afraid of being sectioned happening, then that
should be enough. Especially having experience of being sectioned and so I have
some level of understanding and appreciation as to what might influence that to
happen. And so, other people not knowing exactly what is going on, should mean
that my fear of being sectioned isn’t even really up for debate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">You haven’t ever been sectioned so
you don’t understand why that would be a fear… This person doesn’t know what it’s
like to discover that all these professionals have come together to section you
and have included the absolute minimal amount of involvement from you! For them
to do it in – in my opinion – a very sneaky and sly way just leaves me feeling
very uncertain in trusting professionals and I lack any sort of confidence in predicting
their actions. I mean every single time I’ve been sectioned I’ve not once
agreed that should happen and for each occasion, I’ve not once even worried or
suspected that they were going to do it, so it’s left me feeling the need to be
‘on-guard’ all the time! I mean, even if I’ve had no contact with them, if I’m
in the bedroom and hear a car door slam in the car park behind my house, I’m almost
always convinced it’s either the Police or the Crisis Team! And I don’t meant
to sound like a drama queen or like I’m exaggerating, but it’s all genuinely
just been since the last time I was sectioned in February 2023, because for
that; everyone had congregated in that carpark. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">This whole thing is kind of a
reminder of my thoughts around my medication right now… So, a little while ago,
the Crisis Team had my antipsychotic medication increased and initially, I took
it and everything was great again – I was happy, I was safe, I was attending
all my appointments, and being productive at home with my work, blogging, and
online learning etc. But then, before the medication really had the chance to
build up in my system, I began having suspicious thoughts about it and so I
stopped taking it – well, initially I just tried to take it as often as possible,
but the belief built, and eventually, I stopped taking it completely. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">I think that the most frustrating
thing around my medication and my difficulty taking it, is that my fear and
terror about it is so much more real and powerful than the recognition that
actually, if I do take the medication, then it very likely could actually get
rid of the thought entirely! And the evidence for this is from the fact that it
has actually worked like that for me before. It’s annoying that I can see both
sides, and that as massively as I want my head to be quieter and safer, I’m too
terrified of the risks of taking the medication for that mindset to be good
enough to persuade me to take it… <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">Last weekend, a strange thought (part
of the psychosis) came into my head and without thinking twice, I acted upon it
and almost before I knew it, I found blood spurting out of me! Because it hadn’t
been ‘self-harm’ or a suicide attempt, I called an Ambulance and after a bit of
backwards and forwards to two different hospitals, I finally saw a Plastic Surgeon
who concluded that I’d severed my radial nerve and explained that because it
had already been damaged before this, she felt it wasn’t really worth repairing
it because it could traumatise more structures around it in the process, it
wouldn’t never get back to perfection, there would be infection risk, and what
if I were to hurt that place again? Whilst I obviously don’t want permanent
nerve loss, the surgeon went about explaining her decision to me very well and
I feel like I understand and appreciate her thoughts, feelings, and opinions
about it and that I’ve come to accept it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">My acceptance though, comes from the
sheer and blunt recognition that there’s literally nothing I can do to change things.
It’s also about the fact that the alternative feeling to the acceptance is the
frustration I feel with the thought and realisation that despite the fact that I
now know those strange thoughts were completely far-fetched and untrue, I still
have to cope with the consequences of what I had done when I had been fully convinced
of it. And to be perfectly honest, the idea – or fact – that I need medication
to help me to not think something as random as I did was real and to not act
upon it in the way I did; is pretty damn scary in itself!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: HGMaruGothicMPRO;">So, moving forwards… I’m trying harder
to take my medication and I’m trying hard to make myself feel ready to work
with my CPN on the formulation which will see my diagnosis officially change to
Psychosis and therefore open new options in terms of help, support, and
treatment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-41072168299447403812024-02-01T10:00:00.006+00:002024-02-01T10:00:00.142+00:00THE RED FLAGS IN COMMUNICATION AROUND MENTAL HEALTH | IN COLLABORATION WITH NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST | TIME TO TALK DAY 2024<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgApBkCacCRw0KRCs2B6MwNjNtobCqXbc_O23BSK-Hp8XHdeK3RgB66W5Ot9JCgBGmtBLGvqNY1X9aSSluHcWIcg-g0K7ZJqzgTrB1YaRUdadywoVZwFuIFTcOMXQITYa_slPoQnBFZj6nqX0iPGuKyeXkSEffH_IjqFbjLxTI3FKszsEKz2M9k4uYm-EMp/s1640/NUTH%20TTTD%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgApBkCacCRw0KRCs2B6MwNjNtobCqXbc_O23BSK-Hp8XHdeK3RgB66W5Ot9JCgBGmtBLGvqNY1X9aSSluHcWIcg-g0K7ZJqzgTrB1YaRUdadywoVZwFuIFTcOMXQITYa_slPoQnBFZj6nqX0iPGuKyeXkSEffH_IjqFbjLxTI3FKszsEKz2M9k4uYm-EMp/w640-h360/NUTH%20TTTD%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This post is in collaboration with the Newcastle Upon Tyne
Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUTH) who I’m helping and supporting in their creation
of a Trust-wide Mental Health Strategy (which I’ve previously blogged about </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/02/from-intensive-care-to-collaborations.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">, </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/why-theres-different-anxiety-with.htmlhttps:/www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/why-theres-different-anxiety-with.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">, </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/everything-im-learning-from-my-work.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">, </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/08/why-nhs-trusts-need-to-be-following-in.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">, and </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/why-hospital-can-be-stressful-how-to.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">). Together,
we’re marking </span><a href="https://timetotalkday.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Time To Talk Day 2024</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">
which is a date where everyone is encouraged to talk more about mental health
in the hope that it will tackle the discrimination and stigma held against the
topic and that, in doing so, it will also improve the help and support that is
offered or available for those who might be struggling with their mental
health. We’ve decided to utilise the fact that whilst there is – rightly – so
much content around encouraging conversations, there are too few pieces around
the importance of recognising when a communication around mental health needs
to be reconsidered whether by terminating it completely or changing the route
it seems to be taking – something which is as equally important as starting a
chat. Thankfully and admirably, it’s also something NUTH recognises to be an
essential component to their upcoming Mental Health Strategy…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhktrtJgjBTqOywxi3fHw7UmpK-EORZ_YFtjBe_RwvLHDNR1Ew9XqA0TOS00CKtRbivpbMRlZurqpyYsZEqLza62vfnyrEoQl_B6QfExsIUVWO6k6E_DGZZ46PBPliN7LWfgh8CMcWGfAWSebh3Th0XPO1SN4ozp3oVJrT_mIlVw3dW6LX0SZPX0ZEoA4nS/s1640/NUTH%20TTTD%20(3).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhktrtJgjBTqOywxi3fHw7UmpK-EORZ_YFtjBe_RwvLHDNR1Ew9XqA0TOS00CKtRbivpbMRlZurqpyYsZEqLza62vfnyrEoQl_B6QfExsIUVWO6k6E_DGZZ46PBPliN7LWfgh8CMcWGfAWSebh3Th0XPO1SN4ozp3oVJrT_mIlVw3dW6LX0SZPX0ZEoA4nS/w640-h360/NUTH%20TTTD%20(3).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">If you’ve read, I’m NOT Disordered for a while now, you may know
that there was a point in my mental health journey where I was labelled an
attention-seeker and actually even had professionals (mostly the Police and
Crisis Team staff) regularly say it to my face! I remember this one time in
particular when I had walked down the middle of a motorway and the Police had
put me in their car and then called the Crisis Team in front of me and said
“oh, this is just what she does for attention?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This name-calling came not too long after I noticed ‘possible Personality
Disorder’ on a discharge summary and sadly, I genuinely don’t think that was a
coincidence. For some people who are more recently diagnosed with such a Disorder,
might find it difficult to believe that in around 2009/2010 (when I was
diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder) there was so little awareness,
understanding, or compassion around it. I mean, I do see social media content
regularly detailing a stigmatised experience of someone with a Personality
Disorder (PD), but I think that – whilst it still isn’t good enough – the
mental health sector or industry has massively improved from how it was all
those years ago. And I think that often, this makes me grateful for something
someone else may deem ‘small’ or ‘insignificant’ or ‘the way it should be.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When I was sectioned in 2012, there was a discharge meeting with
my Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) and inpatient Psychiatrist where he
mentioned that he would recommend the community team look into referring me to
a specialist PD service out of the locality. And why would I have to leave my
locality? Because there were literally no mental health services specialising
in helping and supporting someone with a PD diagnosis! So, with the fact that
between 2009 and 2012, my records showed I had over 60 admissions to medical
and psychiatric hospitals, my CPN began arranging assessments with these
out-of-area hospitals. On my first one with the nearest service, they concluded
that they couldn’t accept my flight risk and that the community team should be
looking to secure hospitals, so I had an assessment with a long-term specialist
psychiatric hospital over 100 miles away from home. Upon hearing that the
medium secure ward/hospital operated on a very strict ‘therapeutic timetable’ and
that the average length of admission was 12 – 18 months, I refused to go when
they offered me a bed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After another suicide attempt in the summer of 2012, the medical
hospital used the Capacity Act to put me on life support and administer the
lifesaving treatment which I had been refusing to accept. When I was brought out
of it and taken off the ventilator, the community team told me I’d be going to
the specialist hospital and honestly, being there a matter of hours, I ended up
already feeling more validated than I had the entire three years between my
first sectioned admission in 2009 to this one. I was never once referred to as
an attention-seeker or a drama queen or any other derogatory and condescending insults.
For me, this really illustrated the importance of mental health professionals
being knowledgeable, appreciative, and understanding of particular mental illnesses
which could mean that the service user needs more specific, specialist, and individual
help and support. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Whilst I was obviously beyond grateful for this change in attitude
and response, it was also kind of sad too. I mean, it really made me think
about the fact that all those times I had been badly treat by my local
psychiatric professionals, medical staff, and Police, could have honestly so
easily (and I’d like to think understandably too!) led to me succeeding in a
suicide attempt. Being treat poorly by the people – especially mental health
teams because they are supposed to be the ‘right’ people to help in a mental
health crisis – who were meant to be there to help and support you in your
darkest and most afraid moments, left me feeling really alone and dismissed. And
those thoughts and feelings can have such a huge power of anyone’s safety let
alone someone – like me – who is already unsafe! This also led me to think
about the fact that there were surely so many other people from my postcode and
locality who also have BPD and are being treat poorly; and it left me wondering
why I deserved to have this admission and receive the improved level of help
and support. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Another difficulty in being treat so much better was that I actually
also experienced a sense of frustration for two different reasons. Firstly, it came
from the notion that if this specialist PD service existed and if their staff could
have such a good response and understanding of this diagnosis, why couldn’t the
NHS Trusts and services back home also provide these potentially life-saving
qualities? I’ll never forget when one of the staff on the specialist ward said
to me “if you’d lived nearer here, you’d have been admitted after your first
suicide attempt.” Yet, because experiencing a good standard of mental health
services is becoming a postcode lottery, I had made three attempts and had over
60 hospitalisations in the space of three years. It made me start to feel
incredibly lucky to have made it through all those instances because if I hadn’t
– and that could have been a very real possibility on a number of occasions – I
would have never had this life-changing admission to the specialist hospital.
And, in all honesty, this thought has me questioning why my community mental
health team didn’t take the action to have me admitted to that hospital a lot sooner,
and I’m left with two possible answers/excuses – either it was about budgeting
and securing the funding or they genuinely didn’t know such services existed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Finally – on the topic of ‘attention seeking’ – something I’m a
huge believer of around this issue/name-calling that many people experience through
their own mental health journey, is that even if you did have someone who
genuinely had no other motivation to self-harm or attempt suicide other than
for attention, they still need help! That’s still not a positive, productive,
or safe attitude or mindset. In fact, perhaps they need a different level of
help too because where there’s a more established rationale – like Depression
or traumatic memories or hallucinations – to engage in such behaviours and
actions, it can arguably lead to a much more straight-forward approach in terms
of providing any treatment, help, and support. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XlnJcJNvVr1DKyfQzkuZAhttznlXTcU7AQc9MJHja93tciDQ_FDc3BrJyB_5RK30mySRQVxh9r9KX_dI-m0U9kGThq9kNF6JrB6Qp0kEF919MheFXjTXaxeD5aDNflOKTFhg1sO6pAWWZyydAyLZ1j7il3wg_az6f7OErFRFQl-9A77FE7VmrUAXD-K1/s1640/NUTH%20TTTD%20(4).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7XlnJcJNvVr1DKyfQzkuZAhttznlXTcU7AQc9MJHja93tciDQ_FDc3BrJyB_5RK30mySRQVxh9r9KX_dI-m0U9kGThq9kNF6JrB6Qp0kEF919MheFXjTXaxeD5aDNflOKTFhg1sO6pAWWZyydAyLZ1j7il3wg_az6f7OErFRFQl-9A77FE7VmrUAXD-K1/w640-h360/NUTH%20TTTD%20(4).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: right 451.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A quality that makes calling
someone an attention-seeker so awful and unfair is that it is completely invalidating.
I mean, it comes pretty close to calling someone a liar because you’re questioning
or accusing them of having either poor or just completely wrong, motivations that
are causing or influencing their actions, thoughts, and feelings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: right 451.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I think that a huge contributing
factor to others being invalidating toward your mental health (in whatever
aspect) can come from their own opinions of what you might describe to be the
cause of your struggle. Something that can often be either a really helpful
thought process or a really bad one, is putting yourself in another person’s
shoes because whilst sometimes, it could help a person to have more empathy, it
might also leave someone making comparisons and thinking “I wouldn’t be that
upset if that happened to me.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: right 451.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">One time, when I was in hospital
having the antidote treatment for something I had done, a Healthcare Assistant
was asking me why I’d done it, and after deciding to confide in her and tell
her about the abuse, she turned around and said, “I was abused when I was
little, but I didn’t do what you have because I’m totally fine.” Honestly,
initially I couldn’t really believe what she’d just come out with and was a bit
dumbstruck before I finally made a – in my opinion – feeble comment of “well,
everyone is different.” It was one of those situations where if you just imagined
it, you’d think of a ton of points you’d like to make; but when it actually happens,
you’re at a complete loss for words! And this was so frustrating for me – not just
because I’m very rarely speechless(!) but also, because I worried that not
calling her out on the comment would mean she might make it to someone else in
a similar situation and what might they do to cope? Because it led me to refusing
to have the rest of the treatment; just because I didn’t want to see that member
of staff again!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: right 451.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Now, in case you’re unsure as to
why I would react that way to her comment… Throughout the entire six months of
abuse, I constantly felt weak – both physically and mentally/emotionally. I
mean, there was the obvious way of being literally incapable and just genuinely
not strong enough to overpower my abuser and actually prevent him from hurting
me; but there were also the not so obvious ways…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: right 451.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The fact that my abuser was consistently
providing me with examples that proved I was weak by telling me that someone
strong and brave wouldn’t be crying when I was crying. Or that they wouldn’t be
scared every time I was terrified. Thing is – I knew I very obviously couldn’t
trust the man because not only was he doing all that he was to me, but he was
also lying to everyone by being someone completely different in front of
others. Regardless of this confidence that he was untrustworthy, I still found
myself regularly believing and becoming convinced of all the false and untrue
things he was telling me about myself. I think that this was largely because as
a result of the abuse, I felt incredibly isolated – I mean, I had this huge
secret (because for so many reasons I couldn’t report the abuse immediately) that
left me feeling completely exhausted from the effort it took to keep it quiet
when it felt like it was the most important thing happening in my life. And
having to lie or omit things when talking to anyone meant I felt distanced from
people and that, in turn, affected (in a bad way) my relationships with my
friends, family, and all the other people who could have supported me had they
known what was happening. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: right 451.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Another instance in which a
professional was invalidating was when I was in the specialist hospital, and I
had been given unescorted ground leave (I was sectioned under the 1983 Mental
Health Act so your Psychiatrist has to approve and permit any time of the ward)
for the first time since I’d ran away on my last one and ended up on life
support. And I came back from it and said to one of the Nursing Assistants how
proud I was of myself and that it felt like an achievement, and she turned
around and said, “you don’t get a pat on the back or a round of applause for
doing what you’re meant to and should be doing anyway!” Fortunately, my Key
Nurse and the inpatients I was closest to totally agreed with me that it was a
huge step in the right direction, so I felt that their support sort of counteracted
that one invalidating comment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: right 451.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That experience has actually ended
up being really positive because it helped me to develop a sense of pride and an
attitude that has meant I’m aware that sometimes in life, you might have to be
your own cheerleader! I learnt that whilst validation from others can go a
really long way for me, my mental health, and my safety, there are also times
when my own thoughts and opinions of something I feel I have achieved or
experienced really need to be sufficient enough to have that same positive impact.
I can see now that actually; it should be more important that you show pride
and acknowledgment of your accomplishments yourself than it is to rely on receiving
that from others – especially when that means mental health professionals! I
think that if you do focus on wanting that validation from others, it can be so
incredibly challenging, disappointing, and upsetting if that doesn’t happen,
and so, looking for it within yourself is a lot more reliable and productive.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOV-I_FbXQFnCZ6tGQVLiOISVajrL0xmX15cK58RaxY8QsQUcWUkgDPk5YQXpR4JnxdPWgF1bBEbkk20ExnEEUzZfHXynNDUSEoOY05RMorbzZqxWi0wTURIkhB4cJSGXLX8IPpfKvaqIqLNDC2i7RiSVU60yIXtQ_OHuoNRG3DEDR2pGAHt32FSkHqhqh/s1640/NUTH%20TTTD%20(5).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOV-I_FbXQFnCZ6tGQVLiOISVajrL0xmX15cK58RaxY8QsQUcWUkgDPk5YQXpR4JnxdPWgF1bBEbkk20ExnEEUzZfHXynNDUSEoOY05RMorbzZqxWi0wTURIkhB4cJSGXLX8IPpfKvaqIqLNDC2i7RiSVU60yIXtQ_OHuoNRG3DEDR2pGAHt32FSkHqhqh/w640-h360/NUTH%20TTTD%20(5).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">One thing I think everyone can take from social media – and which
I have especially learnt in being a Blogger – is that people are curious and,
to be honest, slightly nosey when it comes to the lives of others. I think you
could argue that really, wanting to know about the life of people who might be
so different to yourself and your own lifestyle, is likely the fundamental reason
why everyone is even online and using social media. I mean, I’d say that my
primary rationale for using the internet is to help others through my blogging
and content on my social media accounts; but I won’t lie – I absolutely love
looking at the lives of others and especially seeing how other, more popular
bloggers live.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It’s no secret that my ultimate idol and blogging career
inspiration is Victoria Magrath who created <a href="https://www.inthefrow.com/">inthefrow.com</a>
(as well as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/inthefrow">her YouTube
channel</a> and social media!). I find her so influential because she seems to
have a work ethic that I’d like to think I have too – she recognises and
celebrates her achievements and successes, but she also always strives for
bigger and better goals and opportunities. She never rests on her laurels –
something which I believe a lot of bloggers do once they’ve reached a large
number of readers or have done a specific collaboration or created and sold a
product or published a book. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Similarly, to this quality in her work ethic and career, Victoria also
never seems to stop putting her all into everything she does, and she never expects
things to be handed to her on a silver platter. She works hard and so it leaves
me with the feeling that she is really deserving of every single bit of success
and opportunity that comes her way. And, again, this is something which I’d
really like to think I also demonstrate – hard work that helps to leave it
understandable to others when I secure amazing collaborations and reach huge
milestones. I hope that readers and my loved ones who support me and I’m NOT
Disordered, consider me as also being dedicated and as deserving of mine – and my
blog’s – accomplishments.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Aside from my own admission of being curious of the lives of
others, one comment that has been made a number of times when various people have
asked which country my blog is the most popular in and I’ve said that the
United States are usually that country – even more so than the UK on the many occasions
I’ve looked at the stats! Even though the people who have asked me about this
are from all walks of life and have hugely different roles in my life and in my
blog’s existence, everyone has always commented that perhaps it’s been this way
because the mental health care system/services are so different in America. They’ve
talked about the idea that maybe the country’s residents are especially curious
as to what it’s like to have the NHS when they’re having to pay for insurance
and are often left to foot a huge bill for accessing their healthcare services.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, I think that when considering people’s genuine curiosity, it can
be somewhat understandable for people to ask someone questions – this becomes a
problem, however, when the questions become inappropriate (and this can be defined
in a variety of ways as it can change from person to person). For me, though, I
deem inappropriate questions to primarily be where someone is asking for
unnecessary details on sensitive subjects e.g. self-harm, suicide, and abuse.
And by saying ‘unnecessary,’ I mean that those asking for such details don’t
really need to know them. I mean, it was hard and horrible, but I recognised
that the Police certainly need to know a lot of very triggering and upsetting
detailed description in answers to their questions when reporting abuse. I also,
however, recognise that a random Social Worker assessing me in A&E or
somewhere really doesn’t need to know that same level and amount of information!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As I talked about before, for so many reasons I couldn’t report
the abuse straightaway and that meant having to tell lies or omit a lot of
things when loved ones or people who cared about me asked questions. Going
through six months of this silence and secret-keeping was so challenging –
especially because I have always been raised to be honest and truthful about
everything – that it meant I actually began to find being open and honest as a really
strange concept and mindset. It was kind of contradictory thought because
whilst the truth started to feel unattractive and unappealing, I was struggling
so much with lying and remembering the story I’d told to one person and what I’d
said differently to another. It was stressful; and that was definitely something
I didn’t need on top of all the difficult thoughts and feelings I was already
experiencing.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Just when I felt that I’d fully adjusted to this habit of not
being so forward and open, I found myself really needing to be in order to be
discharged from my detention under section 2 of the 1983 Mental Health Act. One
of the Psychiatrists who made the decision to section me after my first suicide
attempt, made it clear that a huge motivation for doing their decision to admit
me to a psychiatric hospital (after medical treatment) was because absolutely no
one knew or could even hazard a guess as to why I had done it. This meant that
I felt really compelled – actually, it almost felt compulsory if anything! – to
put into words why I’d made the attempt because I felt aware that without doing
so, the admission could end up being rather lengthy and I was absolutely terrified
at being there and surrounded by much older, very poorly, inpatients. So, I
finally told a member of staff that I was experiencing hallucinations and after
speaking with my Psychiatrist, I was finally discharged a week or so later. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seemed, however, that
despite confiding this in them, it didn’t change things for me, and it
certainly didn’t get rid of the memories of the abuse; so, I made another
suicide attempt and found myself being sectioned again. When I kept escaping
from the psychiatric ward, the staff made the decision to move me to the
Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) which was locked and secure with an airlock
at its entrance/exit and a walled outside area. One evening, I ended up talking
to another inpatient for the first time and somehow, we got talking about our
past and she told me she had been abused. This gave me some sort of… inspiration
– maybe? Because I couldn’t help but think that I didn’t want to get to
40-something (her age) and still keeping this huge secret and having with my
mental health continue to suffer. So, I finally told the staff what had
happened to me, and they promptly called the Police who asked me such detailed questions
that – whilst I don’t regret reporting it and would always encourage others to –
I honestly felt like I might as well have relived it all over again! However, I
do definitely recognise that the Police genuinely need to ask for so much
information in order to achieve justice in the best, most appropriate way
possible. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The other sensitive area of my life/mental health where I’ve found
people asking for unnecessary detailed information, has been regarding
self-harm and suicide attempts. I think that even if you have little to no
experience of inpatient and community mental health services, it shouldn’t come
as a surprise to hear that they aren’t always the healthiest of environments in
terms of service users influencing each other… The best (though obviously in a
bad way) example of this, came when I was in the specialist psychiatric
hospital and one of the other inpatients snuck a blade back in after her leave
off the ward. I wasn’t aware anything had happened until the staff stormed into
my room and sent me to the communal sitting room, where it turned out everyone
else had been gathered. The Ward Manager came in and said that the staff had
realised a lot of people were turning up with similar self-harm wounds and that
eventually, one person had come forward and admitted a blade had been brought
onto the ward but that they didn’t know where it was any more. It turned out,
everyone (excluding myself and the girl I was closest to) had been passing this
blade around each other for the last week or so!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, the whole ward was put on lockdown, and we were all forced to
sit in the sitting room whilst the other communal areas of the ward and our
individual rooms were thoroughly searched by the staff with their metal detector.
I remember the room felt literally so tense and on edge as we all began arguing
to try and determine who’d been responsible for actually bringing the blade in and
when the person, we all suspected swore on her children’s lives that it wasn’t
her… Well, there was very nearly an actual, physical fight between us all! To
be honest, her saying that was despicable, but the part of the entire scenario
which I found the most disgraceful was the fact that all these girls who I
thought I knew and cared about, had handed each other a sharp item; knowing
full well what the next person would do with it. It came out that some had even
given the next person ‘tips’ on how to ‘use it’ most ‘efficiently’ and ‘effectively!’
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I genuinely struggled to comprehend how someone could live with themselves
after having not only encouraged someone else to self-harm but also, who provided
them with what they needed to do so! I mean, I’ll agree that sometimes
self-harm has helped me in the massively short-term, but I would never – and will
never – encourage someone else to use it as a coping mechanism because I
recognise the potential of it having a hugely negative and dangerous impact on
the person’s entire life and not purely their mental health and safety. And going
through this horrible experience really opened my eyes to the potential,
reality, and likelihood of mental health service users being a poor influence
on one another.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This influence isn’t always so obvious or outright though. Before
the admission to the specialist hospital, there were two other psychiatric
service users who I’ve met as inpatients, who seemed to ask for details on
self-harm and suicide attempts which – in my opinion – they really didn’t need
to know. And, upon me answering honestly and openly, the next thing I knew they’d
be messaging saying they’d done the same thing and were in hospital or that
they had taken more tablets or hurt themselves more times that I had disclosed
I had taken/inflicted. Fortunately, I didn’t seem to ever fall into this seemingly
‘competitive’ nature. I had no real need or urge to do something ‘worse’ than
another person had. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Even though I experienced these things before the specialist
hospital though, when my discharge after two and a half years as an inpatient
was being planned, and another inpatient asked me what I’d felt had been the turning
point for my mental health; I still answered honestly… I told her that when I’d
been granted some unescorted leave, I had run away, made a suicide attempted, and
ended up life support. Waking from the coma, I was then transferred to the PICU
– which was in the news when a patient killed another patient whilst I was on
the ward below it! – and spent days being sick, sleeping, showering with staff
staring at me, and crying before finally being allowed back onto the normal
ward. I explained that feeling so terrible sat there on the PICU on a plastic
mattress and still wearing a hospital gown, I had come to the sudden mindset
that – in a healthy and productive way – I did not want this to be my life any
more. I didn’t want to spend it running away from people, being sedated,
hospitalised, forced to stay somewhere I didn’t want to be, and feeling just
genuinely rubbish. It felt like a reality check. Well, to be honest, it felt
more like a kick up the bum!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Before I knew it, this girl was doing literally all that she could
on the ward (because she had no leave, she could have runaway whilst on) to be
transferred to the PICU. I stopped speaking to her because I felt so guilty, but
then this one time, I was passing her bedroom door and heard a funny noise, and
I went to continue walking but had this strange, sudden thought that if something
was wrong and I had ignored it I would feel even more guilty! So, I peered
through the observation window in her bedroom door and saw her basically in the
midst of a suicide attempt. She had locked the door, so I shouted for staff
whilst trying to kick the door down and when they finally came running, I was
pushed out the way and the next thing I knew the alarms were going off and
other staff were running backwards and forwards, bringing a blood pressure
machine and a cannister of oxygen with a mask. Then paramedics came and I started
crying with the genuine belief that I had killed her. That I was 100%
blameworthy for her actions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Later that day, in our ward Reflection meeting that took place every
evening, this girl was well enough to be there too, and the entire situation was
faced with me crying and apologising and the other inpatients assuring me that
the girl in question was a grown woman who had made the decision to do what she
did and was therefore responsible for it. The staff joined in by trying to reinforce
the impact the girl’s actions had on everyone there and she ended up storming
out with a member of staff shouting after her “we’re never sending you to the
PICU when you aren’t genuinely poorly!”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After that experience, I found myself struggling to continue to be
honest and open on I’m NOT Disordered and actually, even in my social media content!
I worried that if I ever again felt that I’d been such a bad influence on
someone else, I might not be able to live with myself. And I might find it
challenging to recognise the other person has some responsibility if it
happened another time. It meant that when I found a Facebook group which encouraged
and supported utilising self-harm had taken a piece of my blog’s content and
put it out of context to appear as though I agreed with their ethos, I was so
furious! And I felt like a bit of a failure to have even just created a post
that could appear to have a hugely oppositional meaning that what I had
intended. And from then, I have tried to be so much more careful in the way in which
I phrase information about sensitive topics to try to thoroughly eradicate the
chance they could be misinterpreted and misused. I have, however, become
adjusted to the idea that this might never be 100% possible. You can’t regulate
the way every single person perceives your content – especially not when there’s
over 1.2 million of them! And I find so many benefits to blogging that outweigh
this risk, so I’ve come to terms with accepting it and always trying my hardest
to not let it occur. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFcjYBW76EmHXCASIsH1FQj7X56goQWvJw5d2ziFoAD5ZqvYQxew36VQKlJnRCyxZBiQh-BxRVEHYhma1Z4ltA4zaHd7YTvjeXT-LNhQQHoE8UvVQuYuKdCnavfB215GOU5WaJJhUBzBqNZTYUy4Apg72eGIBnZ8dN3IFjGcss65j6kVgmhs1V-UYNpi7H/s1640/NUTH%20TTTD%20(6).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFcjYBW76EmHXCASIsH1FQj7X56goQWvJw5d2ziFoAD5ZqvYQxew36VQKlJnRCyxZBiQh-BxRVEHYhma1Z4ltA4zaHd7YTvjeXT-LNhQQHoE8UvVQuYuKdCnavfB215GOU5WaJJhUBzBqNZTYUy4Apg72eGIBnZ8dN3IFjGcss65j6kVgmhs1V-UYNpi7H/w640-h360/NUTH%20TTTD%20(6).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The first example of this point which – I think – would be the
most obvious thought upon reading it, is considering the communication and
online content which organisations or well-known individuals etc. put out about
mental health related topics/themes. And, particularly, when they’re referring
to specific areas of mental health which they have literally no direct
experience of. Producing content on a perhaps socially ‘trending’ subject or
theme that you have no real personal knowledge of, has the danger of really
bringing into question your motives for doing so. It can leave people wondering
whether you’re blogging about something to follow suit with everyone else with
the knowledge that any content referencing a trend will have a heightened possibility
for being popular than anything else. So, is an organisation or person ‘standing
up for mental health’ because they believe in it and recognise their employer’s
mental health or because they want to improve their brand awareness by any
which way possible?!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, I’m NOT Disordered and my online content in general is largely
about being honest and open, so there was one year when it was an Awareness
date around Diabetes and one of my best-friends has this, so I began creating
content around it, but then I sat back and realised “do I really know what I’m
talking about?!” Like, I could do all the research and write from the point of
view of being a friend to someone with this diagnosis, but really; is that
sufficient? Is that going to help as many people as it might if I share a post which
is directly created by someone with Diabetes? And I think I have this mindset
because I’ve seen the damage content can do when it comes from a source lacking
in education, knowledge, experience, and understanding. I’ve seen posts about
Personality Disorders by charities that are more focused on particularly supporting
someone who is suicidal, and their lack of all these really important components
had a direct impact (which I also personally experienced) on an increase in
stigma and discrimination around those with this Disorder.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It actually reminds me a lot about that very first point in this
post about attention-seeking, because I fully believe those in the mental
health NHS Trust and Police who made such comments and gave me such labels, and
treat me so poorly, did so off the back of having a lack of training and empathy
around Borderline Personality Disorder. Like, I actually don’t think they were fundamentally
terrible people, just uneducated and unwilling to recognise that they needed to
improve on that before they should feel qualified and capable of having
anything even remotely to do with the help, support, and care for someone with
the Disorder that they knew – and seemingly cared – so little about. And
perhaps, experiencing being on that other side, has really helped me to develop
an appreciation and understanding about how important it is to involve those
you’re communicating about. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This leads quite nicely into the second way in which this point is
true; and that is when it is regarding professionals talking to one another
about a patient or service user who has little to no input on their
conversation. Of course, I appreciate that there are instances where speaking
about someone without their presence is necessary or appropriate; but going
into those communications the person should have already had somewhat of a
contribution. And this is actually something I’ve struggled with recently when
I was on the caseload of my local Crisis Team because I saw them one night and
we discussed that my discharge from them would likely not be until the
following week when my Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN) returned to work. The
following morning (not even 24 hours later though!), I received a call telling
me I had a Transfer of Care meeting the following day to be discharged from the
Crisis Team to the Community Team! I literally couldn’t believe it! And the
poor Admin lady on the phone didn’t have a clue what was going on; she’d just
been told to ring me and give me the time and date! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After a lot of going back and forth on the phone, the Crisis Team
apologised and voiced the concern that in their MDT (Multi-Disciplinary Meeting)
service users were being discussed with very little involvement of the staff
who have actually worked with the person. They said that the ‘higher-ups’ were
looking at things on face value and thinking ‘she’s back on her medication, we
can discharge her’ rather than considering the fact it takes time for the
medication to build back up in your system and how beneficial for continuity of
care it would be to handover to my CPN rather than a Duty Worker who would only
then have to go and handover to my CPN when she returned! To be honest, it takes
me to this thought I have that when you’re sectioned or restrained or sedated;
these professionals make this massive decision about your life and then they
finish their shift and it’s you who has to live with it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJdd57I0y5atLxDPQGtBQZF32U8YGDfcgaQpVIIX-s-0TtYZTIyoKhm3XwA_xGFqRBFMc1isYieDXJYnXHW7j7a-rmlWQS4o6JlZZKtiGCWVXrhDOCMLWO85dXWwGsqk_JRn-xitAOhHqzNop3WzztZdOZRSN1E0JymlFMKeCJJ7JOIc7vowvUao_DvKDW/s1640/NUTH%20TTTD%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJdd57I0y5atLxDPQGtBQZF32U8YGDfcgaQpVIIX-s-0TtYZTIyoKhm3XwA_xGFqRBFMc1isYieDXJYnXHW7j7a-rmlWQS4o6JlZZKtiGCWVXrhDOCMLWO85dXWwGsqk_JRn-xitAOhHqzNop3WzztZdOZRSN1E0JymlFMKeCJJ7JOIc7vowvUao_DvKDW/w640-h360/NUTH%20TTTD%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I feel like making assumptions is something you should never choose
to do in life; and especially not in any communication related to mental
health. Now, I had actually been going to include another point of a ‘red flag’
being when someone flippantly uses a phrase or word that is important and
valuable to you such as ‘duty of care’ or ‘capacity.’ But in starting to write
about assumptions, I realised that actually, using such words without thought
or care as to what they really mean to another person, is pretty presumptuous too!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When the abuse began, even though I had all these reasons why I
couldn’t report the abuse straight away, I still desperately wanted to tell someone,
so I changed things. I changed my behaviours. My attitude… All in the hope that
someone would sit up and say, “this isn’t like Aimee, I wonder what’s wrong!” So,
I started having daily showers that would last an hour or more because I felt
like absolute filth after being touched when I didn’t want to be. I became rude
and rebellious at school because I was so angry at everyone there for not noticing
what was happening to me. Then I began engaging in self-harm, but literally
everything was explained away as me being a typical fifteen/sixteen-year-old
teenager going through ‘a phase.’ I was labelled a rebel, a drama queen, and an
attention-seeker by other pupils and the teachers and those comments and the
bullying that then started, just gave me more and more reason to slip further
away from everyone and to continue to keep my dangerous secret. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When I finally reported the abuse to the Police a few years after
it had ‘ended,’ they interviewed many of the people who had been around me
during that time and literally all those who could have witnessed and stopped
the abuse said either: “I wondered if that was happening…” or “I didn’t see it,
but I can believe it happened!” Obviously, their suspicions and beliefs weren’t
evidence enough to prosecute my abuser, but – of course – if they’d actually
acted and stepped in when they were ‘wondering’ whether it was going on, then there
might have been the evidence, and he might have not been able to walk out of
that Police Station with just the ‘accusation’ on his record! In fairness, the
Police voiced their frustration with the statements and even apologised to me for
the fact that none of them had stepped in and protected me – but it obviously
wasn’t their wrongdoing to apologise for, and all those who were actually responsible,
didn’t make any effort to say a single word to me!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Aside from the attention-seeking labels from professionals when my
diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder began being used in my notes and
records, another large and detrimental assumption professional have made around
a fundamental aspect of my mental health has been about the treatment for it.
After numerous psychiatric hospital admissions and right around when I noticed my
diagnosis being mentioned, the mental health professionals began stating that a
pretty huge guideline on treating people with a Personality Disorder is to
avoid hospitalisation because it’s found to have been statistically unhelpful. Ironically,
I agreed that ultimately being sectioned and admitted to hospital had never
been a fantastic experience – only in so far as short-term that it kept me safer
that I would have been if I’d been left to my own devices in the community. However,
even in those circumstances, professionals started ranting and raving about
taking responsibility for my actions and that I needed to recognise the
importance of managing my own safety and gaining control over the unsafe and
risky actions I was using as coping mechanisms.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Around two years later, I had made a suicide attempt and had accepted
the antidote treatment in A&E but the cannula that was used for the treatment
to be administered broke and when they couldn’t find another good vein for a
new one, the Doctor decided I needed to have a central line put in. Having
previously had one, I knew everything that entailed – an incision in your neck,
threading all these tubes and things right down into your body and stitching it
in place – and so I refused to let them do it. Over the course of five hours, I
had numerous Doctors come in and ask me questions before leaving and then
another would come in, and another, and another… The next thing I knew, below
the curtains that were drawn around my hospital bed, I could a ton of feet gathering,
and the curtains were pulled open, I was restrained and was given an injection in
my leg. After that, my memories are of a lot of whiteness and the notion that I
kept standing on platforms and then falling off them(!). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When I finally really woke up and felt grounded, the entire thing
was explained to me… Apparently the five hours had been because they were
struggling to find two Doctors agree that I didn’t have capacity so that they
could force the treatment and the only reason they finally reached the
agreement was because I was becoming more unwell medically. Then, they told me
that the whiteness and falling was all because the Anaesthetist – even unknown
to all the other staff – had sedated me with Ketamine! The other Doctors and
Nurses and Healthcare Assistants only discovered it had been that medication because
I’d apparently gotten really aggressive! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The entire experience meant that when I was finally discharged and
after chatting things through with my Community Psychiatric Nurse CPN) and
Psychiatrist, they had me sign an Advanced Directive (basically a document that
you can create and sign whilst you’re well to say what you’d like to happen if
you become poorly). My CPN and Psychiatrist were concerned that because Doctors
made assumptions as to what a person without capacity should/would say or do, I
had become closer to dying purely because I didn’t really fit that status quo. So,
my Directive states that because when I’m well I actually do love life; if I
say I want to die and if I’m refusing potentially life-saving treatment, it
should be assumed that I don’t have capacity and I should be treated against my
wishes. It also states not to use Ketamine for sedation! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In all honesty, because professionals always adhered to it, I do
think the Advanced Directive was one of the few things back then to have really
saved my life and to have had a huge impact on my mental health journey on a whole
too. However, it shouldn’t really have even had to have been created, because
the Doctors shouldn’t have been making anything that even remotely resembled being
an assumption in such an important and monumental situation. Like, if ever
there’s a wrong time to do that; it was then! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The final example of an assumption being made in a pivotal
moment/stage of my mental health journey, has been fairly recently and is in
terms of my new diagnosis of psychosis. Last February, I was sectioned in the
midst of psychotic episode, but when an increase in my antipsychotic medication
was requested, the Psychiatrist’s response was; “people with Personality
Disorders don’t benefit from medication; you just need more therapy!” Thankfully,
my Mum was at the meeting where this discussion took place, so she gave me the
support to not just run out of the room feeling totally hopeless and dismissed.
She raised the point that in life – and particularly in mental health care/services
– people shouldn’t be put in boxes and defined by some sort of majority-based statistic
that is driven from a research study that took place at the other end of the
country! It’s unfair and – in my opinion – ignorant.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Later that year though, I was put under the care of the Crisis
Team and saw a different Psychiatrist who agreed I wasn’t struggling with Personality
Disorder symptoms any more and he increased the antipsychotic medication so
that within around a fortnight, I was better. I barely had the strange thoughts
and beliefs (sometimes referred to as psychotic or intrusive), and when I did
have them they weren’t in my head for as long and I felt they were more easily for
me to ignore or dismiss them and recognise how unrealistic they were. And
whilst I was obviously so grateful for that, I’ll always wonder; if that first Psychiatrist
had increased it at that time, would anything I did between then and the actual
increase have happened? Because in all honesty, I did many things that could
have likely meant I might have died in that time. And when an assumption could
cost a person their life? Well, that’s – put simply and honestly – dangerous
and negligent. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7kNEekjOl4-FiUxm4cp1gZSUHwjneqQcW28lTrk4gyH4wBA26bxnMXraCoZgV81K-kASI1C4wN56ItZATVBRizZFRY2IQh1IYXuq4c8IP8u0cXDrc1q1C6J484snIDllYXp9OKNQHlvHqHEfHJYpGG2-O4wV-apDnRBqZEvZtEed84fBbChwxVGVc3AWa/s1640/NUTH%20TTTID%20(7).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7kNEekjOl4-FiUxm4cp1gZSUHwjneqQcW28lTrk4gyH4wBA26bxnMXraCoZgV81K-kASI1C4wN56ItZATVBRizZFRY2IQh1IYXuq4c8IP8u0cXDrc1q1C6J484snIDllYXp9OKNQHlvHqHEfHJYpGG2-O4wV-apDnRBqZEvZtEed84fBbChwxVGVc3AWa/w640-h360/NUTH%20TTTID%20(7).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Recognise the difference between hearing someone and actually
listening to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Validate. Validate. Validate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Don’t pigeon hole people and deem everyone with the same diagnosis
to be exactly alike.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Be aware and cautious of speaking about a person within earshot of
them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To be honest in writing your thoughts, feelings, and experiences;
write like no one will read it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Always treat others how you would like yourself or your loved ones
to be treated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Prepare yourself emotionally in case someone discloses sensitive
details or information.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">8.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Never make assumptions – even if that means asking a difficult
question. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Be mindful and respectful of people having different opinions on
the same topic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">10.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Find inspiration and tips to talking about mental health online
before you start talking about it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">For updates on the Mental Health Strategy and other news from Newcastle
Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, here are all their links:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Newcastle
Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Facebook: </span></b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewcastleHosps"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">@NewcastleHosps</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Twitter/X: </span></b><a href="https://twitter.com/NewcastleHosps"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">@NewcastleHosps</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Instagram: </span></b><a href="https://www.instagram.com/newcastlehosps/"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">@NewcastleHosps</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">YouTube: </span></b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/NewcastleHospitals"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.youtube.com/user/NewcastleHospitals</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-81396940388556288102024-01-29T21:47:00.001+00:002024-01-29T21:47:44.073+00:00I’M TURNING 33!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAnP-cq-m18fUA0jqwv8MoCdHSxXTYApJg6L0zU_FFLbCRSLSHmtIJmrd-t1AfoCJLgs14kjBug94_8s-YOQE79g6BJPvxdklGuduXoiEH-KwF-bt3JBcFIceEkLH0CyghHj25jF2V6To52m3h2ALiuniETmVVB2OaQIICQNrIupUb7nYS5Z511CyRAg69/s1640/exclusive%20to%20www.imnotdisordered.co.uk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAnP-cq-m18fUA0jqwv8MoCdHSxXTYApJg6L0zU_FFLbCRSLSHmtIJmrd-t1AfoCJLgs14kjBug94_8s-YOQE79g6BJPvxdklGuduXoiEH-KwF-bt3JBcFIceEkLH0CyghHj25jF2V6To52m3h2ALiuniETmVVB2OaQIICQNrIupUb7nYS5Z511CyRAg69/w640-h360/exclusive%20to%20www.imnotdisordered.co.uk.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">*This
post is a bit of a follow-in from my previous post where I picked apart some of my Birthday blog posts,
you can read it </span><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2024/01/part-one-picking-apart-my-birthday-blog.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">*<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Unfortunately
– or fortunately, depending on how you look at it – there’s a huge mental
health awareness date (Time To Talk Day) taking place on <b>my actual Birthday
of February 1<sup>st</sup></b>, and since I have a really special piece of
content already lined up to mark that date; I thought I’d post my Birthday blog
posts beforehand. Now, a genuine ‘unfortunately,’ is that due to a new commitment
(which I can’t quite talk about just yet) I’m unable to complete the thought
behind my Birthday posts which was to split all my Birthday blog posts up and
go through each of them talking about the bits that stand out, what has changed,
what’s stayed the same… So, in addition to the previous blog post I’ve linked
at the beginning of this one, I managed to write about my 26<sup>th</sup> Birthday
blog post and then I’ve put together a little reel at the end of the post…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8lNWiEoY8QY45G54DBCps9pQBhAIwa5FjzYX2Ve_43cR9RYe6_Q1Njua6m16xeJcus_fnDX7AWaZqYJFIq0JwgcYbSLNXoJ-oSIXCxMerCpbXPYIauE_Nc2Zs7rEEjYkKYJyq_yDaIPUHym5wWwfGr-OKBayU6EwWFyp80uCreleOlMvqXtkwWAuOZ8p/s2000/Gray%20travel%20mountain%20photo%20collage%20(4).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_8lNWiEoY8QY45G54DBCps9pQBhAIwa5FjzYX2Ve_43cR9RYe6_Q1Njua6m16xeJcus_fnDX7AWaZqYJFIq0JwgcYbSLNXoJ-oSIXCxMerCpbXPYIauE_Nc2Zs7rEEjYkKYJyq_yDaIPUHym5wWwfGr-OKBayU6EwWFyp80uCreleOlMvqXtkwWAuOZ8p/w640-h512/Gray%20travel%20mountain%20photo%20collage%20(4).png" width="640" /></a></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2017/02/the-things-turning-26-made-me-think.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Things Turning 26 Made Me Think
About [MY BIRTHDAY] | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">This
Birthday post was mostly a chat about the relationship I was in at that time,
our engagement, and our goals around moving into a house together, getting married,
and having children. In blogging about those things, I talked about how – when
my mental health was at its most poorly and I was in the specialist psychiatric
hospital – if I were asked to consider any goals for my future, I really
couldn’t think too far ahead because I was so suicidal that I genuinely
couldn’t envision being alive for a whole lot longer. In this Birthday post,
however, I recognised that I now felt confident in my decreased risk levels and
was so excited to plan for the more distant future. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Whilst
that relationship finished a number of years ago, feeling able to set long term
goals is something I’m still massively comfortable doing – just that the goals
are now mostly centred around, and focused on, I’m NOT Disordered, my
career-related opportunities, my finances, and my mental health…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">My
Largest Goal for I’m NOT Disordered:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">
to have reached on or close to, 1.5 million readers within the next 12 months.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">My
Largest Goal for My Career-Related Opportunities:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"> to complete at least the 6-months
on my contract for my new voluntary role (which I’ll be blogging about in a
separate post).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">My
Largest Goal for My Finances: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">to
have gradually paid off the entirety of any and all my debt in the next 18
months.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">My
Largest Goal for My Mental Health: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">to
have had some sort of a reduction in both of my psychiatric medications
(Aripiprazole and Fluoxetine) by the end of 2024.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">In this
26<sup>th</sup> Birthday post, I also talked briefly about the fact that due to
the rape and abuse when I was younger, I feel completely emotionally and
psychologically incapable of having children naturally. I wondered whether this
would be something readers will be wondering about and curious as to whether
this is a notion that I still experience and something that still rings true
for me. It is! In fact, the only difference is that I don’t know if I can even
still picture myself being a Mum to anyone other than my three babes – my two mini-Lionhead
bunnies (Luna and Gracie) and my kitten (Ruby) – because, in all honesty,
they’re definitely enough of a chaotic and unpredictable handful!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">In all
seriousness though, throughout my mental health journey, I have come across a
number of things that I thought would have maybe worked their way out of my
life or that I thought I would no longer agree with; and this point regarding
having children is one of those. I think that ultimately, the reason I struggle
with the sheer reality of things like this (results of the abuse) just not
changing, is because as far as I’m aware, my abuser is just living his normal
life. And that infuriates me to think that the person who was in the wrong in
this situation is facing less consequences than the person who really should
have no responsibility. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">One
comment or phrase in relation to this which so many people have said to me over
the years of self-harm and suicide attempts is “it means he’s winning.” Now, I
fully recognise the meaning and (usually!) good intentions behind this, but –
personally – it’s something which I feel that I need to see for myself. Only
then can I really believe and trust in it to be able to utilise it as a helpful
thought to stay safe when I feel like without it, I haven’t got much motivation
to use my healthy and productive coping mechanisms. And fortunately, to be
honest, finding truth in this notion was actually quite straightforward – not
easy, but definitely straightforward – because there have been numerous
occasions when I’ve actually used the exact opposite mindset when self-harming.
I’ve said before that I discovered that if I were to self-harm with nothing
really in my focus, then I’d sometimes bleed; but if I were to do it whilst
thinking about my abuser and the feeling that he’s won, I’d end up needing
surgery! So, in turning this into a positive motivation, I had to learn to see
it in a whole other light and to recognise that I can make the choice as to
which perspective I use when I’m struggling. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">The
question of whether my abuser is winning plays a huge role in the realisation
and acceptance that some of the consequences I’ve experienced due to the abuse
– like the questioning and uncertainty around having children – aren’t going to
be short-term. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;">OTHER
BIRTHDAY BLOG POSTS:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2018/02/27-things-im-thankful-for-my-twenty.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">27
THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR | MY TWENTY SEVENTH BIRTHDAY!! | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2019/02/twenty-eight-things-im-looking-forward.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">TWENTY-EIGHT
THINGS I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO FOR MY 28TH BIRTHDAY | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2020/02/twenty-nine-highlights-for-my-twenty.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">TWENTY-NINE
HIGHLIGHTS FOR MY TWENTY-NINETH BIRTHDAY!! | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2021/02/thirty-random-thoughts-for-my-thirtieth.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">THIRTY
RANDOM THOUGHTS FOR MY THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY! | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2022/02/how-i-made-it-to-my-thirty-first.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">HOW
I MADE IT TO MY THIRTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/02/a-few-important-bits-pieces-from-past.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A
FEW IMPORTANT BITS & PIECES FROM THE PAST YEAR | CELEBRATING MY 32nd
BIRTHDAY!! | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;">THE
REEL:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yUOWcD5OW1w" width="320" youtube-src-id="yUOWcD5OW1w"></iframe></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-18525858765495204412024-01-24T03:48:00.000+00:002024-01-24T03:48:01.945+00:00PART ONE: PICKING APART MY BIRTHDAY BLOG POSTS | I’M TURNING 33!!!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Grlea-XZ0WiT6LsUgvLIfTY4j-BHB23Ha7xrg3ofOGRtT3GhD7llXHsN3BDEjFa_nrnO4ZWpyBjm6qNyOe74OgEDEt3ULyTTNPPoPKlaI6Y7-3poGvugmzGCRSew-QD5zxttq0-wD3HV37jbkwHVWizQA1WKOBeL58uSC7rgl9YnmQZd2rjHFqjbvNOR/s1640/exclusive%20to%20www.imnotdisordered.co.uk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Grlea-XZ0WiT6LsUgvLIfTY4j-BHB23Ha7xrg3ofOGRtT3GhD7llXHsN3BDEjFa_nrnO4ZWpyBjm6qNyOe74OgEDEt3ULyTTNPPoPKlaI6Y7-3poGvugmzGCRSew-QD5zxttq0-wD3HV37jbkwHVWizQA1WKOBeL58uSC7rgl9YnmQZd2rjHFqjbvNOR/w640-h360/exclusive%20to%20www.imnotdisordered.co.uk.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">*This
post is part one to a series*<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Unfortunately
– or fortunately, depending on how you look at it – there’s a huge mental
health awareness date (Time To Talk Day) taking place on <b>my actual Birthday
of February 1<sup>st</sup></b>, and since I have a really special piece of
content already lined up to mark that date; I thought I’d post my Birthday blog
post now. I kind of feel like it was a very grown-up decision to make – to prioritise
a more career-appropriate post over my Birthday one! And I actually had a ton
of ideas of angles for this blog post, but in tracking down the links for every
blog post from all my previous Birthdays since creating I’m NOT Disordered, I
decided to have a real look through each of them and pick out some bits and
pieces that I wanted to reflect on…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabNxxkD52eIu15QjB_uQO-8L61okcJdxfRe7b25pQzmmXmz73AakFPwsOkUCgwUYXT58KgnJPpr-V98Jvk9obrH3q9UPC3nEmM3lLcYAEeRjt5VUKIWyQ0Jao9NfAtjNhAf87Xo-KMV4GHZWQMbUcJeBZhN1-BoKqH-bPrBjeMANM5kNAWQ9RerqubFbl/s2000/Gray%20travel%20mountain%20photo%20collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabNxxkD52eIu15QjB_uQO-8L61okcJdxfRe7b25pQzmmXmz73AakFPwsOkUCgwUYXT58KgnJPpr-V98Jvk9obrH3q9UPC3nEmM3lLcYAEeRjt5VUKIWyQ0Jao9NfAtjNhAf87Xo-KMV4GHZWQMbUcJeBZhN1-BoKqH-bPrBjeMANM5kNAWQ9RerqubFbl/w640-h512/Gray%20travel%20mountain%20photo%20collage.png" width="640" /></a></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2013/02/yes-yes-i-know-its-achievement-i-made.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">MY
22<sup>ND</sup> BIRTHDAY | I’m NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">This
post was the perfect example of my belief that there’s a difference between
knowing something happened and actually remembering it. I mean, I knew I’d
spent at least one of my Birthdays in the specialist psychiatric hospital, but
I had literally no memory of what exactly happened that day, so it was nice –
in a way – to read this post and be reminded that actually, it hadn’t been as
horrific as I had come to assume it would have been! To be fair, if anything;
it was better than I had thought it would have been when I had the thought in
my head of: ‘oh yes, I was in hospital for my birthday that year!’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I’ve
always said that the catalyst for beginning I’m NOT Disordered (less than one
month before this Birthday post) was having a really productive and positive
1:1 with my Key Nurse and that it felt like I was finally setting foot on the
road to recovery. And I think that this notion and instinct can be really
supported by this Birthday post where I talked about having a really insightful
Problem Solving 1:1 with the Activity Therapist. I blogged about how, in the
session, we had talked through my eagerness to begin doing some creative
activities; and in particular, I referenced finally doing some fashion drawings
again because I’d enjoyed them and had always received good feedback from
people about my work. Until High School! Where my Textiles teacher literally
spent the entire few years of studying tearing down my confidence and leaving
me feeling so uncertain on the standard of my work and genuinely reluctant to
continue engaging in literally any creative activities! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I
picked out this aspect of the 1:1 and the Birthday blog post because it’s
something that I – and the staff – actually followed through with(!) when I
enrolled in a Creative Writing course at the local College (and attended it escorted
by the staff) and began doing fashion drawings again after the OT department
bought me some instructive and helpful books. Whilst I don’t often engage in
any drawings these days, that’s mostly because I’m so focused on the many other
activities and commitments that I have and enjoy so much, and it’s no longer
because I have any sort of crisis of confidence. And in fairness, I think that
the battle and the need to begin drawing again, was more about the fight to
regain some confidence than it was actually doing the drawing; so for me, this
is a total WIN – and it’s one which I hadn’t really thought much about until
this, so I’m feeling pretty grateful for this blog post already! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisrPCyjyqbJwNsc9FOWn_Ghfgv6ilwnxPK2MvWNju8mpEU_bt0g9RpH_F4_kIIj3jbLRmui2BeTa7wUcwbPPiEPh-ZfdCl4AuHXWqib0m5s28CItFGG13weC-qgxm50oKDdavW9rVnXv94i8yO4Z-XmOdztJo7smSUNeRnvxYDX1GysaPbIxF916lmhXKZ/s2000/Gray%20travel%20mountain%20photo%20collage%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisrPCyjyqbJwNsc9FOWn_Ghfgv6ilwnxPK2MvWNju8mpEU_bt0g9RpH_F4_kIIj3jbLRmui2BeTa7wUcwbPPiEPh-ZfdCl4AuHXWqib0m5s28CItFGG13weC-qgxm50oKDdavW9rVnXv94i8yO4Z-XmOdztJo7smSUNeRnvxYDX1GysaPbIxF916lmhXKZ/w640-h512/Gray%20travel%20mountain%20photo%20collage%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2014/02/feelin-like-its-my-birthday.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">'Feelin'
like it's my birthday,' | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Even
though I was still sectioned under section 3 of the 1983 Mental Health Act and technically
a psychiatric hospital inpatient, your Psychiatrist can permit leave from
hospital (and it’s actually<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>more
complicated than you’d have thought – like, they have to document the radius/distance
you can stay in, how many units of alcohol you can drink…) so I managed to
spend my 23<sup>rd</sup> Birthday at my Mum’s. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">There was
actually a ton of parts that stood out for me in this post, but one of them was
very predictably (in my opinion) when I talked about being given £20 from
another inpatient and the Dialectical Behaviour Therapist (DBT) bringing cream
cakes. And I said how in the past, I would’ve focused on what to spend the
money on, but actually; the gesture of the cake meant so much to me too. I
mean, I would willingly and voluntarily admit – as I did in this post – that I
used to consider myself quite materialistic and often felt that I had the wrong
priorities. After all these years of my mental illness though, I’ve come to
learn that actually, it was a really unfair and inaccurate label that I – and
others – used just because my mental health benefited from having my own things
around me. I’ve now come to find the confidence that no one should be judged
just because something helps one person and not another. The most important
element should be that at least it’s helping them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I mean,
in all fairness, the majority of the time; people who utilise self-harm as a
coping mechanism don’t actually want to self-harm – they just want to cope with
whatever it is that’s challenging them and their mental health. For me, if
someone said to me “if you eat a banana every day, you’ll be able to cope with
everything” then I would do that! And so, the way I look at it is that if I can
think of something healthy and safe that will help me, then I’m not going to be
shy or ashamed to tell someone and/or do something to enable me to engage in
that. To be honest, the one difficulty I sometimes still struggle with here, is
the notion and worry that it’ll look as though I’m telling a professional how
to do their job if I turn around and say “actually, it’ll help me if you do
this, this, and this instead of what you’re suggesting/doing.” A way to get through
that hesitation though, has been to consistently and constantly tell myself
that if the professional is a genuinely caring and compassionate person, they’ll
actually appreciate me voicing my thoughts on how they could help me more
efficiently and effectively.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyua7uVYg9VwX9Gr6RZ7asq3r_XQxPpk9MvnQrz_D7FKvYOFp0Gvz-Wu5KTabH4DTlv6V7XE6kbqY3CcWdQdDcWHb-wz1XQ49AkHD8hpHy-gVF3bgPHijQACNZWgHjWnWgawsfq29RlQj-F5xLCEtSWmhwvU_cRuwlNAzW329b_OUZI48qFUk7rxsxVcnS/s2000/Gray%20travel%20mountain%20photo%20collage%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyua7uVYg9VwX9Gr6RZ7asq3r_XQxPpk9MvnQrz_D7FKvYOFp0Gvz-Wu5KTabH4DTlv6V7XE6kbqY3CcWdQdDcWHb-wz1XQ49AkHD8hpHy-gVF3bgPHijQACNZWgHjWnWgawsfq29RlQj-F5xLCEtSWmhwvU_cRuwlNAzW329b_OUZI48qFUk7rxsxVcnS/w640-h512/Gray%20travel%20mountain%20photo%20collage%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2015/02/24-lessons-learnt-in-24-years.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">24
Lessons Learnt in 24 Years | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Trying
to isolate special and more important parts of this Birthday blog post was
incredibly hard because I think that the angle, I used for creating it, meant
almost everything in it, was meaningful in some way. However, the first bit that
really stood out was number nine; where I wrote that your idea of recovery is
typically formed by the expectations of others, and that what your recovery
actually looks like is in your hands to mould, edit, and create.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I think
that one of the hardest aspects to ‘recovery’ is finding some way to define it…
I mean, professionals will very obviously encourage you to reach this point in
your mental health journey, but, unfortunately, they seem to always get one
thing wrong about it! Mental health recovery is almost always perceived or described
as being linear, and that once you were on the right track, that was that! As
though all of a sudden someone had raised a magic wand and there would be no
more challenges or struggling or difficulties. And the thing which should be
the real stickler – the thing which should leave you questioning a professional
who might be exhibiting this wishful thinking – is the recognition that
everyone has mental health (it’s just about whether it’s well or poorly). But knowing
this, is the same as physical health really – in that you can’t say that
nothing will ever go wrong again because it will always be there and therefore,
so will the potential to become poorly again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">When I was
finally discharged from the psychiatric hospital in the Winter of 2014, though,
I hadn’t thought of all that and so I didn’t – not even for one minute – envision
any sort of ‘relapse’ or the possibility that I would struggle and experience
thoughts to self-harm again. The thing is… I get that perhaps some mental health
professionals really want to motivate you to becoming safe and healthy and
cooperating with medication, therapy, and any other sort of treatment and they
probably realise that a lot of people might not be amenable to that if they
knew ‘recovery’ might not last. I think it would be more than understandable to
have someone say, “why would I try so hard and put all this effort and time
into getting better if you can’t promise or guarantee that the improvements
will even last that long?” And it isn’t necessarily about providing a person with
the qualities, skills, and coping mechanisms to have a better control over
whether their mental health deteriorates again; it’s also about ensuring that
if a person was to have some sort of setback, it wouldn’t completely disappoint
and destroy them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">With my
initial motivation in setting up I’m NOT Disordered being that I felt I’d made
a huge step forward on my recovery journey, when I had my first set-back after
being discharged from the psychiatric hospital, I felt like a complete failure.
I thought that I would be such a total disappointment to so many of my readers that
for a while, I wasn’t overly keen to blog about it. I had the huge worry that if
I did create content about it, it might take away a lot of hope that readers
might have gained from seeing how poorly I had been to the fact I was discharged
– almost like they have the mindset; ‘if she can get better from that, then maybe
I can too?’ <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I finally,
however. reached the conclusion that I should blog about it because it could be
my real opportunity to help others not to have similar thoughts and feelings of
failure and disappointment purely because professionals had led them to believe
that recovery was linear. Having this mindset that my difficult experiences can
be used to help others either avoid going through them too or reassure them
they are not alone if they’ve already gone through them too; meant that I didn’t
feel so negative and useless.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif;">The
other part to number nine on this Birthday post was that your recovery is ‘the
way you make it’ and that means that you can create your own recovery, your own
definition, and your own meaning of it. I mean, firstly, no one is struggling
with the exact same things – when I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality
Disorder (BPD) the diagnostic criteria were to have at least five of nine
possible symptoms, and I thought this was the perfect illustration of the fact
that you can get two people with the exact same diagnosis but that doesn’t mean
their mental health is in anyway similar. And even though I was diagnosed as
having all nine symptoms – going into the BPD specialist psychiatric hospital –
I still didn’t imagine that it would mean I was in a better position to know
what everyone was going through because perhaps even those same symptoms were
experienced differently when in a different combination of the four others.
Also, we all had our own causes, trauma, motivations, and influences on our
mental health and our safety levels and so, to me, that means we all still needed
different things to get better. Yes, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) was the
recommended treatment for someone with BPD and yes, it taught us some skills
that were very commonly thought of as helpful and useful, but then some of the
other inpatients really need support for Eating Disorders or Stress Awareness
or Trauma Therapy… I think this is a key piece of evidence to the argument that
in mental health, one size definitely does not fit all.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">With
that in mind, for me, ‘recovery’ has meant improved safety levels and for me to
be at a much lower risk in terms of self-harm or suicide attempts. Linked to
this, I also see me being in recovery as going hand-in-hand with being in agreement
and compliant with taking all of my psychiatric medication because I recognise
that it helps with my symptoms – particularly those related to my more recent
diagnosis of Psychosis. I think that another measurement of my ‘recovery’ is when
I’m able to maintain any and all of my commitments – whether this means publishing
a collaboration blog post before its deadline, keeping to my appointments with
professionals, and being able to tick off a lot of tasks in my to-do list for
my new voluntary job (a blog post on that will be up soon!). And viewing these aspects
of my life as being defining characteristics of my recovery, has been so important
in helping me to avoid having any unrealistic, perfectionist thoughts, feelings,
and opinions. I found that if I expect myself to have absolutely no self-harm
or if I hold myself to always being on top of my workload in order to feel good
about my mental health and to think of myself as in recovery, I felt like a failure
more often.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynSg9gPsZJoUlTtG07Rto7EfzevL5fgS_me5Ob4x7P05ZogbGJ2xeT1ayC6gsR3xPZcpe79XzkmwOaOrgD2ZsnnMBmwLM1Ljog8T3LODh-kOF6VBMIzCX2T7LoYKdh9s2GRavvpsz59BPtprpoOygYKW_Idlc4tMliHompB5ZtNhj6PsXnBQFdqI5nEp0/s2000/Gray%20travel%20mountain%20photo%20collage%20(3).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynSg9gPsZJoUlTtG07Rto7EfzevL5fgS_me5Ob4x7P05ZogbGJ2xeT1ayC6gsR3xPZcpe79XzkmwOaOrgD2ZsnnMBmwLM1Ljog8T3LODh-kOF6VBMIzCX2T7LoYKdh9s2GRavvpsz59BPtprpoOygYKW_Idlc4tMliHompB5ZtNhj6PsXnBQFdqI5nEp0/w640-h512/Gray%20travel%20mountain%20photo%20collage%20(3).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2016/02/25-reasons-why-i-glad-i-made-it-to-my.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">25
Reasons Why I'm Glad I Made It To My 25th Birthday!!! | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></b></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">This
was probably one of my absolute favourite Birthday posts and that meant it was
incredibly challenging to choose even just a couple of special bits from it! So,
to manage that overwhelming recognition, I decided to be ruthless and just pick
one of the twenty-five reasons why I was glad to have made it to my 25<sup>th</sup>
Birthday, and I chose number five where I talked about the incredible feeling I
have with the notion and belief that I truly have found my calling in life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Like a
lot of people, my dreams, and goals in terms of a career and working have
changed based on various situations that my life has revolved around. The first
thing I remember wanting to be was a Horse-Riding Instructor because I used to
go to horse-riding lessons and not only did, I enjoy it, but I was also
regularly praised for my riding capabilities and skills. I remember always
getting this horse magazine and collecting all these plastic horses and my Mum
bought me my own riding boots, helmet, and even a grooming kit for brushing my
favourite horse; Happy! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">At
school, I felt that we were never made aware off Internships, Work Experience
Placements, Access to Higher Education courses, Apprenticeships, online
learning… It was like you had your GCSE’s, A Levels, University, and then a job.
In fairness, there were people I knew who had clearly researched and looked
into the alternative paths to the career/employment they were passionate about;
but I honestly didn’t even think to. And failing to do that, coupled with the
fact the abuse had been occurring for around six months, meant that I put a lot
of stress and pressure on myself in revising for my GCSE exams because I had no
clue that if I failed them, there were still alternate routes to further education
and, ultimately, to employment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">To my
complete surprise, I passed all my exams – with two even being a grade ‘B’! – and
so I enrolled in the Sixth Form of a High School closer to home than that of my
GCSE School. Upon having to choose my subjects to study at A Level, I found
myself developing a new career goal... Initially, I had planned to take the subjects
I was most interested in, but when the abuse had happened, I found myself
envisioning being a Lawyer and helping other abuse survivors to get justice for
what had been done to them. So, I opted to study Law, History, and Philosophy for
two years, and then – towards the end of them – I applied for University and
received a conditional offer (the condition being that I had to receive
particular grades for each subject in order to secure the offer) to earn a Law
degree at Newcastle University! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Unfortunately,
on the date I had three exams with one immediately after another, and as a
result of having had auditory hallucinations for ten days; I made my first
suicide attempt and – I think understandably – I failed to get the grades required
for University. As a result of that first attempt, I was sectioned under the
1983 Mental Health Act and found myself really struggling to maintain my safety
to the point that I ended up being constantly in and out of both medical and
psychiatric hospitals for the following three years. And whilst those years
were incredibly full of difficult moments and real deteriorations in my safety
levels and wellbeing and mental health in general, there were also some stable
periods when I was feeling more positive and productive. During those occasions,
I found myself trying to find some sort of education and career path that I felt
more capable of managing than I thought I would if I still were to try to become
a Lawyer. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">So, at
one point I attempted to enrol in a course at College around childcare, however
on my DBS the Police used their ‘discretion’ to disclose that I’d run away from
hospitals numerous times and required them to use their powers (section 136) under
the 1983 Mental Health Act. Finding that out influenced the realisation that if
I can’t look after myself then why should I be trusted to take care of someone’s
child?! So, before the College had the time to respond to the DBS comments, I
pulled out of the enrolment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Then,
in late 2011, I began seeing a Psychologist and the fact that I then ended up
having my most stable period during those very poorly three years (2009 until
2012) didn’t feel like a coincidence. The recognition that a mental health
professional could have a hugely positive impact and influence on my mental
health when I’d only ever really known negativity and feelings of being dismissed
by them; was what really spurred me on and led to me beginning to look into
getting a Psychology degree at University to become some sort of Psychologist or
Therapist. I really loved the idea of me playing the same life-saving role in
someone else’s mental health journey as my Psychologist had in mine. So, I
enrolled in a Higher Education Access Course, but I very quickly found myself really
struggling with the learning level of the subjects I’d chosen – and this isn’t
me saying that I think I’m stupid or something; it’s that I recognised I don’t
do well with classroom settings and being in a really rigid learning regime. I
mean, I thoroughly enjoy learning, but I’m definitely a kinaesthetic learner in
that I need to actually do something in order to really learn about it. Plus, I’ve
achieved some high marks and grades with the online learning courses I’ve
completed so I’m not at all being too judgmental or lacking in confidence in
terms of my intelligence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I was
admitted to the specialist psychiatric hospital in 2012 and I began working
with the OT and Activity Therapists to pick back up with some old hobbies and
really indulge in some of my creative qualities and passions. In doing so, the
department bought me some fashion drawing books and when I started doing that
again and saw my mental health really benefiting from it, I started looking at
careers in the fashion industry and found myself drawn to Visual Merchandising roles.
However, with my creativity coming to the forefront and me experiencing just
how therapeutic such activities were, I think it’s actually quite predictable –
or at the very least understandable – that I turned to writing/blogging when I
started to feel that I was making progress in my mental health recovery.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I think
that a really huge contributor to feeling as though I’d found a purpose – or ‘my
calling in life’ as I called it in the Birthday blog post – with I’m NOT
Disordered was when I talked through a really debilitating belief I had with the
Psychologist on the ward. From the moment I made my very first suicide attempt
in 2009, I became convinced that my purpose for being in this world was to kill
myself in order to highlight the failures of the mental health professionals
and other persons involved e.g. A&E Doctors and Police Officers etc. The
Psychologist had me think through all the evidence that would contradict this
being true and I actually wrote a blog post about it where I listed all the
things we’d thought of – you can read it <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2014/04/and-i-believe-it-this-time.html">here</a>.
And so, eventually, I learnt to really move past this belief and recognise it to
have been nothing more than a really negative thought that was really born from
all that I had been through and the thoughts and feelings I was experiencing
and not based on anything even remotely resembling reality or fact. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Finding
purpose through all the positive feedback I receive and the messages detailing
how helpful and influential my content has been for my blog’s readers, has truly
been monumentally essential to my mental health recovery. As a result of I’m
NOT Disordered’s popularity, I have also been granted numerous collaborations
that have afforded me some really special one-off opportunities that I’m not
only honoured to have been granted, but I also feel extreme sense of privilege
and fortune to have even just been safe enough to experience them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGp2qEae7fY84wnf21gzmtN2AwsAJ6xbbH97_ek0sbf1BFuh0hfQ7JW_hYDdtD6Q7_u2DzQE4SBJFwUIWs60jBVfx6ywKc6Nc6QSqY2_vDZq7WutX7OIG8ka6K8yBt-6qTi-xA3ed76v4O9D7_-oKzenmrkGybtKTFXovR8LqmxcnnGdROjkq8G6uhdc2g/s418/6c65dbec7a89f96b490e2c30643fa811.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="235" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGp2qEae7fY84wnf21gzmtN2AwsAJ6xbbH97_ek0sbf1BFuh0hfQ7JW_hYDdtD6Q7_u2DzQE4SBJFwUIWs60jBVfx6ywKc6Nc6QSqY2_vDZq7WutX7OIG8ka6K8yBt-6qTi-xA3ed76v4O9D7_-oKzenmrkGybtKTFXovR8LqmxcnnGdROjkq8G6uhdc2g/w360-h640/6c65dbec7a89f96b490e2c30643fa811.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-14761171012022688692024-01-15T11:00:00.000+00:002024-01-15T11:00:00.149+00:00THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO MENTAL HEALTH & TRAVELLING | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS PROTECTION’S BIG WINTER ROAM CAMPAIGN | NATIONAL HAT DAY 2024<p style="text-align: center;"> <b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Join Cats Protection this February for…</span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.cats.org.uk/bigwinterroam"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Big
Winter Roam | Events | Cats Protection</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNNx_sGD05nM4lMy69p7JPFg4j3xtwAPFmgWIVsSgn6fmgi2r3B-jrwbB6MnmPVmaI_2R8e25Q15XnJZGkijqdjiugwB_7cQU42Z6-IoYWCyn8phHQMS3QYbMgt-sueU4nWa9TdSuRqP1jvVGX7E6o6UVr1GU-nggbzBeJ8q3FT-Bnpa-Jca_CYofs94b-/s1640/Quote%20Graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNNx_sGD05nM4lMy69p7JPFg4j3xtwAPFmgWIVsSgn6fmgi2r3B-jrwbB6MnmPVmaI_2R8e25Q15XnJZGkijqdjiugwB_7cQU42Z6-IoYWCyn8phHQMS3QYbMgt-sueU4nWa9TdSuRqP1jvVGX7E6o6UVr1GU-nggbzBeJ8q3FT-Bnpa-Jca_CYofs94b-/w640-h360/Quote%20Graphic.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Toward the end of 2023, I was asked by Cats Protection’s lovely
Celebrity and Influencer Relationship Manager if I could create some content to
publicise their brand-new upcoming campaign, the Big Winter Roam. In this campaign,
Cats Protection are setting the challenge of walking, wheeling, or wandering 15-,
50-, or 100-miles during February 2024 in a bid to raise funds for the charity’s
admirable and valuable work in continuing to be the UK’s largest feline welfare
charity. To take part, you need to register </span><a href="https://www.cats.org.uk/bigwinterroam"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> before February 10<sup>th</sup> at a cost of £20 – which will
also go toward the charity’s work in helping and supporting in-need cats and
kittens. Then you’ll receive one of their exclusive beanie hats (hence why this
post comes to you on National Hat Day!) to help you to stay warm on your walk! If
you have any questions regarding the Big Winter Roam, there’s an FAQ page that
should answer them all </span><a href="https://www.cats.org.uk/support-us/events/big-winter-roam-faqs"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">! Obviously,
I jumped at the chance of another collaboration (and a beanie!) with Cats
Protection, but I was then faced with the challenge to make this campaign
relevant to my mental health blog and almost instantly I thought I’d utilise
the general theme of travelling and focus on all the ways it can impact your
mental health – or the other way around! So, I hope you like it, and please
have a serious think about taking part in this extraordinary fundraising
activity…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">WHY I STARTED TRAVELLING:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In 2011, after two years of battling with my mental health, I had
a huge argument with my Mum and ended up leaving to move down South to my Dad’s
home in Dorset (where I was actually born). I hadn’t spoken to him for years
until my half-sister tracked me down on social media and we re-connected. Going
down there, I felt a very real sense of refreshment and the notion of a new beginning,
so I enrolled in their local college, got a weekend job in a nearby retail
store, and my Dad even bought me two kittens to keep me company when he and his
wife were at work! But then, out of the blue (to me, anyway) his wife told him
she didn’t want me to live there and that he had to choose between me and her.
Of course, he chose her, and I ran off and made a suicide attempt that led to
me being sectioned and admitted to a psychiatric hospital down there. Upon
being discharged, my Dad took me back to his home, threw my suitcases at me and
then drove me – whilst bawling my eyes out! – to a hotel near the airport and
paid for a room for me overnight. Fortunately, I had been planning to fly back
to Newcastle a few days later to collect more of my possessions from my Mum’s
home, so I just had to ask the airport to change it to a plane the following
day. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Back home – my Mum’s home – we made amends, but I found myself
still craving a ‘new start’ and desperately wanting that feeling and those
positive, peaceful thoughts back, so I began running away to different towns
and cities in the UK. To put into perspective just how desperate I was, I found
my train tickets from during that time and I had ran away on at least 26 occasions
(to know some of the places I went to, I did a blog post about them years ago,
you can read it </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2013/09/i-didnt-poison-it.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQVM_ooKywwzPVm45TEOJSsvnKxpDE8a9GKbud0yH7cJZpP4qv3eMd8FaK2PzacUCuFskyhnaE98bXgwWxLEPms5O2Le3_XL1ced9-dqyhf2adCzifx9YHotTQpF1SVCnxPiBP4wzWS-1zp_V2WF8e598HMNW3gVpRvGyR35R0oY0Zk_cO1b0E-wrUGtG/s2000/Travel%20Photos%20Graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOQVM_ooKywwzPVm45TEOJSsvnKxpDE8a9GKbud0yH7cJZpP4qv3eMd8FaK2PzacUCuFskyhnaE98bXgwWxLEPms5O2Le3_XL1ced9-dqyhf2adCzifx9YHotTQpF1SVCnxPiBP4wzWS-1zp_V2WF8e598HMNW3gVpRvGyR35R0oY0Zk_cO1b0E-wrUGtG/w426-h640/Travel%20Photos%20Graphic.png" width="426" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">HOW YOUR REASONS FOR TRAVELLING CAN MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE:</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Work:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> I’ve found that when I’m travelling for professional/work reasons
– whether it be for a collaboration with a travel company (I’ve worked with
LNER twice – which you can read </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2019/06/travelling-mental-health-in.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> and </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2019/07/all-things-travel-mental-health-in.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">, and
Edinburgh Bus Tours – which you can read </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2022/06/my-edinburgh-recommendations-in.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">) or to attend
a meeting or event – I seem to experience and struggle with stress a lot more. I
think that the reason for this is because travelling for a commitment like that
tends to be a lot more rigid, particularly in terms of your transport running
late and even just the actual time of your transport in terms of whether it’s
early in the morning or late at night. I like to think I’m a very loyal person
and so, when I agree to do something for someone e.g. create content in
collaboration with an organisation, I try my best to produce posts of a good standard,
and which meet any deadlines. So, to have to rely on transport to help me
maintain a commitment, can be extremely difficult and frustrating! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Fun:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> Whilst I obviously love what I do in terms of blogging and any
events or collaborations that make travelling necessary, I still see a
difference between that and travelling purely just for fun and as more of an
adventure. In comparison, travelling for fun feels like a lot less pressure – I
mean, I think that whether or not your transport is running late can still
matter if you have some sort of activity booked, but ultimately, it doesn’t
phase me as much. A component to this being the case might be that when you are
travelling for fun, that tends to mean that you’re with someone and so having
that company can really help you to not only stay calm through any hiccups, but
also to find light in those instances. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Running Away:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> Having ran away as many times as I talked about earlier, I feel
very experienced and therefore fairly confident in talking about why travelling
for this reason can matter. For me, because I was on a bus or a train or a
metro for – what could reasonably be summed up as – negative reasons, it meant
that the actual journey couldn’t ever really be genuinely enjoyable or exciting
in any way possible. And, in a way, the notion that something which, to a lot
of people, is fun and interesting but you can’t and don’t experience that, kind
of makes the entire situation worse because it really stresses just how much
you’re struggling to find positives and happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2tVuGDETT-tAubvQeusTApxWE9DHoQJm-blw9PGQdrNW8YWKx7-GYEqGWoOyIznQYDY-dssk2i7c8uFCZ1s0ychn92b_fXpTce7aXfhRYA6pf8GOhS95T173aj8RSD6uwUwmIXpweT-G0WX2Ez0ZmdGSW31Rs5j2StxdlmQ3gFePF6j0NInvwQqS6rdkn/s1920/Travel%20Benefits%20Graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2tVuGDETT-tAubvQeusTApxWE9DHoQJm-blw9PGQdrNW8YWKx7-GYEqGWoOyIznQYDY-dssk2i7c8uFCZ1s0ychn92b_fXpTce7aXfhRYA6pf8GOhS95T173aj8RSD6uwUwmIXpweT-G0WX2Ez0ZmdGSW31Rs5j2StxdlmQ3gFePF6j0NInvwQqS6rdkn/w360-h640/Travel%20Benefits%20Graphic.png" width="360" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">REPLACING BAD MEMORIES OF TRANSPORT/DESTINATIONS:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Having listed number two of my ten favourite benefits to travelling
in the above graphic as ‘Creating special memories,’ I thought it was the
perfect lead into a quick chat about using travelling to replace previously difficult
or sad memories – particularly those actually centred around means of transport
or specific locations/destinations. And of course, this was an issue I was left
with as I went into my mental health recovery because of those 26 instances of
running away! I absolutely hated that when my Mum or a friend would say “have
you been to such and such?” and I had to say “yes, but I only saw the train
station, pharmacy, and hospital!” It was like a really awkward answer because literally
all of the people I was saying this to, didn’t know how to respond! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I think that wanting to return to somewhere you’ve travelled where
you’ve had some sort of bad experience, is a pretty understandable mindset or
coping skill. The one element that I think is really important to consider here
is ensuring that on your return journey, you are well enough to cope if you’re
hit by any flashbacks or triggers of your previous experience. A means to not
only cope if these things were to happen, but also to help give more assurance
that the return visit will go well, is to travel there with a loved one. Not
only will having another person mean it’ll be more challenging to end up doing
something unsafe, but they can also provide a huge distraction from any
unwanted and upsetting memories.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In addition to the instances of running away and those bad
memories there was one instance when I was in London for an event and as some
of us were getting into the taxi to leave the venue and go back to the train
station, there were all these people running towards us screaming and crying. Then
there were some Police vans and cars hurtling in the opposite direction with
their sirens blaring and lights flashing, and helicopters swooped in circling
overhead! A quick look on social media showed there’d been a terrorist attack just
around the corner from our venue and I remember fumbling with my phone trying
to ring my Mum to tell her I was ok whilst my hands couldn’t stop shaking! She
said she was glad I’d rang because if she’d just seen it on TV she would have
panicked. Fortunately, we were all safe and all made it home on time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Prior to that experience though, I had actually been looking at
moving to London permanently and had even gone so far as to look at rent prices
etc. but I was completely deterred by the attack and whilst I appreciate that
terror attacks can happen anywhere (especially after my work with Manchester
NHS after the attack at the Ariana Grande concert), London will very obviously,
always be a prime location for them. So, I decided not to move and was very
grateful that my next trip that way was for an event because it meant I didn’t
really have the time to think too much about being back there and instead, had
to concentrate on my work and commitments to photographing the event and
blogging about it later. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">MY LARGEST CHALLENGES IN TRAVELLING & HOW I COPE WITH THEM:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Transport Delays:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> If you’ve been reading, I’m NOT Disordered for a while now, you
may already know but I’m a complete ‘control freak.’ I think it stems from the
rape and abuse and how it was done to me and obviously against my wishes, so it
was completely out of my control, and I genuinely felt that I had no real power
or authority in the entire thing! I mean, for so many reasons I couldn’t report
the abuse immediately and so I desperately tried to ‘tell’ people by completely
changing my behaviour and attitude at school with the hope that someone would
sit up and be like “this isn’t like Aimee, I wonder why she’s doing this?” But
no, nothing. And having this horrific experience of an absence of control has
meant that I’m really passionate and appreciative of any sense of guidance I
can have on my own life – but especially on my mental health. So, having a loss
of control over any transport I might be using and relying upon and how timely
it may or may not be can be seriously frustrating and stressful for me. Admittedly,
it sometimes has come to a point where I begin feeling properly angry and have
really had to check myself on ensuring that I didn’t take any of that out on any
staff. And so, to cope with this annoyance and irritation, I like to use the
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) skill of ‘Distraction’ by finding somewhere
to quiet to wait, putting my headphones in and listening to music or watching Greys
Anatomy or Pretty Little Liars or another favourite that I’ve seen so many
times it’s become an ‘easy watch!’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: center 225.65pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Travel/Motion Sickness:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> I was
actually diagnosed with motion sickness a few years ago, but it’s not something
I often talk about online (whether it be my blog or my social media) because
it’s really not typically relevant to any of my content… especially since I now
take an anti-sickness tablet. So, an antidote to an overdose of a particular
medication can often make you feel sick and in having it, the Doctors literally
ran through the entire list of anti-emetic drugs to find one that worked for me
until we finally tried Cyclizine! And so, knowing that was the only one which
seemed to prove effective for me, I was prescribed it for my motion sickness
too. And a huge motivation to take it is that if I don’t, I often end up really
embarrassing myself by throwing up into a random carrier bag or becoming really
panicked and anxious if I have no bag and there’s no way to do it discreetly! I
also really want my Mum when I’m being sick and that tends to result in me
crying at the same time! I do want to say though, that there are other methods
for motion sickness besides medication, for more information visit the NHS page
about it </span><a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/motion-sickness/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Packing:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> I’ll never forget my Nana teaching me how to pack more efficiently
by rolling clothes rather than folding them and it’s a method that I still use
to this day when I’m packing a suitcase or a weekend bag! I do also find though,
that I can pack faster when it’s for something like a stay in hospital because
I’ve packed for that instance so many times – sad to say, but also just completely
the true reality of life with a mental illness… One thing I really want to say
here is how wrong I think it is for someone to be made out to appear
superficial or materialistic purely because their own possessions can help
their mental health and general wellbeing. I think there really needs to be an
appreciation that everyone is different and what helps one person may not be
even halfway as effective or beneficial for another; but that shouldn’t be
deemed to define either of those persons. And so, in addition to putting together
a little list of my favourite items for travelling that are available on
Amazon.co.uk, but I’ve also created a checklist graphic which you can save and
edit to type or print and write your own items to ensure you never forget them
again – because I really think that the fear you’ll forget something is one of
the largest reasons why packing can feel hectic and stressful. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHvJj17rugRYYdKhDyUZCkqARqy1J5_0Cws65cTIgmZAhZ7wrJd6xrO7kCaCRuMwNbRZXPgITh0ZmL89ujwhhvIA84v1CmJgtxK_iEmaSbSNtqEA6c4UdOfOU9BMv_V8JRk7wDfQU4taHaiibtbTmc8jY7lTc6zOjt276uEmoe09Q2GVwbEyOosyFXO5Yg/s2000/Favourite%20Travel%20Items%20Graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHvJj17rugRYYdKhDyUZCkqARqy1J5_0Cws65cTIgmZAhZ7wrJd6xrO7kCaCRuMwNbRZXPgITh0ZmL89ujwhhvIA84v1CmJgtxK_iEmaSbSNtqEA6c4UdOfOU9BMv_V8JRk7wDfQU4taHaiibtbTmc8jY7lTc6zOjt276uEmoe09Q2GVwbEyOosyFXO5Yg/w640-h512/Favourite%20Travel%20Items%20Graphic.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/sspa/click?ie=UTF8&spc=MTo4NzY0NDkzNjk3NzYxMDA3OjE3MDQ3MzU5Mjk6c3BfYXRmOjMwMDExNjc3MjAzMDMzMjo6MDo6&url=%2FTEIVUL-Toiletries-Silicone-Squeezable-Containers%2Fdp%2FB0BRXLSNNW%2Fref%3Dsr_1_4_sspa%3Fcrid%3D2WQY5B4OA99M5%26keywords%3Dtravel%2Btoiletries%26qid%3D1704735929%26sprefix%3Dtravel%2Btoiletries%252Caps%252C1643%26sr%3D8-4-spons%26sp_csd%3Dd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY%26psc%3D1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Travel Bottle
Set</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:
£7.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09BKMS6XB/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=A7K27UU8UFCNB&psc=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">10,000 mAh
Portable Charger</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £9.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/LENCENT-Extender-Protector-Charger-Extension/dp/B083VXRV3Q/ref=sr_1_7_sspa?keywords=3+pin+plug+with+USB&qid=1704736522&sr=8-7-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Plug Extender</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £12.74<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/COOLIFE-Suitcase-Lightweight-Included-Backpack/dp/B0C5WN8RH4/ref=sr_1_14_sspa?crid=3F4I0E5PJ76Y5&keywords=weekend%2Bbag%2Bted%2Bbaker&qid=1704738332&sprefix=weekend%2Bbag%2Bted%2Bbaker%2Caps%2C434&sr=8-14-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&th=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Luggage Set</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £76.49<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Headphones-Cancelling-Earphones-Waterproof-Pink/dp/B0C5HVD3M9/ref=sr_1_20?crid=1IDKWH8AB8JVM&keywords=pink+headphones&qid=1704738783&sprefix=weekend+bag+ted+b%2Caps%2C4396&sr=8-20"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Bluetooth
Headphones</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £49.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lanpn-Notebook-Scrapbook-Anniversary-Traveling/dp/B0CJV48HTP/ref=sr_1_15?crid=19CWNBT0U8S1K&keywords=travel%2Bjournal&qid=1704740323&sprefix=pink%2Bheadphones%2Caps%2C7090&sr=8-15&th=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lanpn Travel
Journal</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £18.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/SilkSleek-Eye-Mask-Sleeping-Hypoallergenic/dp/B0B6499VDJ/ref=sr_1_85?crid=2RSSHBG73QETV&keywords=sleep+mask&qid=1704760017&sprefix=sleep+mask%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-85"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Silk Sleek
Sleep Mask</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £21.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/wobsion-Magnification-Portable-Illuminated-Handheld/dp/B07YX5G62X/ref=sr_1_44?crid=NZKP8IJNQJ0P&keywords=travel+mirror&qid=1704760209&sprefix=travel+mirro%2Caps%2C352&sr=8-44"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">LED Travel
Makeup Mirror</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £8.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtDp__jx_dHqK5TC6iE3PcJgI6QlImeWz9XZY75EZdbZSNApLwxx2fodODc49l4dQ_Jhf50PAsB8lgG8sFKH0-Eov4E14q5Eh0deneELF6dqOmoErqqZvI_9R8F7OIQKMwxnc5FDYF6JJu2x3IWVupQKnr6yO3X9l4XC9cIt9piz62aQnnrv7H7nSMsIf/s2000/Travel%20Checklist%20Graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1414" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtDp__jx_dHqK5TC6iE3PcJgI6QlImeWz9XZY75EZdbZSNApLwxx2fodODc49l4dQ_Jhf50PAsB8lgG8sFKH0-Eov4E14q5Eh0deneELF6dqOmoErqqZvI_9R8F7OIQKMwxnc5FDYF6JJu2x3IWVupQKnr6yO3X9l4XC9cIt9piz62aQnnrv7H7nSMsIf/w452-h640/Travel%20Checklist%20Graphic.png" width="452" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Scenarios Related to Socialisation: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, I feel
like there’s two ways socialisation in travelling can go – it can either be
that you end up sitting with someone who wants to share their life story, but
you’re really not in the mood to talk! Or you could find yourself willingly
engaging in a really positive, productive, and enjoyable conversation with a
fellow traveller… I think that since I started blogging and I’m NOT Disordered
really started to grow in popularity, I’ve grown to not only be more confident talking
about mental health publicly, but it’s also become something I’m a huge fan of
doing and so I’d like to advise and encourage others try to do it too. I’m a
complete believer that the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health
is mostly a result of a lack of education, understanding, and experience. And
so, because of this, I feel that talking more about the topic and all things
relevant to it, could genuinely be vastly rewarding, positive, and productive
which is why – typically – I’m almost always willing to talk about it… Even
with complete strangers! Nine times out of ten, the lead to talking about
mental health with fellow transport passengers and travellers is usually triggered
either by someone seeing me working on my blog/writing a blog post or asking me
why I’m travelling. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">THE 2 GOLDEN RULES TO SPEAKING ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH IN PUBLIC:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Read the ‘room’<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This phrase almost immediately came to mind when I began
considering the headline for this little section and I actually found that a
bit odd because it’s one I actually don’t think I’ve ever used before in all of
my blogging around speaking about mental health! Now, I’ve had a few instances
recently where I’ve considered the saying about choosing your battles and I
feel that this little ditty is pretty similar in that it’s really a focus on
the fact that it can be so important to consider any and all aspects of a situation.
Perhaps wrongly, a key example of something perhaps minor or rarely thought
about, is that when I’m thinking about talking about mental health in public,
is the age of those around me…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I think anyone and everyone involved in the mental health world –
in whatever way that means for a person – are aware of the fact that older persons
statistically tend to have a poor understanding or lack of education around mental
illness. And this often results in a stigmatised attitude and response in any
sorts of discussions on the subject. On the other end of the spectrum(!) – I also
take into account any children or young persons within earshot of anything I might
say or talk about; particularly when self-harm, suicide, or being sectioned
might be mentioned or brought up. I think it’s really important to gain a
balance with those of a younger age in ensuring they have somewhat of an
awareness of mental health in the hope that it will instil a sense of encouragement
and reassurance for them to seek help and support should they begin to struggle
with their own mental health. I also, however, personally think that it’s also equally
important to give some sort of shield and protection to the young people and
children having some sense of naivety and innocence.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Respect and prepare for an unequal amount of information and
experience sharing<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I think that one of the most challenging lessons I’ve learnt
through my blogging career is that not everyone will share the same amount of
detail or information on their own experiences, thoughts, and feelings. But, I think
one way I’ve overcome this is by having a Mum who is an incredibly private
person and initially, in being so open and honest in my blog posts, I found it
really difficult to accept and appreciate her point of view; but then I thought
that if it was the other way around and my Mum disclosed something about me
that I didn’t want shared… So, I fully respect and abide by her comfort levels in
terms of sharing information and monitoring how personal my content is in mentioning
my Mum; and in doing this, I’ve learnt to appreciate that this can be the case
in a wider setting too. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">ALL THE REASONS WHY IT MATTERS WHO YOU’RE TRAVELLING WITH:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Distraction where things get stressful or upsetting<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Humour when you could really do with a laugh!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Support if you find yourself struggling in some way<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Calming influence through any travel hiccups<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Bonding opportunity for any friendship or relationship to gain new
memories together<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">3 OF MY FAVOURITE TRIPS WITH ONE OF MY BESTFRIEND’S; GEORGIE:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2021/08/everything-you-deserve-three-days-at.html">EVERYTHING
YOU DESERVE | THREE DAYS AT THE LAKE DISTRICT WITH MY BESTFRIEND | I'm NOT
Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2019/11/cats-protections-christmas-animation.html">CATS
PROTECTION’S CHRISTMAS ANIMATION ADVANCED SCREENING | ALSO IN COLLABORATION
WITH LNER | AD | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2019/07/all-things-travel-mental-health-in.html">ALL
THINGS TRAVEL & MENTAL HEALTH | IN COLLABORATION WITH LONDON NORTH EASTERN
RAILWAY | AD | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNMh75qoRY5wCr3OHlFGFJXiWQFyQwKUIyREMPXJz-blpnnYpwhKDl5cevbvlxBkYWl3yDKRjdoCoPQysgCboFIA4-nRgty-zlyI7GDWs1sdoeInH9-CXkMfP4rU-LHUKQ7t2-fcqwJT1VYB4aFKjayPnOOwG3bS0zg-_xMrwjOtnc-fPEnXRfWgbNDa7M/s2000/Georgie%20Travel%20Photos%20Graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNMh75qoRY5wCr3OHlFGFJXiWQFyQwKUIyREMPXJz-blpnnYpwhKDl5cevbvlxBkYWl3yDKRjdoCoPQysgCboFIA4-nRgty-zlyI7GDWs1sdoeInH9-CXkMfP4rU-LHUKQ7t2-fcqwJT1VYB4aFKjayPnOOwG3bS0zg-_xMrwjOtnc-fPEnXRfWgbNDa7M/w426-h640/Georgie%20Travel%20Photos%20Graphic.png" width="426" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">SOMEWHERE I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO VISIT: CORNWALL, ENGLAND<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">General
Information on Cornwall: </span><a href="https://www.visitcornwall.com/">Visit
Cornwall | Official Tourist Board</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3G7CnU1vB_Y6C6v-nuYv4xAHfFXtRyB0nwsTQ9PvTR3SilZ-IavmrBpOEGtfJJx7QKMOpuiKlvBWdcm1ZMmOsI0lEDIp7-pQYzKp3YAwTyrTiDg7VPCY3fDLBehNGU0CnKz_HPle7xP7IwCuC4EqHB6xQVYEcC904nEHQ0Hm1L-6fd3jpqYQ8XWlOcSwl/s2000/Cornwall%20Graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3G7CnU1vB_Y6C6v-nuYv4xAHfFXtRyB0nwsTQ9PvTR3SilZ-IavmrBpOEGtfJJx7QKMOpuiKlvBWdcm1ZMmOsI0lEDIp7-pQYzKp3YAwTyrTiDg7VPCY3fDLBehNGU0CnKz_HPle7xP7IwCuC4EqHB6xQVYEcC904nEHQ0Hm1L-6fd3jpqYQ8XWlOcSwl/w426-h640/Cornwall%20Graphic.png" width="426" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">PICTURED:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://stmichaelsmount.co.uk/">St Michael's Mount Cornwall – Historic
Castle & Island (stmichaelsmount.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.visitnewquay.org/">Visit Newquay | Official Newquay Tourist
Information website</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.minack.com/">Minack Theatre</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://thirdeyetraveller.com/nanjizal-beach-cornwall/">How To Visit
Nanjizal Beach & Song Of The Sea Cave In Cornwall (2024)!
(thirdeyetraveller.com)</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.stives-cornwall.co.uk/">St Ives Cornwall, St Ives Tourism
Association | Visit St Ives (stives-cornwall.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.visitcornwall.com/destinations/mousehole">Mousehole: Be
Charmed by Cornwall's Picturesque Fishing Village (visitcornwall.com)</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://padstowlive.com/">padstowlive.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://visitstagnes.com/">Home - Visit St Agnes</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.visitcornwall.com/destinations/bude">Bude: Embrace Coastal
Beauty and Outdoor Adventures in Cornwall (visitcornwall.com)</a></span></u></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLn-Tuw3ORMyHX2ffa1T0Zno1arbt-MWStZASc2W8-sN2mk5nYgT_Kyot1Hfy-hFR8yERidu-z1LTZytDVUFLf5ZAnZnYefGfBg2-C4gb9FPZ1op-tgKK5MnP9uAsBDu2MFAwPUS8KQoaAtUWIbmrcPKPgqlZBtI0YqkeKmtBFvL9ltG-xVQWgRsdHzOo/s960/417538545_10231284748082571_6584872555262405345_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="540" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkLn-Tuw3ORMyHX2ffa1T0Zno1arbt-MWStZASc2W8-sN2mk5nYgT_Kyot1Hfy-hFR8yERidu-z1LTZytDVUFLf5ZAnZnYefGfBg2-C4gb9FPZ1op-tgKK5MnP9uAsBDu2MFAwPUS8KQoaAtUWIbmrcPKPgqlZBtI0YqkeKmtBFvL9ltG-xVQWgRsdHzOo/w360-h640/417538545_10231284748082571_6584872555262405345_n.jpg" width="360" /></a></b></div><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ePavcoIMFcKMAMiGp33D9F3-bsbncp2CEKxugm6gEx4tohJjBpld-vBxlFid6W4DkKJOs3o46VNkO-0TpV_lwTneFA9QGIbARJJPwmY6NAqe2lPFeyUzg1NBg8yWRqM2d8S9b0HkLevoaL1eS6GU_-6wMfnaK73xmRIFs0ay73j0g181_kyXo8ir6kSg/s960/414570782_10231284748122572_8014379331002694916_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="540" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ePavcoIMFcKMAMiGp33D9F3-bsbncp2CEKxugm6gEx4tohJjBpld-vBxlFid6W4DkKJOs3o46VNkO-0TpV_lwTneFA9QGIbARJJPwmY6NAqe2lPFeyUzg1NBg8yWRqM2d8S9b0HkLevoaL1eS6GU_-6wMfnaK73xmRIFs0ay73j0g181_kyXo8ir6kSg/w360-h640/414570782_10231284748122572_8014379331002694916_n.jpg" width="360" /></a></div></b><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">CATS PROTECTION LINKS:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">WEBSITE:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.cats.org.uk/">cats.org.uk</a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">TWITTER/X:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://twitter.com/catsprotection?lang=en">Cats Protection
(@CatsProtection) / X (twitter.com)</a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">FACEBOOK:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/catsprotection">Cats Protection
(@CatsProtection) / Facebook (facebook.com)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">INSTAGRAM:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/catsprotection/">Cats Protection <span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">🐈</span>
(@catsprotection) • Instagram photos and videos</a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">CATS PROTECTION TYNESIDE ADOPTION CENTRE LINKS:</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">WEBSITE:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.cats.org.uk/tyneside">Cats Protection Tyneside Adoption
Centre</a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">TWITTER/X:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://twitter.com/CPTynesideAC">twitter.com/CPTynesideAC</a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">FACEBOOK:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CPTynesideAdoptionCentre/">Cats
Protection (@CPTynesideAdoptionCentre) / Facebook (facebook.com)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">INSTAGRAM:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/cptynesideac/">Cats Protection - Tyneside
Adoption Centre (@cptynesideac) • Instagram photos and videos</a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-22822671471701436522024-01-09T03:53:00.000+00:002024-01-09T03:53:07.705+00:00MARKING ONE YEAR OF GRACIE WITH A HUGE THANK YOU TO HER<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rjGZ2Y9BjTY" width="320" youtube-src-id="rjGZ2Y9BjTY"></iframe></div><br /><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“I feel like a part of my soul has loved you since the beginning
of everything.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Emery Allen<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I’m so incredibly grateful to have Gracie be part of the family
for one year today. I feel like every single second she is here; she’s
reassured me that I’m wanted, valuable, important, and loved – all the notions
I’m often desperate and honoured to experience when my mental health is poorly.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-35797684341775044772024-01-06T21:06:00.001+00:002024-01-06T21:06:19.027+00:00HAPPY 11TH BIRTHDAY I'M NOT DISORDERED | A REEL OF BLOGGING CAREER MEMORIES & A HUGE BALLOON!!!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3jOf5xgjyRQQ5saSyHoF6ChQT_N6L0EKlUoXjicHoKNaKAGm8NeG9RQFf-wh_2YfbEzikSXX-szGsTx_WlzgpUhraGtbEns6iGJdKI838VzEQw2dZ_Iy9N8Jls3Uu-Yib_mlxgvT4iGdjdH2zyQcCPErVqQkKyZQH-OQFvbiiSa_WS0Z0_9EZ48mzQnFL/s960/417453367_10231273829129604_6894542802187265773_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="608" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3jOf5xgjyRQQ5saSyHoF6ChQT_N6L0EKlUoXjicHoKNaKAGm8NeG9RQFf-wh_2YfbEzikSXX-szGsTx_WlzgpUhraGtbEns6iGJdKI838VzEQw2dZ_Iy9N8Jls3Uu-Yib_mlxgvT4iGdjdH2zyQcCPErVqQkKyZQH-OQFvbiiSa_WS0Z0_9EZ48mzQnFL/w406-h640/417453367_10231273829129604_6894542802187265773_n.jpg" width="406" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fg_mKvkfMfw" width="320" youtube-src-id="Fg_mKvkfMfw"></iframe></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg169pQ3UUhFABZhDpG4DzB7WKYlxBl4oUMMA_oFoR1FDUkiqaaeMMGhrUElGHByI_nH9SyXC1xtcHY7L92x_sRToOUMhUd020dEa_q1UJu_vnMbGl_QcwDER11Dgd1YnAXcK_e6nDFvpdb_smExK5bMFhFOqVBYCWYDFKnEYuF3_6ww-e8uE1YtHp1mOYc/s960/414563875_10231273829169605_70295849774926006_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="775" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg169pQ3UUhFABZhDpG4DzB7WKYlxBl4oUMMA_oFoR1FDUkiqaaeMMGhrUElGHByI_nH9SyXC1xtcHY7L92x_sRToOUMhUd020dEa_q1UJu_vnMbGl_QcwDER11Dgd1YnAXcK_e6nDFvpdb_smExK5bMFhFOqVBYCWYDFKnEYuF3_6ww-e8uE1YtHp1mOYc/w516-h640/414563875_10231273829169605_70295849774926006_n.jpg" width="516" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3beqU0iZDY2KijfvafM4waAnMoav28aR6HhV9wQrzirkfSWU9bcvrZE0l3GZtRei9MKnnmIgpfwHW0sIcb3V04FeCsH4b4ZHESERhE_iY9D9fK-SWsyPdJdOGJ6aOA_rmVrrgfpLUNKOjO3iPvoOPgkP58qH8vYQt58ST8_7csIYsuQUbr2wpusUz-SOI/s960/417367644_10231273829209606_9084675511809659255_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="748" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3beqU0iZDY2KijfvafM4waAnMoav28aR6HhV9wQrzirkfSWU9bcvrZE0l3GZtRei9MKnnmIgpfwHW0sIcb3V04FeCsH4b4ZHESERhE_iY9D9fK-SWsyPdJdOGJ6aOA_rmVrrgfpLUNKOjO3iPvoOPgkP58qH8vYQt58ST8_7csIYsuQUbr2wpusUz-SOI/w499-h640/417367644_10231273829209606_9084675511809659255_n.jpg" width="499" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp86OFtbZmJgefEtrjI-ROaujwEgUOmOraxQfTLy_2H9P7JKUas3I9MOwNBWaM2B3YDPugOKiCChSBLBRYtZBuz4Hhw-LetR9qMm3ZQ1Snyz2832xlhXDGhAMa_jL_7LmOARPrINgrsXKhRFXPyK3TzeyxFf9P5Winrgu-U2cFqgeJ1MCTcNaBdnNBHWEF/s960/417396696_10231273829249607_1506398733420850656_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="807" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp86OFtbZmJgefEtrjI-ROaujwEgUOmOraxQfTLy_2H9P7JKUas3I9MOwNBWaM2B3YDPugOKiCChSBLBRYtZBuz4Hhw-LetR9qMm3ZQ1Snyz2832xlhXDGhAMa_jL_7LmOARPrINgrsXKhRFXPyK3TzeyxFf9P5Winrgu-U2cFqgeJ1MCTcNaBdnNBHWEF/w538-h640/417396696_10231273829249607_1506398733420850656_n.jpg" width="538" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> <p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-41660269504224335722024-01-01T21:00:00.003+00:002024-01-02T00:47:42.356+00:00AND THE YEAR 2023 IS COMING TO AN END… | THE FINAL PART<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0GFQ9bh2oaNXCCrxYXSxSx_MHoNWhFFxSzIoveJMhEHZP-1gYpvHqV4uxpyDYZ2n_yqhUgnMyk1D3GaHruw8q4ShkgFqilH2jVtTFlRSL6cVOFHPCdnNbjU7JO631NNLrlmmigRoYdOznkyPV0iXaS4etADu_HkXnxN2j1_n3Vnq2CfFHkGXbqDj5p-Ht/s2000/Brown%20and%20Beige%20Modern%20Fashion%20Collection%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0GFQ9bh2oaNXCCrxYXSxSx_MHoNWhFFxSzIoveJMhEHZP-1gYpvHqV4uxpyDYZ2n_yqhUgnMyk1D3GaHruw8q4ShkgFqilH2jVtTFlRSL6cVOFHPCdnNbjU7JO631NNLrlmmigRoYdOznkyPV0iXaS4etADu_HkXnxN2j1_n3Vnq2CfFHkGXbqDj5p-Ht/w640-h512/Brown%20and%20Beige%20Modern%20Fashion%20Collection%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“She remembered who she was, and
the game changed.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lalah Deliah<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">*YOU CAN READ PART ONE </span></b><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/12/and-year-2023-is-coming-to-end-part-one.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">HERE</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> & PART
TWO </span></b><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/12/and-year-2023-is-coming-to-end-part-two.html"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">HERE</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">*<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioTJFazKO2r2WnpMMg3TiB5xES5UMLL91no2GMVO-kjSDhlBzyB8SpkqaRU91DLGZp_Qc8NQBNmXBLyTHwXV5omSOr_e0m38m8OSn-2fgsT_crGn_F6fO_GkDzPYidXqAtzingNBpQMt8OqzT48uTz8ZBlHePJe0gyL2W1vcNELuFQTt0eruXP0iTyTj9h/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioTJFazKO2r2WnpMMg3TiB5xES5UMLL91no2GMVO-kjSDhlBzyB8SpkqaRU91DLGZp_Qc8NQBNmXBLyTHwXV5omSOr_e0m38m8OSn-2fgsT_crGn_F6fO_GkDzPYidXqAtzingNBpQMt8OqzT48uTz8ZBlHePJe0gyL2W1vcNELuFQTt0eruXP0iTyTj9h/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08F5H9VQX/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lola Design
Organiser</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £14.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BJ9G3RP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Milan Pen</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £10.87<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BPT2Y4MD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">iPad Touchpad
Keyboard Case</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £35.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0C5CLHSYQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Canvas Tote
Bag</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:
£21.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CYC46VQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">W7 HD
Foundation</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £4.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">SOMETHING HUGE THAT I’VE BARELY BLOGGED
ABOUT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My mental
health has been really poor these past few weeks or months, and so I’ve had to
talk to a lot of professionals and there’s something we keep talking about and
I was shocked to realise I actually haven’t said much about it on I’m NOT
Disordered! There’s one post (which you can read </span><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/03/the-essentials-to-life-after-being-in.html?m=0"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">) that says
the most about the fact that on February 18<sup>th</sup> 2023, I was sectioned under
section 2 of the 1983 Mental Health Act.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I had been in
my local A&E and had to see their Psychiatric Liaison Team (PLT) who then
told me to go home to see the Crisis Team. Then, when the two staff came to my
home they asked if I would be prepared to go into the psychiatric hospital and
I refused so they told me they would be leaving to organise a Mental Health Act
assessment. So, after they left – thinking they had just been bluffing – I
turned all the lights off in the house and tried to get to sleep, but their car
was parked outside my bedroom, and I remember that every time I heard a noise
come from outside, I was looking out the blinds and their car would still be
there. Now, this sounds like something sort of insignificant in perspective of
the whole process that night, but even almost a year later, if I hear noises outside,
I’m almost immediately thinking that someone is coming to take me to hospital –
even when nothing has happened, and I’ve had no contact with any mental health
services or other professionals! It’s meant that I very rarely feel completely
settled in my bed at night.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I did manage
to fall asleep though that night, and when my phone rang in the early hours of
the morning, I looked outside first and saw that their car was gone then
answered the unknown number calling. It turned out to be a Social Worker who
told me that she, and some other professionals would be coming to my home to
conduct a Mental Health Act assessment at 3am and I was so half asleep that I
just agreed! To be honest, I think a huge part of me still thought this was a
bluff and they would never go through with it. So, when they all (two Social
Workers and two Psychiatrists) showed up at my back door a few hours later,
everything suddenly became very real and, begrudgingly, I led them all into my
sitting room. And it instantly felt tiny because it has one 3-seater sofa and 1
arm chair, so I ended up in the arm chair, the two Social Workers sat on the
sofa, and the Psychiatrists perched on the windowsill!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">One of the
largest features of the motivation to section me, was because the professionals
believed me to be experiencing a psychotic episode and a key quality to this
was my belief that my body didn’t belong to me anymore and that something was
controlling my brain. And because of these thoughts, I felt silenced in the
Assessment and so I ended up typing something on my iPad and showing it to one
of the Social Workers who then passed it to the others. It read ‘I can’t talk
when I have no right to speak.’ And with that, one of the Social Workers told
me the other one would be staying with me whilst she and the Psychiatrists went
to ‘talk’ in another room – but really, they were completing the section papers
in my bedroom. The next thing I knew, they were calling an Ambulance to take me
back to A&E to have some self-harm treated and telling me to pack a bag for
a few days. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I ended up
being in A&E until the afternoon when the mental health professionals had
finally found a bed for me in a psychiatric hospital in a nearby city and a
Social Worker came into my A&E room to tell me that I had to wait for the
‘Secure Ambulance’ to arrive to take me to that hospital and said she would be
following us in her car. Sat in this ‘Secure Ambulance’ (which was basically
just like a big six-seater taxi or something!) I had the random, desperate, and
impulsive thought; ‘why don’t I just try to open the door and jump out whilst
it’s moving?’ But I didn’t – to be honest I think I was too tired and the idea
of me battling the three staff sat beside me seemed an impossible feat that I
was far too exhausted to win the wrestling match! And when I say ‘tired’ and
‘exhausted’ I don’t just mean physically… I mean, I felt psychologically
drained too, as though the past almost 48 hours had really taken its toll on my
emotional strength and any sense of resilience felt completely out of reach.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After being
searched and taken to my room in the hospital, I was then called to see the
On-Call Doctor who was meant to do blood tests, take my blood pressure, pulse,
oxygen levels, and prescribe all the medication I’m on. Seeing her, I took it
as an opportunity to point out that the skin around the stitches in my wrist
from a few days previously was starting to really redden and asked whether that
meant it was getting infected. Her response? “That’ll be fine, give it 10 days
like you were told.” For me, this was an instant red flag which hinted to the idea
that she had no respect or compassion for patients and especially for all those
who are sectioned. And – in addition to this – she was proven to be wrong when
the following day my wound/the stitches were oozing yellow gunk, and I was
feeling poorly. Although, admittedly, the rest of the staff continued to dismiss
and ignore me to the point where my Mum actually had to ring around all these
different professionals to finally have a Doctor come look at it and she
instantly prescribed me some antibiotics. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This instance
wasn’t the only reason for my description of the entirety of this admission being
in a way that meant I honestly felt as though now that I had the ‘sectioned’ label
stuck to my forehead, I had suddenly become ‘half a person.’ I mean, the fact
that my Mum had to call the ward?! I may have been sectioned, but that shouldn’t
take away from the fact that I’m a grown adult and my thoughts, feelings,
requests etc shouldn’t be dismissed or completely ignored! I mean when I asked one
member of staff if I could have a razor – and even said that I didn’t mind using
it under supervision – and they said they’d find out, they didn’t return. So, I’d
ask the next member of staff who came in my room and that went on until I’d
asked five members of staff (who had all said they’d find out and come back!) and
eventually decided to brave leaving my room and I ended up sat outside the
staff office. To add to this already stupid situation, it then turned out that
they needed a qualified Nurse to agree to giving me the razor and – against all
guidelines and good practice – all of them were off the ward at the same time
(apparently having a de-brief).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My fear at
coming out of my room was because I felt that the ward didn’t once go at least
maybe eight (I’m trying to estimate in a way that doesn’t sound overexaggerated,
but which is also close to the truth!) consecutive hours without an alarm going
off, which would typically by followed by screaming, footsteps, banging, swearing,
thumping, and crying. Looking back on the way I was treated by staff though; I
now wonder whether at least half of the incidents of inpatients ‘kicking off’
were due to the frustration of being badly treated…? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The two
helpful aspects to this admission were firstly that it did mean I was put into
an environment where the ways in which I was self-harming were so much more
difficult and that meant I had the opportunity for the second helpful aspect to
happen. So, secondly – with the professionals considering that my lack of sleep
for the two weeks previous to the admission was a precursor for the psychotic episode
– I was given a sleeping tablet a couple of times and that really helped me to
catch-up on my rest and gain the energy to fight and ignore the strange thoughts
and beliefs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Recognising
that the admission still had been somewhat beneficial, meant that when I was
finally discharged, I genuinely thought long and hard about putting in a
complaint with the Trust and raising the ward’s failures and faults with the
Care Quality Commission (CQC). And yes, I came to the conclusion to do these
things and that decision mainly stemmed from my thoughts that not only were the
staff’s actions fundamentally wrong and unfair; I didn’t see them as anything personal
– I recognised the likelihood that they were responding to – and treating – other
patients in this way. This meant I felt compelled to speak up not just for myself,
but also on behalf of everyone else. And I actually can’t honestly pay enough
gratitude to the Trust and CQC for their responses to the complaint. The Trust
allocated an Investigating Officer, and I eventually received a twelve-page
report on which each of the incidents and failures I had specifically mentioned
were in bold with the investigation result beneath and beneath that they had
put a ‘actions’ headline where they detailed everything the Trust will do so
that these things don’t happen again. Obviously, it wasn’t the layout of their
response I was grateful for(!) – it was that each of those incidents and
failures I reported, were upheld and the Investigating Officer had detailed all
the evidence she had found which proved each of my accusations to be correct.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The difficulty
here is the recognition and almost forced acceptance that all those things
happened to me and that the apologies and all the actions to avoid the repetition
of those things didn’t mean that everything that had happened to me could be
taken back in anyway at all. I had to focus on the hope that I might have
helped prevent these things happening to others too. And in the Trust recognising
their failures, I was also faced with the fact that I now felt contradicting opinions
of it and all of it’s Services. On the one hand I thought their admittance was
admirable because there are so many organisations and professionals who will take
complaints as an opportunity to lie or excuse their actions and attitudes
rather than a chance to recognise their wrongdoing and see it as a learning
curve. Yet, on the other hand, how could I ever confide in or seek help and
support from a Trust who had staff capable of committing all of these things? I
tried to look at it with the ‘treat others how you’d like to be treated’ and
thought about if I had admitted to treating someone badly, I wouldn’t want
everyone to stop trusting me and ending their relationships or connections with
me.</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpa7nnwBBMjE7QacIf2LAdAtaYeJUceDP9fqzpCQqTcyZNJQ8mVpWCC6YPDPDFPMLfLCJh_HZlP7LPEa1uf6HvFV-VQEfzf-aySZq9oRGmFfxWjpjqa-w5f3L2tq22_Q5HvI9CGj6zoHnKXs2yAU-Bm9L9ss4VCi4HEDq9kiQbCrHM1C0jFwNDhy_ycZgD/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpa7nnwBBMjE7QacIf2LAdAtaYeJUceDP9fqzpCQqTcyZNJQ8mVpWCC6YPDPDFPMLfLCJh_HZlP7LPEa1uf6HvFV-VQEfzf-aySZq9oRGmFfxWjpjqa-w5f3L2tq22_Q5HvI9CGj6zoHnKXs2yAU-Bm9L9ss4VCi4HEDq9kiQbCrHM1C0jFwNDhy_ycZgD/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=ac24f1b69b7cee0eJmltdHM9MTcwMzQ2MjQwMCZpZ3VpZD0xZDQ3MTM4MS1iM2YzLTYyMTItMDY1My0wMjRiYjJjMzYzNWMmaW5zaWQ9NTIyMw&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=1d471381-b3f3-6212-0653-024bb2c3635c&psq=gossip+girl+netflix&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmV0ZmxpeC5jb20vanAtZW4vdGl0bGUvNzAxNDM4MTE&ntb=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Gossip Girl
on Netflix</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=823c0d2f312863abJmltdHM9MTcwMzQ2MjQwMCZpZ3VpZD0xZDQ3MTM4MS1iM2YzLTYyMTItMDY1My0wMjRiYjJjMzYzNWMmaW5zaWQ9NTIwMg&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=1d471381-b3f3-6212-0653-024bb2c3635c&psq=lost+disney+plus&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzbmV5cGx1cy5jb20vZW4tZ2Ivc2VyaWVzL2xvc3QvNDlWaklZQWl5N29o&ntb=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lost on
Disney +</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=af3d6bc34e64d06dJmltdHM9MTcwMzQ2MjQwMCZpZ3VpZD0xZDQ3MTM4MS1iM2YzLTYyMTItMDY1My0wMjRiYjJjMzYzNWMmaW5zaWQ9NTIzNw&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=1d471381-b3f3-6212-0653-024bb2c3635c&psq=pretty+little+liars+amazon+prime&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucHJpbWV2aWRlby5jb20vZGV0YWlsL1ByZXR0eS1MaXR0bGUtTGlhcnMvME83M01OVzFUNUVIV05VVUpIV05GTFFMUUU&ntb=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Pretty Little
Liars on Amazon Prime Video</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=57d7b3cf61ebd1adJmltdHM9MTcwMzQ2MjQwMCZpZ3VpZD0xZDQ3MTM4MS1iM2YzLTYyMTItMDY1My0wMjRiYjJjMzYzNWMmaW5zaWQ9NTIwOQ&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=1d471381-b3f3-6212-0653-024bb2c3635c&psq=greys+anatomy+disney+plus&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzbmV5cGx1cy5jb20vZW4tZ2Ivc2VyaWVzL2dyZXlzLWFuYXRvbXkvNlA0WkkzYld3U0Rq&ntb=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Greys Anatomy
on Disney +</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=ded7b648b5092b5eJmltdHM9MTcwMzQ2MjQwMCZpZ3VpZD0xZDQ3MTM4MS1iM2YzLTYyMTItMDY1My0wMjRiYjJjMzYzNWMmaW5zaWQ9NTIwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=3&fclid=1d471381-b3f3-6212-0653-024bb2c3635c&psq=scream+queens+disney+plus&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzbmV5cGx1cy5jb20vZW4tZ2Ivc2VyaWVzL3NjcmVhbS1xdWVlbnMvNTF2UjlyTTBSakQ5&ntb=1"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Scream Queens
on Disney +</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">THE LARGEST NEW COLLABORATION
PARTNER OF 2023 & AN EXCLUSIVE LOOK INTO OUR UPCOMING WORK FOR 2024<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq3FImmuEZOSlHeasPH6PowndL5rSZm0CHhpVK6RYfSQq37kHjMxdzHQFtB7wenQ0hXJp_jswLfEi6My6Ultg9KBUmzaVm5w1FQWdSZC_tyBDWKoYbgJAiLVDtSjHDcqBTWU6wlDVl6pN3GWvWbi4ZZ8CkDy4_t2l7LubnveEM5_DfEcptuQtiYY2yyqgs/s2000/Beige%20Aesthetic%20Minimalist%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1333" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq3FImmuEZOSlHeasPH6PowndL5rSZm0CHhpVK6RYfSQq37kHjMxdzHQFtB7wenQ0hXJp_jswLfEi6My6Ultg9KBUmzaVm5w1FQWdSZC_tyBDWKoYbgJAiLVDtSjHDcqBTWU6wlDVl6pN3GWvWbi4ZZ8CkDy4_t2l7LubnveEM5_DfEcptuQtiYY2yyqgs/w426-h640/Beige%20Aesthetic%20Minimalist%20Mood%20Board%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="426" /></a></b></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Back in April
2022, I received an email detailing the opportunity to work with <a href="https://www.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/">the Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust</a> (NUTH) on their upcoming mental health strategy and in
February 2023, I finally published my very first blog post in collaboration with
the Trust (which you can read <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/02/from-intensive-care-to-collaborations.html">here</a>).
For me, working with this Trust has actually been a huge career goal – which I
actually talked about more in our second collaboration post in May (which you can
read <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/everything-im-learning-from-my-work.html">here</a>).
I’ve viewed this Trust as important because in 2012, when I made a suicide
attempt, they used the Mental Capacity Act, and I was put on life support to
receive the lifesaving medical treatment for what I had done. And as a result
of that admission, I went to the specialist psychiatric hospital where I
received the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy that really helped.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In August
2023, I published another collaboration post with NUTH (which you can read <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/08/why-nhs-trusts-need-to-be-following-in.html">here</a>)
where I talked about how helpful the Trust had been in a recent mental health crisis/related
admission and how their response filled me with more passion and dedication to
continue working together. And so, our final public collaboration of the year
came in November and was specifically to mark Stress Awareness Day (you can
read it <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/why-hospital-can-be-stressful-how-to.html">here</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, our upcoming
project which we began work on earlier in December… I was asked by the Mental Capacity
Act Lead for NUTH if I could film something with the Trust that could be added
as a module to the online training their staff undertake in understanding and
using the Capacity Act on patients or service users! I mean, isn’t this the
kind of opportunity that is right up my street?! So, of course I said ‘yes!’ Right
now, we’ve completed one take of the filming and decided not to repeat it unless
we think anything needs to be re-done when watching it back and editing it –
which is the stage we’re onto now and I honestly can’t wait to see it! <u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">FINISHING THE YEAR AS THE UK’S #1
BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER BLOG…</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCnaVGLqb5zkQ3kEe1AvR-nSN5BZ1vhYwqORlHYnPdeiGswdW22HyWFvJgq8nfO2zvS4wE0YqVi0m5lLC5F2Lmz6f2kc492kADb-C49SJRR4n8iwOWM0UY9VaqGeXz8HkWEXHpQd84JJJTnqOJuTDEjU40Y-JFDDqgMr5tXEE3Y7pk-y9yFY1077ZktG2/s1935/415817035_10231251378488352_1062213998909023165_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1935" data-original-width="1170" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCnaVGLqb5zkQ3kEe1AvR-nSN5BZ1vhYwqORlHYnPdeiGswdW22HyWFvJgq8nfO2zvS4wE0YqVi0m5lLC5F2Lmz6f2kc492kADb-C49SJRR4n8iwOWM0UY9VaqGeXz8HkWEXHpQd84JJJTnqOJuTDEjU40Y-JFDDqgMr5tXEE3Y7pk-y9yFY1077ZktG2/w386-h640/415817035_10231251378488352_1062213998909023165_n.jpg" width="386" /></a></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hz_IGkdmCHk" width="320" youtube-src-id="hz_IGkdmCHk"></iframe></b></div><b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></b><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-17530260874650223192023-12-31T18:00:00.001+00:002023-12-31T18:00:00.139+00:00AND THE YEAR 2023 IS COMING TO AN END… | PART TWO<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMVOJivJJLJ9dOkjHBDIWm9MEn6b9EUWc-dtpgXDf5jqElNxlBeu634QMcaAbL9OZiRBhk-2Cy-c25jC0EOmbxw_WpdO8_qysPvcwftSdn3JjrnTXo5FbGs_Y8QPTy6Uo8Yyj_-hD_yPGycKU-eRXq3GVW6PhC8Q6SGuIf0x56Z_wt1_0rQ7_s4id7ft-w/s2000/Brown%20and%20Beige%20Modern%20Fashion%20Collection%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMVOJivJJLJ9dOkjHBDIWm9MEn6b9EUWc-dtpgXDf5jqElNxlBeu634QMcaAbL9OZiRBhk-2Cy-c25jC0EOmbxw_WpdO8_qysPvcwftSdn3JjrnTXo5FbGs_Y8QPTy6Uo8Yyj_-hD_yPGycKU-eRXq3GVW6PhC8Q6SGuIf0x56Z_wt1_0rQ7_s4id7ft-w/w640-h512/Brown%20and%20Beige%20Modern%20Fashion%20Collection%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“She remembered who she was, and
the game changed.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lalah Deliah<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">*YOU CAN READ PART ONE <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/12/and-year-2023-is-coming-to-end-part-one.html">HERE</a>*</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light", sans-serif;"> </span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAOMi_YVh-OwUV5jndH7Vtw0-iJTUuFqcRmXjeXIdxPOQMoWZS5szF1digihURMgInNsj9UF7xnZP1beEiDj05ex1jqV-ZB_LQqxczJh8vG2v3T6da3KlpxqlSwmXzFwEuEMp4W1KPTAhYMYIvuoUCUi2tg1kj6ryFf_QwnubB2NKP078VabUUBR8jYbZ/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAOMi_YVh-OwUV5jndH7Vtw0-iJTUuFqcRmXjeXIdxPOQMoWZS5szF1digihURMgInNsj9UF7xnZP1beEiDj05ex1jqV-ZB_LQqxczJh8vG2v3T6da3KlpxqlSwmXzFwEuEMp4W1KPTAhYMYIvuoUCUi2tg1kj6ryFf_QwnubB2NKP078VabUUBR8jYbZ/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.asos.com/prd/203951762?ctaRef=my%20orders"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">Pimkie
Suede Knee High Boot</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £51.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.asos.com/prd/203335575?ctaRef=my%20orders"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">Embellished
Jumper</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £40.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.asos.com/prd/10389582?ctaRef=my%20orders"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">Too
Faced Better Than Sex Waterproof Mascara</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £13.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.asos.com/prd/202527080?ctaRef=my%20orders"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">e.l.f
Liquid Glitter Eyeshadow</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £6.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.asos.com/prd/202662607?ctaRef=my%20orders"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">Brave
Soul Cardigan</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £42.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">THE TWO NEW ADDITIONS TO THE
FAMILY: GRACIE & RUBY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">With my
calico rescue cat, Emmy, being put to sleep in October 2022, we started off the
year as a family of two with just Luna (my black and white mini-Lionhead lop
eared bunny) and I. But when Emmy was put to sleep, I asked the Vet what the
best thing would be for Luna and almost without seeming to take the time to
think about it, she replied with “get her a friend.” As the weeks went by
without Emmy though, I found myself enjoying building a better bond with Luna
who had always just spent the majority of her time following Emmy around and
had never really been affectionate with me. Without Emmy though, she was now following
me around the home (my bunnies are free-roam) and was always stretching up on
her back feet to nudge me for a stroke or a cuddle. Then she started taking the
cat tunnel in her mouth and running with it in circles; myself and everyone
else who either saw when they visited the house or watched my videos of her
doing it, laughed and thought it was really cute. But actually; it turned out
to have been a form of repetitive behaviour that illustrated boredom and
loneliness.<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, in
January 2023, I decided to get another bunny (you can read more about adding
Gracie in the blog post about her </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/01/welcome-to-family-gracie.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">) because I
thought it would be easier to introduce two bunnies rather than trying to have a
kitten get to know Luna, and on getting Gracie and introducing the two of them
the same day, I was proven to be correct! They bonded almost instantly – I kind
of couldn’t believe it, to be honest! I mean, it wasn’t so much the actual
bond, just how intense and incredible it was! Like, they were cuddling up
together and Luna was washing Gracie within hours of meeting each other! I was
absolutely over the moon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The only
difficulty though, after a few months with Gracie being part of the family, was
that she and Luna were always off in another room together and I was left sat
in the sitting room or bedroom by myself! It was tricky though, because I was
very obviously so happy for Luna that she had a little friend – actually, I’d
go so far as to say soul mate! – and she seemed to much more settled and
content in that she stopped her repetitive behaviour and no longer was always
seeming to be searching the entire house for Emmy. With Luna and Gracie forever
being together in a different room, I started feeling fairly lonely now and so,
I made the decision to get a new kitten, who I hoped would provide me with
love, attention, and company!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It actually
took me quite a while to find the right kitten (to be honest, this was mostly
due to the prices because all those with a fairly low cost weren’t long-haired
– which was something I really wanted in the kitten!). However, I finally
stumbled on a litter that were all too young leave their Mum yet, but Ruby
stood out to me because she had the most gorgeous eyes and she was the only
long-haired, silver kitten in a litter of all-black and shorthaired ones –
turns out, a cat can have one litter that actually has more than one Father in
it! So, we think that’s how Ruby came about! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Having paid
the deposit for her, the seller began sending me photos and videos regularly
until Ruby was old enough to leave her litter. The fact there were a few weeks
to go, also meant I had the opportunity to think up a collaboration with Cats
Protection and get their approval and agreement for it. With the decision that
it would be made into a short series of posts with one per week for the first
month of Ruby being home, I wanted to give the posts a name and so, inspired by
the hashtag the charity like to use (#HereForTheCats), we named the
collaboration #HereForTheKittens (you can read the intro to the series which
was posted on the day I brought Ruby home, </span><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/hereforthekittens-series-intro-managing.html?m=0"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">)!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Since getting
Ruby home, she has literally done and been everything I wanted in getting a new
kitten. I mean, all the way from cuddling in and sleeping with me at night to
playing fetch without teaching her to, in bringing toys to me to throw, getting
them, and bringing them back to me! One of the most important and helpful effects
she has had on me and my mental health though, has been that she’s really massively
added to the motivation to want to be at home. I obviously like my home and
love being around the bunnies because they never fail to make me smile or laugh,
but I didn’t feel a huge pull to being here. Like, if I had to stay in hospital
or even just spending the night at a friend’s, I wasn’t hugely missing being
home and being with Luna and Gracie, but it’s the complete opposite now I have
Ruby! Which really is a good thing for my mental health and safety levels because
it means I’m even more reluctant to do anything that will land me in A&E.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This
Christmas just gone, it made my heart so warm to see our four stockings full of
gifts and hanging from the mantel piece because it was a big reminder that I
have a larger team now – that I have two new additions to my support system!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0k8TfnANn7g" width="320" youtube-src-id="0k8TfnANn7g"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/edBrgFCClAo" width="320" youtube-src-id="edBrgFCClAo"></iframe></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">MOST POPULAR BLOG POST OF 2023<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<h1 align="center" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; text-transform: uppercase;">FROM INTENSIVE CARE TO COLLABORATIONS | IN
COLLABORATION WITH NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST TO MARK
THEIR BRAND-NEW MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY<o:p></o:p></span></b></h1>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="post-timestamp"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; text-transform: uppercase;">MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY
2023</span></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; text-transform: uppercase;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“To me, the model of success is not linear. Success is completing
the full circle of yourself”</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Gloria Steinem<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">All the way back in April last year, I received an email
from </span><a href="https://www.cntw.nhs.uk/"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">Cumbria,
Northumberland, Tyne, and Wear NHS Foundation Trust</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">’s (CNTW’s)
Involvement Bank with a request for those on the Bank (service users,
ex-service users, and carers) to help </span><a href="https://www.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">Newcastle
Hospitals</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> with the creation and development of their new Mental Health
Strategy. Having had a number of experiences with one of the Trust’s sites (</span><a href="https://www.newcastle-hospitals.nhs.uk/hospitals/royal-victoria-infirmary/"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">the Royal Victoria Infirmary aka the RVI</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">) from a
patient point of view; I applied to be part of the project…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The attraction for me to this opportunity was mostly centred
around my previous, mental health related patient experiences with the Trust.
Well, one experience in particular…<a name="more"></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In the summer of 2012, upon discharge from yet another psychiatric
hospital admission, a Psychiatrist made the recommendation that I be assessed
to go into a long-term hospital that specialised in my diagnosis of Borderline
Personality Disorder (BPD). After an assessment with the nearest of those
hospitals turned into a refusal to accept my ‘flight risk,’ I was assessed for
a psychiatric hospital 127 miles away from home. During the assessment though,
they told me the daily schedule of morning meetings, therapeutic groups,
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, trauma therapy, medication, reflection meetings,
bedtimes etc. and I was so resentful of everything that even though they
offered me a bed, I refused to go.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">You can read the rest of this incredibly popular post </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/02/from-intensive-care-to-collaborations.html"><span style="color: windowtext; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">FEELING
LOVED AT I’M NOT DISORDERED’S 10<sup>TH</sup> BIRTHDAY PARTY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">One huge
credit to my Mum is that for as long as I can remember, I have felt loved. And,
sadly, I recognise how lucky I am to be able to say that because there are so
many people in this world who don’t feel that way and are actively struggling
with their mental health and other aspects of their life due to thoughts and feelings
of being unloved and unwanted. I mean, I’ll tell my Mum thanks for all that
she’s done for me, and she used to just think that all parents are this way and
that her actions in saving my life and helping me through so many difficult moments
are the norm and really should be expected. But, having been in psychiatric
hospital a number of times – with the longest admission being two and a half
years – I’ve experienced a lot of instances and had many conversations that
have given me a lot of knowledge and insight into the relationships that other
mental health service users share with their parents and other family members. And
I have very obviously witnessed and heard of many instances where</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"> a mental health service user is
actually struggling in this way because of the lack of care, compassion,
kindness, and love that they experience with their family. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Having insight into the fact
that there are so many people going through mental difficulties and who are
really struggling to stay safe and they’re doing so, without the unconditional
love and support I believe and feel that I have from my Mum. Of course, on the
one hand this is incredible, and I feel truly honoured and privileged just to be
able to say it(!), but it can also often leave me feeling absolutely terrible that
my Mum shows all these positive and amazing qualities towards me, and what do I
give back? How do I thank her? By continuing to struggle and going on to
self-harm again? And that, very obviously isn’t how I want things to be, and
that fact then ends up providing me with motivation to try harder and to put
more effort, dedication, courage, and passion to get better, to work with
professionals to stabilise my mental health, to be rigorous in always taking my
medication, and to keep myself safe. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">In addition to my Mum’s love and
support, another that I’m more than aware I have, is from my best-friends – and
most of them were actually at the 10<sup>th</sup> Birthday Party for I’m NOT
Disordered (which you can read about </span><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/01/everything-all-of-you-mean-to-me-im-not.html?m=0"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">). I’ve known two of my best
friends for over 15 years (Sophie and Lauren) and the other three have been in
my life for between/around 5 to 10 years (Martin, Georgie, and Jack). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">I’ve always said that one
quality of my best friends which I really appreciate, is that they’re each so
massively different – in all kinds of ways! – that it means I feel that I gain
something different from each friendship. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/sophiebolam/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Sophie</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">: We have a really fun bond that
means we’ll sometimes touch on deep things, and she knows a lot about my mental
health (Sophie was actually the only friend who drove to see me whilst I was in
the psychiatric hospital over 100 miles away!), but we always make something
happy, fun, and positive out of things. One of my favourite memories with
Sophie was from like… 2011 maybe? And we were trying to do a BBQ and ended up
pouring wine on the burgers and being told we were being bad influences for her
younger sister! Things have changed so much – inevitably really after knowing
each other for so long – and now she’s married (to Craig who is the most
perfect other half for her and a total match with her bubbly personality) and
has a little girl – Freya – who is literally the epitome of an illustration of
just how thoughtful, kind, and funny Sophie is. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/lauren.greenteaplease/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Lauren</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">:
I went to the hospital in 2012, Lauren and I would see each other multiple
times per week; mostly for nights out to be honest! But also, for the odd
adventure or activity! We were so close we thought of each other’s families as
our second family and felt our homes belonged to both of us. But then I had to
go to the psychiatric hospital… Something I haven’t actually said before (not
even to Lauren!) is that I think it was so hard leaving her to go into the
hospital because our fun and exciting times together were proving to be a
really huge contributor to the fact, I wasn’t self-harming every single day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like, knowing we had plans to meet up was
helpful in motivating me to stay safe, and having such lovely times with her,
was great in cheering me up when I was struggling. One element to our
friendship is that we don’t ever really talk about mental health, and I think
that because I have other best friends who I do talk to about it, not doing so
with Lauren isn’t any great issue! I actually really enjoy just sort of,
putting all of that to the back of my mind when I’m with her. Like Sophie,
Lauren also has a toddler now – Greylan – and she now lives in Coldstream with
him and her partner. When she moved it was kind of odd because it wasn’t as
though I was in her family home every day but I found that I liked knowing she
was just there… Lauren and I definitely don’t talk too often; we obviously like
and comment on each other’s content on social media, but what I love is that
when we do get together, it’s as though we were never apart. Everything is the
same. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/marty_at_gumonmyshoe/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Martin</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">:
I think it’d be fair to say that Martin (of the mental health blog: </span><a href="http://www.gumonmyshoe.com/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">www.gumonmyshoe.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">) and I’s friendship is the most
balanced out of all of my best-friends because it’s very rare that something
happens – particularly something mental health related – that I either don’t
want to tell him or don’t feel that I can. We’ve also had so many very fun
adventures together! For this past year, my favourites were definitely our trip
to Alnwick Gardens in June (you can watch the reel for it </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Ct9Uo6bIRqe/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">), and visiting the Whitley Bay
Christmas Market at the end of November (you can also see the reel for that </span><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C0hLEUhome3/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"> and the blog post detailing my
purchases and all the links for the sellers </span><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/12/day-six-of-blogmas-unboxed-2023-chat.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">). I think the most incredible –
to me, at least – quality to our friendship though, can sound a bit superficial;
so, stay with me whilst I explain, ok? It’s the fact that he’s a blogger too!
It kind of goes without saying that I’m NOT Disordered is one of the most
meaningful and important things in my life! And, having started blogging (in
2013) when the industry really wasn’t even an industry, and with the mindset
that I was only creating my blog to communicate with family and friends whilst
in the hospital miles away from them, I didn’t recognise that it might become
really helpful to have someone in my life who truly understood blogging. I
mean, I had no idea it would become so special to me, and to have Martin to
lean on when I need to throw some ideas around, to help me find – and provide
me with some himself – inspiration, or to turn to for advice; is hugely
relieving and comforting. Ironically, regardless of having over 1.2 million
readers, blogging can still be a lonely business, and not only does Martin
understands that, but he also actively helps to reduce that notion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/georgiemccalvey/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Georgie</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">:
Unfortunately, Georgie wasn’t able to come to the party, but she’s more than
earnt a little bit about her on this post! Georgie and I actually met in a
very… unusual way, maybe? She was actually my Support Worker a good many years
ago and from the moment we met we kind of clicked and we would always say that
if we had met in different circumstances then we would’ve been friends. So,
when she left the organisation, it seemed almost natural that we keep in touch,
but to be honest, I didn’t imagine we’d become as close as we have. When you
think about it though – when you think about all the things we have in common
and the sarcastic and dark sense of humour we share – it actually sounds quite
obvious that we would be best-friends! Do you know what it makes me think of?
Automatic. Like, from the moment we met we were automatically going to be best
friends and it leaves me with this saying my Nana used to believe that
everything happens for a reason. The organisation Georgie worked for was
massive – tons of staff and tons of service users – so what were the actual
chances of us being allocated to each other?! It’s kind of like a sign! So, for
me, the most important part of our friendship is that… Well, in all things to
do with mental health; a very popular school of thought is that no one quite
knows what another person is thinking, feeling, experiencing… This is something
I’m a huge believer of and typically in complete agreement, but from the vast
number of conversations Georgie and I have had together about our mental
health, our thoughts, our feelings, our experiences? Well, I feel somewhat certain
– in both sad and in reassuring ways – that she truly ‘gets it.’ She’s ‘been
there.’ And it’s hard because on the one hand it almost physically hurts my
heart to know that someone, I love has even the remotest of understandings of the
thoughts, feelings, and experiences I’ve had. But, on the other hand, it’s
massively comforting and reassuring to know I’m not the only one going through
all of…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/theonlyjackaroo/"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">Jack</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">:
Unfortunately I really can’t remember how Jack and I first met or got to know
each other; but it was obviously around 2015 because he wrote a guest post for
I’m NOT Disordered (which you can read </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2015/05/this-award-just-shows-that-work-im.html"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">)! After that though, we really
didn’t keep in touch – I mean we were still listed as ‘friends’ on social media
and gave each other the odd ‘like’ on our posts, but we didn’t have any full-on
conversations or private messages. And then, I was invited to the Staff
Excellence Awards for my local mental health NHS Trust: Cumbria,
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust in September 2022 (you can
read our event collaboration post <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2022/09/the-importance-of-recognising-skills.html">here</a>).
I was seated on the Governor’s table and Jack being a Governor and Corporate
Engagement Assistant, meant I was sat beside him and oh my goodness did we have
fun?! It was like we’d been best friends for years and years! We both have the
same sense of humour – sarcastic and witty – so spending time with him, in
general and not just at the event, brings so much light to my life. He’s actually
pretty much the most fun-loving, positive, excitable person I know! And I honestly
believe that everyone should have at least one person who is like that in their
lives. Caring about Jack has meant I was so so so chuffed for him when he
confided in me that he was going to propose to his boyfriend! I think that when
you think your best friends are the greatest people in the entire world, it
means so much to see that someone else thinks that too – so thank you Spencer,
for bringing so much love, compassion, kindness, and positivity to Jack’s life.
And, thank you to Suzanne (Jack’s Mum) not only for coming to my blog’s
Birthday Party and the YND Publication party, but for bringing Jack into this
world and for helping to shape him into the person he is today, because he has
truly made the world a better place for so many people. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;">A final shout out to a really
good friend and lovely person: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/rach.lisle/">Rachel</a>,
who actually came to both the 10<sup>th</sup> Birthday Party and the You’re NOT
Disordered Publication Party! I’ve known Rachel since Middle School but when we
went to separate High Schools we lost touch, but over the last few years she
has been massively supportive of all my projects and collaborations etc. with I’m
NOT Disordered. Rachel also works with CNTW and has actually given me and my
blog a mention a few times to be involved in various opportunities with the
Trust and her colleagues in particular. It’s so lovely to have someone be this
supportive and compassionate but who has known you since before all of the
mental health ‘stuff’ started so I feel like she has a good insight into who I
am because she’s seen the before and after. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 387.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lkIAp9ymN7M" width="320" youtube-src-id="lkIAp9ymN7M"></iframe></div><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-55808611121572729922023-12-30T19:13:00.002+00:002023-12-31T14:03:47.310+00:00AND THE YEAR 2023 IS COMING TO AN END… | PART ONE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75bEKz6OL7E2x7OtqspNa7ctemIYeABVFP5lcuuqNlsLdkFc4PeLCP7QzQswUDzaq_Xx45TytNXOaVnGvHwpSoS-yNFEwkXhgmQWRdxqET_C7UjDrBIaAGT5oIMBvCU5J9-qaDAMAo1CtBpTE2a1CQ0fVQwmHND-kIQCiyfIaSTUek9gdkGMpI7sX9IBb/s2000/Brown%20and%20Beige%20Modern%20Fashion%20Collection%20Photo%20Collage.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75bEKz6OL7E2x7OtqspNa7ctemIYeABVFP5lcuuqNlsLdkFc4PeLCP7QzQswUDzaq_Xx45TytNXOaVnGvHwpSoS-yNFEwkXhgmQWRdxqET_C7UjDrBIaAGT5oIMBvCU5J9-qaDAMAo1CtBpTE2a1CQ0fVQwmHND-kIQCiyfIaSTUek9gdkGMpI7sX9IBb/w640-h512/Brown%20and%20Beige%20Modern%20Fashion%20Collection%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">“She remembered who she was, and
the game changed.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><i><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lalah Deliah<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, I began putting together this
blog post, the graphics for it, and the reel for my social media accounts that
will be added to the end of this piece, and I found myself feeling somewhat
comforted and reassured when I realised that there have been some really really
amazing moments this past year. In all honesty, my mental health has been in
tatters a few times in 2023 (especially recently) so I was pleasantly surprised
to find that despite how it feels, actually, that hasn’t been ALL that this year
has really been about! So, I feel a lot more eager and excited to get into this
blog post which – due to the popularity of it – is actually going to be very
similar to the 2022/2023 piece (which you can read </span><a href="http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/01/goodbye-2022-hello-2023.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">) in terms of
it having very little order and I’ve even picked out some of the headings to
write about again as well as adding some brand-new bits…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">THINKING ABOUT I’M NOT
DISORDERED’S DESIGN & AESTHETIC<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Last year, I actually
changed the entirety of the blog including the logo, colour scheme, layout, and
general aesthetic. Having done so, and since it was such a popular move, I obviously
and hopefully understandably, found myself thinking about doing the same again
for 2024, but for two big reasons I decided not to:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman"; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I’m still really in love with the current appearance of I’m NOT
Disordered and sometimes, in blogging, you have to weigh up pleasing yourself
against your readers. So, whilst I know some readers might be excited to see a
change, I feel more passionate and content leaving it alone – for now, at
least!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman"; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">These past few months of creating Blogmas Unboxed and finishing up
and publishing my new book; You’re NOT Disordered (which you can buy </span><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Youre-NOT-Disordered-Ultimate-Wellbeing/dp/B0CN2HN6BB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1UQK36F8M8823&keywords=you%27re+not+disordered&qid=1700169832&sprefix=you%27re+not+d%2Caps%2C1071&sr=8-1"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">) have been
incredibly hard work and demanded a ton of effort, dedication, and time that
means I don’t have a whole lot of energy left to then start editing and
re-designing everything! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">MY FAVOURITE SONGS OF 2023<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z0rxydSolwU" width="320" youtube-src-id="z0rxydSolwU"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R0vu5QfsD5E" width="320" youtube-src-id="R0vu5QfsD5E"></iframe></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">REFLECTING ON MY LARGEST PROJECT
OF 2023 – YOU’RE NOT DISORDERD: THE ULTIMATE WELLBEING GUIDE FOR BLOGGERS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">At some point
in 2022, I searched Amazon and then the rest of the internet for some sort of book
focused on mental health specifically in relation to blogging. I’m a huge
advocate for talking about and publicising my belief that so many people view
bloggers and online influencers as having a somewhat of an ‘easy’ and ‘perfect’
– or at the very least ‘ideal’ – life, which is filled with free holidays and
complimentary beauty products! And actually, this isn’t the full truth because
yes, those benefits to having a large number of followers can occur, but
there’s also so much hardship that can go on behind-the-scenes. So, with the goal
in my head of illustrating the difficulties bloggers can face, added to the
realisation that if I was searching for a helpful book and failing to find one,
others might be too; I began working on You’re NOT Disordered (YND). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Having
started to create the Guide in 2022, I actually originally set the publication
date to be April 20<sup>th</sup>, 2023 – the sixteenth year since the abuse I
experienced physically ended. In February 2023 however, I had a psychotic
episode that saw me be sectioned under the 1983 Mental Health Act (I’ll talk
more about the admission later in this post) and after spending a few days in
the psychiatric hospital, I realised that it was going to be incredibly
challenging for me to stick to that deadline and I recognised that trying to
force myself to still make it and getting stressed and overwhelmed would only
serve to worsen my mental health – and can it really getting any worse than
being sectioned?! So, I published a blog post (which you can read </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/02/incase-you-didnt-know-and-ps-theres-new.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">) just a day
before being discharged explaining my absence and giving the new publication
date of November 20<sup>th</sup> 2023 – the seventeenth year since the abuse started
and so, a date that I really liked the idea of changing it to signify and stand
for a moment that is so positive.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When I first
started blogging in 2013, I had no experience in communications and marketing
and so I therefore had no real knowledge or appreciation of the industry and
with me not having huge expectations for I’m NOT Disordered, I didn’t really
see why it would be necessary – or even become necessary – to learn anything
about these topics either. So, as the reader count was rising, and I began
taking things much more seriously and developing a larger standard in terms of
the popularity and influence of my content, I found myself wanting – and
needing – to learn more about the wider field of communications and marketing. I
very quickly found that the knowledge I gained in doing this was incredibly
helpful for my blog, its content, and audience reach/size and one area of
content where I found this particularly the case, was in posts concerning
events. To be more exact, I learnt the pros of creating a hashtag to refer to
an event on social media content and I found that publishing posts in the week
or days leading up to the event – something I refer to on I’m NOT Disordered as
‘pre-event promo’ – created a really useful hype that resulted in a higher
chance of engagement and following when it came to content either during or
shortly after the actual event. I harnessed this lesson/experience and so as
not to lose hype around the book after having announced pushing the publication
date back, I decided to announce YND’s title in March (you can read that post </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/03/massive-project-title-reveal.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As the year
progressed, I found myself starting to panic more and more at the thought that
the book wasn’t going to be finished in time and I felt that since I’d already
changed the publication date once, it wouldn’t look good to do it again. At the
same time though, I recognised that while YND felt like my priority, I didn’t
want my blog to fall short. So, to give me more time to continue my work on the
book rather than write a blog post, I asked the one person I trust most to help
me to provide some really good content, the Author of YND’s Foreword – Martin
Baker of </span><a href="http://www.gumonmyshoe.com/"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">www.gumonmyshoe.com</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> and Author
of a few books of his own (linked on his blog) – to write a guest piece (which
you can read </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/03/guest-post-so-you-want-to-write-book.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">). The fact Martin’s
guest posts have proven to be popular amongst I’m NOT Disordered’s readers,
meant that I actually asked him to write another piece of content. This one was
all about his experiences in writing the Foreword for YND and I published it later
in the year to mark the one week countdown to the publication date; and you can
read that one </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/writing-foreword-for-my-friends-book-by.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">. I actually
really enjoyed reading it too because I think that when you ask someone to do
something for you, an almost natural concern is whether they really want to do
it or if they might have felt pressured or obligated in some way to say yes. Then,
I – and probably others asking something of someone – worried whether he was
even enjoying it! This post of his reassured me and actually really alleviated
these concerns, plus it was a comfort to know that he was as happy with his
input as I was.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Something
really ironic that happened in the process of creating You’re NOT Disordered,
was with the book’s cover. So, in June – after working on it for a number of
months until I felt fairly confident that it was pretty much just what I wanted
from it – I decided to reveal the final front cover design in a post that was
published in collaboration with a popular Etsy store; Dinky Designs (you can
read the post and find all the store’s links </span><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/06/why-i-care-what-you-think-youre-not.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">) who had
kindly printed a foam board of the cover for me – which is actually pictured in
the post too! One part of the cover design which had been a fairly easy
decision process (if you could even refer to it as making a decision!) was that
of the colour scheme because I knew immediately that I wanted to maintain the
shades of blue – particularly the navy – in it. I also knew the general
aesthetic I wanted of it in terms of the background detail and style. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, here's
the irony: it was so simple to make the decisions on the design of YND’s front
cover and that made the entire process so much quicker than it maybe should (at
least by general standards of Authors going through this stage or aspect of
creating a new book) have been, yet when it came to the final part of uploading
the manuscript and cover to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) it was a whole
different story! It was, in fact, the complete opposite! The cover – which I’d
created on </span><a href="https://www.canva.com/"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Canva</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> using their
custom size feature to exact the design to the size I planned the book to be –
turned out to be the wrong DPI (Dots Per Inch) which basically meant that there
wasn’t enough detail or quality to it for KDP to accept and approve it. I
didn’t know that at the time though! I mean, I’ve worked formally in the
communications and marketing industry for a number of years – mostly in roles with
</span><a href="https://www.stoswaldsuk.org/"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">St Oswald’s Hospice</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> – and yet I had never heard of the term! And so – with my
determination to still use the cover and not have to completely change it – the
research began; and I found myself pretty much knee-deep in information and my
head was swimming with abbreviations, various website subscriptions, and
measurements!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Something
which I’ve definitely learnt about myself over the years of my mental health
journey and in my blogging career, is that I can be very stubborn and sometimes
this isn’t so great, but most of the time it is because it means I put my
absolute all into something I’m passionate about or convinced of and I don’t
stop until I achieve my goal. However, despite knowing this, due to the sheer
confusion and frustration in the process, I really didn’t think I was going to
make this cover work! Hugely motivating factors though, were the fact I had
revealed the cover on a lengthy blog post I’d spent a lot of time creating, and
I already had some merchandise created featuring the cover for the gift bags
I’d be sharing with my guests at the publication party. So, of course, I
finally sussed out the solution to comply with KDP’s regulations, but also to not
have to change too much with the design and I felt so relieved and completely overwhelmed
with a huge sense of accomplishment! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Obviously
though, those feelings were nothing compared to those I experienced when I
finally finished writing YND but sadly, they were sort of short-lived because I
was now faced with the final massive hurdle that was standing in the way of
publishing the book in time for the publication party which was set for
November 18<sup>th</sup>. So, when I wrote my first book; Everything Disordered
(which you can buy </span><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everything-Disordered-Practical-Guide-Blogging/dp/B08ZVWQ675/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=everything+disordered+paperback&qid=1618341942&s=books&sr=1-1"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">here</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">) in 2021, I
knew I needed someone to proofread it and fortunately, my boss from my role
with St Oswald’s Hospice agreed to do it. Now that I don’t work there, I was
desperately trying to think of who I could ask to proofread YND for me – I even
looked into hiring a professional but the costs associated with that were just
far too unreasonable. But I still had to ponder it because I knew for a fact
that if I were to do the role, I would likely read the book how I had intended
it to read and therefore I wouldn’t pick up on any missing words or other
errors. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I was talking
about my conundrum in a meeting with the Chief Executive and the Director of
Communications and Corporate Affairs for </span><a href="https://www.cntw.nhs.uk/"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> (CNTW)and
completely to my surprise, the Director suggested the Communications Team help
me out with it! Of course, I jumped at the offer, and we began discussing a
deadline for the book to be finished being proofread in time for the
publication date… And this, became the hurdle – the difficult recognition that
if I were to proofread it myself, I wouldn’t need to have it completed as soon
as the Communications Team required. Eventually, I ended up submitting over 100
pages to the Team with the decision that I would proofread any additional
pages. However, shortly before my deadline of the proofreading being finished from
the Team, I had completed the entirety of the book and so I sent an email set
as a priority to find out the likelihood that these pages (around 60) could
also be proofread in time. And after a ton of to-and-fro’s the entirety of YND
was proofread literally just in time for me to submit it for approval from KDP
and then have fifteen copies of it delivered to my home so that I could add
them to the publication party gift bags!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Reflecting on
this huge journey with You’re NOT Disordered, as gruelling and emotional as it
was, I’m actually so eternally grateful that it was that way because it meant
that crossing the finishing line was so much more meaningful and felt like such
a huge achievement than I believe it would have been if it had all been plain
sailing!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Finally, I’d like to say thank you to three people:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To my Mum’s
best fried: Thank you so much for coming along to the Publication Party,
there are legitimately no words to describe just how brave I think you are, and
how much I appreciate all that you bring to your friendship with my Mum because
I know it’s full of support, kindness, compassion, and empathy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To the Chief
Executive of CNTW – James Duncan: I will never stop telling people how much I
respect you and how great I think you are! I’ll never forget when we were in
your car and I asked you if it felt like a huge achievement becoming Chief Executive
and you said “no” and I felt so awkward that I just wanted to open the door and
jump out! Then you added “for me, the achievement when I know we’ve helped
someone.” And in that moment, I couldn’t imagine a better person for your job! I
feel that it really emulates just how passionate, dedicated, and determined you
are to better the Trust and all of its services. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To the Director
of Communication and Corporate Affairs for CNTW – Debbie Henderson: I honestly don’t
even know where to start in thanking you! And not purely due to the act of you
keeping your word in finishing the proofreading of YND on time – even when I
had to hit you with those extra pages! I’m grateful to you because of all that
I feel doing that symbolised. For me, it has felt like you have faith in me and
therefore faith in YND, which means a lot to me when I put so much time and
effort into it. In all the years I’ve known you, I’ve also really seen that you
are seriously in the right job, and I don’t just mean Communications though(!),
I mean working for a mental health organisation. You have always illustrated such
a huge level of support and compassion that I feel really lends itself to your
passion, determination, dedication, and all the talents and skills you have. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Other blog
posts related to You’re NOT Disordered:</span></b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/08/an-exclusive-look-at-all-my-current.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">AN EXCLUSIVE
LOOK AT ALL MY CURRENT PROJECTS & COMMITMENTS | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/10/most-necessary-items-for-writing-book.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">MOST
NECESSARY ITEMS FOR WRITING A BOOK | 25 DAYS UNTIL YOU’RE NOT DISORDERED IS
PUBLISHED!!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH AMAZON UK | I'm NOT Disordered
(imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/how-ive-made-it-this-far-my-new-book-is.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">HOW I’VE MADE
IT THIS FAR | MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!!! | PART 1 OF 4 | I'm NOT
Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/how-ive-made-it-this-far-my-new-book-is_14.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">HOW I’VE MADE
IT THIS FAR | MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!!! | PART 2 OF 4 | I'm NOT
Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/how-ive-made-it-this-far-my-new-book-is_15.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">HOW I’VE MADE
IT THIS FAR | MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!!! | PART 3 OF 4 | I'm NOT
Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/11/how-ive-made-it-this-far-my-new-book-is_02016080187.html"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">HOW I’VE MADE
IT THIS FAR | MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!!! | PART 4 OF 4 | I'm NOT
Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gg5UsB2uLaM" width="320" youtube-src-id="gg5UsB2uLaM"></iframe></div><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-28780222102011438682023-12-24T22:04:00.004+00:002023-12-24T22:04:48.524+00:00DAY TWENTY-FOUR OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: A REEL OF DECEMBER 2023<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RuwCwfX_PZw" width="320" youtube-src-id="RuwCwfX_PZw"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!</span></b></div><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-41821135006189615962023-12-23T15:37:00.009+00:002023-12-23T15:47:53.977+00:00DAY TWENTY-THREE OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: CHRISTMAS MEMORIAL ITEMS FOR FOUR BELOVED PETS, A BIT ABOUT EACH OF THEM, & A REEL | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjspkqw1F_BqxcRFuraT2aHCM1cy1ARW2DpzPNk6IS_U_YbeubJE2HMv_y-eD3JWAliDkh_8Dbze82Yz56-HQWzGS_IhWTHKhWGB5LhwRKaTn76xWi7XgbugqT85EFwm6OC18NMFoL3L_vR-b1wrr8CCTWCE8k6utwFo04KRG575FVysDftP76QurO-D6Kq/s640/Blogmas%20Facebook%20Cover%20(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjspkqw1F_BqxcRFuraT2aHCM1cy1ARW2DpzPNk6IS_U_YbeubJE2HMv_y-eD3JWAliDkh_8Dbze82Yz56-HQWzGS_IhWTHKhWGB5LhwRKaTn76xWi7XgbugqT85EFwm6OC18NMFoL3L_vR-b1wrr8CCTWCE8k6utwFo04KRG575FVysDftP76QurO-D6Kq/w640-h360/Blogmas%20Facebook%20Cover%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PhoenixCove"><span style="color: #4472c4; mso-themecolor: accent1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">PhoenixCove
- Etsy UK</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif"><u1:p></u1:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/" style="max-width: 100%; transition: all 0.25s ease-out 0s;"><span style="background: white; color: #4472c4; mso-themecolor: accent1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif"><u1:p></u1:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co" style="max-width: 100%; transition: all 0.25s ease-out 0s;"><span style="background: white; color: #4472c4; mso-themecolor: accent1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif"><u1:p></u1:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="color: #4472c4; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-themecolor: accent1;"><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co" style="max-width: 100%; transition: all 0.25s ease-out 0s;"><span style="background: white; color: #4472c4; mso-themecolor: accent1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif">https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif"><u1:p></u1:p></span>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Welcome to Blogmas Unboxed!!</span></span></b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="color: #444444; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Today’s blog post is inspired by the four wooden decorative items
I had made by Cleo at Phoenix Cove in memory of four pets I have lost; Saffy,
Dolly, Pixie, and Emmy (you can customise – it doesn’t have to be a pet’s name
– and purchase your own </span><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1351885190/personalised-memorial-christmas-ornament?click_key=0cd931a5eaf1cd5d0bc8f281be47c32cb4effa9c%3A1351885190&click_sum=6c300933&ref=shop_home_active_58&frs=1&sts=1"><span color="windowtext" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">here</span></a></span><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">).
So, I thought I’d put together some little bits about each of them because I’m
obviously aware that I have a significantly larger audience as the years have
gone by and so, some people might not be aware of each of these pets, their
stories, and their impact on my life – and on my mental health in particular…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Saffy</span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAUG61oP-_4YVuRxumNTSzePor1v3KeLqmh4GzKKYoI0Dz2lU0vMOYyE0PLSCNFTFicD3iKzg6J9NhNXced-9v0Yq4R_yAirIE2Y1GpneWLolINUlaSCrS7yIZLL_bQu7lqG8tAUDgYL24boJWCSgfVdvGtfMZ6kYw6Xk1iC-9Byypz2XoyuQKvfbH0YL5/s480/blogger-image--1646410785.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="359" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAUG61oP-_4YVuRxumNTSzePor1v3KeLqmh4GzKKYoI0Dz2lU0vMOYyE0PLSCNFTFicD3iKzg6J9NhNXced-9v0Yq4R_yAirIE2Y1GpneWLolINUlaSCrS7yIZLL_bQu7lqG8tAUDgYL24boJWCSgfVdvGtfMZ6kYw6Xk1iC-9Byypz2XoyuQKvfbH0YL5/w478-h640/blogger-image--1646410785.jpg" width="478" /></a></b></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Her Beginning:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In Middle School, my Mum and I got Saffy; an all-black, domestic
British shorthair from a private seller whose cat had just given birth when my
Mum went into the local pet shop to ask if they knew of any available kittens. And
so, with her not being old enough to leave her Mum, my Mum and I began visiting
her every week and it was so lovely to be able to watch her grow and to see her
playing with her littermates and being washed by her Mum. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">How She Was Helpful:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Almost immediately after the abuse began in 2006, I knew that
Saffy was going to be my largest support because my abuser had already thrown
very convincing threats at me, and I had instantly thought of my own downsides
and dangers in reporting him and talking to someone about it. I’m one of those
people however, who will let things build and build and build and then implode
if I’m not encouraged to talk about something straight away. And this was the
irony in my silence – I knew that, for so many very valid and genuine reasons,
I couldn’t go to the Police or tell my Mum or friends; but I also knew that if
I didn’t talk about it at all, I would completely breakdown and then everyone
would know anyway! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, I began talking to Saffy and letting my tears pour out with my
face buried in her fur, and I was right – she was the best listener and I
honestly believe that I might not have made it through the abuse without her. I
mean, towards the end of it in 2007, I began to experience suicidal thoughts
and feelings though I believed them to be very subtle and unimportant in that
they basically meant I was debating whether I would die if I were to jump from
my abuser’s office window. So, I think that if I hadn’t had Saffy as a little
being to vent to and to talk to about the most important and life-changing
trauma I was going through on an almost daily basis, I could have very easily
tested my questioning and jumped. And despite the fact that I recognise if I
had committed suicide back then, all of the horrible things that have happened
since, wouldn’t have occurred; I’ll always be grateful to Saffy because without
those subsequent things, I wouldn’t be who I am today nor where I am today –
and for that, I’m incredibly appreciative. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Favourite Blog Post Inspired by Her:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2016/06/the-importance-of-pets.html">The
Importance of Pets | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXeJwEi6zlsjA3iKheB6F1qm2R9wSXY7ysnW8DrpnXI8FmlKHhyvYC_2d09q0uAQQzzlcqhKIFH7OnKsBegZGom08jVza1EU8RDboRMU8S3p5RR5TENcnS3ASONCq-QYhrohJlo31j_0JmezwVpv-LjeuqMOOD1qhoj5C81CuoQ3kA5aaZDNxfLxjcyoFQ/s960/Day15.6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXeJwEi6zlsjA3iKheB6F1qm2R9wSXY7ysnW8DrpnXI8FmlKHhyvYC_2d09q0uAQQzzlcqhKIFH7OnKsBegZGom08jVza1EU8RDboRMU8S3p5RR5TENcnS3ASONCq-QYhrohJlo31j_0JmezwVpv-LjeuqMOOD1qhoj5C81CuoQ3kA5aaZDNxfLxjcyoFQ/w640-h360/Day15.6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwvSwAOcMaEvaDTZExMEk_gan_Kr_Y1HKqtju_AWZEd6euDyt64oZl-wDe36XigtZPo06fec8qpmXPEn4GKOaWJqS5AEPdlgRLaavgOsKbNXVIvYQK1Z3Q55ECMB-zOOElqse7uuDSczQslkJn_n15QXDfeUxqeR5Gi-xnNTKa2d9gZJpLOLiDJLMboZ5P/s960/Day15.2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwvSwAOcMaEvaDTZExMEk_gan_Kr_Y1HKqtju_AWZEd6euDyt64oZl-wDe36XigtZPo06fec8qpmXPEn4GKOaWJqS5AEPdlgRLaavgOsKbNXVIvYQK1Z3Q55ECMB-zOOElqse7uuDSczQslkJn_n15QXDfeUxqeR5Gi-xnNTKa2d9gZJpLOLiDJLMboZ5P/w640-h360/Day15.2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Dolly</span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9hXkq0XnA1OSyGHJYt0hXBmQNPv7UXH_ZhCp5dGdot6PC7BQ-PXAAXIXShhRwJHAbEwIxq36xHvqEh3oPrSKZjeJq3LYMIUUV-MjOiFh7mYgb9L5oweLGqpCSnnTbZnWoyEfxWy03YmkF3JH3cRz4r163lanfg2OsxZ5biAybwFWbzdaDeTLk8V6QJeH/s480/blogger-image--2051644668.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="360" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9hXkq0XnA1OSyGHJYt0hXBmQNPv7UXH_ZhCp5dGdot6PC7BQ-PXAAXIXShhRwJHAbEwIxq36xHvqEh3oPrSKZjeJq3LYMIUUV-MjOiFh7mYgb9L5oweLGqpCSnnTbZnWoyEfxWy03YmkF3JH3cRz4r163lanfg2OsxZ5biAybwFWbzdaDeTLk8V6QJeH/w480-h640/blogger-image--2051644668.jpg" width="480" /></a></b></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Her Beginning:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In 2012, I made a suicide attempt that landed me on life support
in Intensive Care for the first time and when I was woken up from the
ventilator, I was admitted to a specialist psychiatric hospital over 100 miles
away from home. In the first few months, my mental health was so poorly that I
really didn’t feel homesick, miss my Mum, or even really think about the
distance between myself and Saffy! By the end of my two-and-a-half-year
admission though, I experienced how strange it felt to not have a cat around me,
and so when plans were being made for my discharge from hospital and to begin
moving into my own home, my instinctual first mission was to get a kitten! And
within a week of living in my bungalow, I bought Dolly and I very happily, realised
that she was my first pet who would be completely my responsibility and who
would 100% rely on me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I also wrote
a blog post when I first got Dolly, which you can read <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2014/11/blog-world-meet-dolly.html">here</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">How She Was Helpful:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Having Dolly for those first few years living back in the
community, was such a blessing for so many reasons but particularly, in terms
of helping battle the brand-new, very difficult and unbearable feelings of
loneliness that I began experiencing. When you think about it, whether I wanted
to be there or not, for over two years in the psychiatric hospital, I was
surrounded by at least fifteen other people literally 24/7. And, in my most
poorly days there I was having a person come check on me every five minutes – and
even on the best days I was still being check on hourly(!) – so I didn’t even
have a choice as to how often I interacted with those people! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Strangely, the fact that I would be losing all of this…
socialisation and company in being discharged and moving into my own home, was
something which neither I had thought about nor something that I was warned
about or provided advice on in advance. I mean, surely the mental health
professionals in the hospital would have known it’s something that an inpatient
can experience after their discharge? But it was never spoken about. It meant
that I felt fairly fortunate to have already had the plan to get Dolly straight
after moving into my home because if I hadn’t, I likely would have been out
getting a Hamster or something! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As a result of the loneliness, I sometimes felt more unsafe
because I felt that I had less motivation to stay safe… I think that if I didn’t
want to stay safe then I really needed others around me to be able to think ‘I
need to stay alive for their sake…’ And having Dolly, enabled me to be able to
do that for as long as was necessary until I developed the motivation for
myself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Favourite Blog Post Inspired by Her:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2015/04/the-dolly-appreciation-post.html">The
Dolly Appreciation Post | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijpCM0f9OuPBBPfLpTtraq90Ca5rE1kn4Gj80TmVn__-1sJNyMVPOsaIj8uFsqIh_eCmh4SkJKZw1TsXIeYs1yOrLtRPpDnQ8BbuYzjA334Tg7dLIHBbM9CsXRJFwIXPwPsi9iKxVrhI1qake5P_0hr0T7Srz6f3f51-3WPcgmUjBo1HHzkQxQlBVkSiQp/s960/Day15.4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijpCM0f9OuPBBPfLpTtraq90Ca5rE1kn4Gj80TmVn__-1sJNyMVPOsaIj8uFsqIh_eCmh4SkJKZw1TsXIeYs1yOrLtRPpDnQ8BbuYzjA334Tg7dLIHBbM9CsXRJFwIXPwPsi9iKxVrhI1qake5P_0hr0T7Srz6f3f51-3WPcgmUjBo1HHzkQxQlBVkSiQp/w640-h360/Day15.4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5_ecXbFjrV3LIR-jLkpDHIIJAAuJEsPjvkIsbE3IMVsl-qGL5ImM-nxLRHsjY7qTZ1gKDR1PDazxnJH3rao43HOc7eYWgXd7Q6Qe7hyMsTPbeiE52Dfws8B3ZBse9wdJYV-InnQdMKCCoTr3jVzoAsQDebUO8LxxR9wgrtaCkpa7y5n15JXmEP42tIlvl/s960/Day15.1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5_ecXbFjrV3LIR-jLkpDHIIJAAuJEsPjvkIsbE3IMVsl-qGL5ImM-nxLRHsjY7qTZ1gKDR1PDazxnJH3rao43HOc7eYWgXd7Q6Qe7hyMsTPbeiE52Dfws8B3ZBse9wdJYV-InnQdMKCCoTr3jVzoAsQDebUO8LxxR9wgrtaCkpa7y5n15JXmEP42tIlvl/w640-h360/Day15.1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Pixie</span></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhuET46j7cNJOAV6vLoh0vQpwW9HtQ5uI6OAcJriJyhlczI9JpOkYnLQHJk6MxOc5ZVII0xJbLEHOtZYiZo1JgJFGuPFbtCEiSmCH-OlZORtfiD4dTb-p3hdY26xI0mc63GaSJ2hGHFfelqJJIDk6Bv5qfxOEV0zfVepXrSyhcoksi83yp0aQ9uYyIfVch/s600/411418849_10231178754232791_4262954224855840418_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="450" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhuET46j7cNJOAV6vLoh0vQpwW9HtQ5uI6OAcJriJyhlczI9JpOkYnLQHJk6MxOc5ZVII0xJbLEHOtZYiZo1JgJFGuPFbtCEiSmCH-OlZORtfiD4dTb-p3hdY26xI0mc63GaSJ2hGHFfelqJJIDk6Bv5qfxOEV0zfVepXrSyhcoksi83yp0aQ9uYyIfVch/w480-h640/411418849_10231178754232791_4262954224855840418_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></b></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Her Beginning:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When I moved into my home on December 1<sup>st</sup>, 2014, I rarely
experienced any hallucinations and that mostly continued until around late
summer of 2017 when I began seeing the visual hallucination of rabbits. I was
so terrified that telling anyone what was happening would mean I would be
immediately put back into the psychiatric hospital and/or my medication would
be increased or changed. So, I kept quiet until this one day when my Mum and I
were shopping in a nearby town and were passing a Pets At Home store and upon
going into it, I spontaneously decided to ask the staff if I could hold one of the
bunnies they had for sale. Out of the few they had, I chose this cute, fluffy,
lop-eared one and on holding her, I started crying as I was filled with a huge
amount of courage that motivated me to tell my Mum that the hallucinations were
back. Now, how could I not add her to my family? How could I not want to keep
her when she had made me feel so comforted, reassured, and brave just in holding
her that first time?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I also wrote
a blog post when I first got Pixie, which you can read <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2017/09/why-i-now-own-animal-i-used-to.html">here</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">How She Was Helpful:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 320.25pt;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The courage Pixie instilled in me that first time I held her was –
I like to think – a quality she continued to encourage in me for the entire
time I had her and those years got me really into the swing of continuing to
utilise it even after she had gone. And it proved to be really helpful in two
huge ways; firstly, to my mental health in that it instilled an ability in me
to speak to the psychiatric professionals about my thoughts, feelings, and
experiences and get their help and support. The second positive impact it had
for me, was in terms of my blogging career because it enabled me to be honest
and completely open in my content on, I’m NOT Disordered. In doing so, my posts
have earned me a huge audience that has in turn, enabled me to gain an enormous
number of incredible opportunities that make every single piece of effort I put
into my blog, completely worthwhile.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Favourite Blog Post Inspired by Her:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2017/09/why-i-now-own-animal-i-used-to.html">WHY
I NOW OWN THE ANIMAL I USED TO HALLUCINATE | INTRODUCING PIXIE!!! | I'm NOT
Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdOZ_60EjCcsy8yu1S_mODlcBLwV1d1BtWmO4nFfYyNzUf4nVy37U4zrKqjeeZdwaHmBaXh1uQwp0FAKQRgvrmnaogPIFHcXc4bk_46-jFbw4fIVSJFzdsguhIUY05hJVYiyhuA5v2uiOZFjnWfUMdHA1SMhStsDgI7xCm-VUvh6-8sw8lg7OA8bvxz7m6/s960/Day15.7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdOZ_60EjCcsy8yu1S_mODlcBLwV1d1BtWmO4nFfYyNzUf4nVy37U4zrKqjeeZdwaHmBaXh1uQwp0FAKQRgvrmnaogPIFHcXc4bk_46-jFbw4fIVSJFzdsguhIUY05hJVYiyhuA5v2uiOZFjnWfUMdHA1SMhStsDgI7xCm-VUvh6-8sw8lg7OA8bvxz7m6/w640-h360/Day15.7.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></div><b><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17btzj91XCQk3gADtfkz4b4UlW9CpEp3JOEJ1X7L5lVhzLKO7WuIqqx9AFbFV003NlB-MTKj-F_2a8K_s2STr1YM67tU_cPcRewXQUy8UNo-fEmKX1kUjb4kWmoDyjMmI9EixQWcN-hNHpXFBR1ySkDmgz1j2NzG1l3eKvaYTL3egUNo1SePAS44nEx6W/s960/Day15.8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg17btzj91XCQk3gADtfkz4b4UlW9CpEp3JOEJ1X7L5lVhzLKO7WuIqqx9AFbFV003NlB-MTKj-F_2a8K_s2STr1YM67tU_cPcRewXQUy8UNo-fEmKX1kUjb4kWmoDyjMmI9EixQWcN-hNHpXFBR1ySkDmgz1j2NzG1l3eKvaYTL3egUNo1SePAS44nEx6W/w640-h360/Day15.8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></b><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Emmy</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvkwllPrIlBjNiiWmsBYx68TEx1KAkGC1o8lB-noSZfvRfw9xIb4GNFHXsT16yAz4rel7B23GxNWJ-FROmXBVlrjlq-Nj3fiKZPgQvo7J9JzAjC-e6i2bWHKIgqik0jfxmpTtmUc7eZ3IzQaN0iTWKMuHvQ2GZNnp7fDONjZPT6weiypuYaTRwYs1yxjv/s960/411424349_10231178754352794_2891442535801238431_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="540" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvkwllPrIlBjNiiWmsBYx68TEx1KAkGC1o8lB-noSZfvRfw9xIb4GNFHXsT16yAz4rel7B23GxNWJ-FROmXBVlrjlq-Nj3fiKZPgQvo7J9JzAjC-e6i2bWHKIgqik0jfxmpTtmUc7eZ3IzQaN0iTWKMuHvQ2GZNnp7fDONjZPT6weiypuYaTRwYs1yxjv/w360-h640/411424349_10231178754352794_2891442535801238431_n.jpg" width="360" /></a></b></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Her Beginning:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When Dolly was put to sleep in 2018, I still had Pixie and she
seemed so lonely and was always searching around Dolly’s usual hiding and
sleeping spots in the house; and I obviously felt lost without her, so I almost
immediately made the decision to get another cat and actually added my little,
calico rescue kitten; Emmy, within a week of Dolly’s death. So many people who
had a huge variety of roles in my life and who each meant so much to me, said
it was ‘too soon’ and that I was ‘rushing it’ and avoiding my grief. However,
when Emmy was home and Pixie immediately took to her and I found my heart was
feeling a little bit less shattered, all those people actually said “I’m so
glad you didn’t listen to me!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I also wrote
a blog post when I first got Emmy, which you can read <a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2018/10/readers-meet-emmy-wilson-willows-cat.html">here</a><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">How She Was Helpful:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">With one of the first benefits of getting Dolly being that the notion
I was completely responsible for her was really motivational to maintaining my
safety and my mental health, it meant that when she died, I felt that I was the
only person in the world who felt the grief I felt because with Saffy, my Mum
had been there too. Having Emmy, meant a huge distraction of fun, energy,
excitement, and general liveliness from those thoughts and feelings of loneliness
and isolation. She truly kept me going. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Favourite Blog Post Inspired by Her:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2018/11/a-fortnight-with-emmy.html">A
FORTNIGHT WITH EMMY | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnDc5XM5ROQJAnJ3aLPRyJftYLb54jhmAWI1IIzD9jQcxjE1l7jP0NcsDWFJ6m4IWaeQd4ynbBTR8HPaEWAP0duUP5vec4bbIFRiAJsesyRxM6Oya7bcwaegH7AVtCxP_wibappDST3vPDdLXR7YUOVh9-XOutbFosxIonqfbsupHcFfqr_yclEYZNCynQ/s960/Day15.3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnDc5XM5ROQJAnJ3aLPRyJftYLb54jhmAWI1IIzD9jQcxjE1l7jP0NcsDWFJ6m4IWaeQd4ynbBTR8HPaEWAP0duUP5vec4bbIFRiAJsesyRxM6Oya7bcwaegH7AVtCxP_wibappDST3vPDdLXR7YUOVh9-XOutbFosxIonqfbsupHcFfqr_yclEYZNCynQ/w640-h360/Day15.3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkU7PfV65EOxHIv7yGXBOItf_5eLJV1BJdIQXqMvgQ-cXhgCkK-p19EH8gGvn19-JW9L1i1u-FNgZ2wbOl6vYxqBRRfZM8J6jD0qFe3C4BxE8As4ZnvLLpG5g_cB5iVea7yUmr4oFevzHJ09azfiOxDzuPBSKk41mW4QnO87sF69w6jVbPDOkSjPNmdsLg/s960/Day15.5.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkU7PfV65EOxHIv7yGXBOItf_5eLJV1BJdIQXqMvgQ-cXhgCkK-p19EH8gGvn19-JW9L1i1u-FNgZ2wbOl6vYxqBRRfZM8J6jD0qFe3C4BxE8As4ZnvLLpG5g_cB5iVea7yUmr4oFevzHJ09azfiOxDzuPBSKk41mW4QnO87sF69w6jVbPDOkSjPNmdsLg/w640-h360/Day15.5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">THE REEL:</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/63gtv3sXlB8" width="320" youtube-src-id="63gtv3sXlB8"></iframe></div>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-29613950737463815742023-12-22T16:00:00.015+00:002023-12-22T16:00:00.364+00:00DAY TWENTY-TWO OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: PHOENIX COVE ITEMS FOR MY BEST-FRIEND & HER FAMILY & A GIFT GUIDE FOR FAMILIES | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ezzEVG_uVpA78RlrEvZ_5lTk4fhCENWYn4eA1IqQTdKKljQAvPDgnROcjpqdSWPfCMa7TgCBw4t-wOFLgk8wXLFfm0evhHoZGCSxrYhQ6gUYoPAllkzJG5JK0lTZ3JA9djeX9iDVUJ3Ez8m-0rzMi-jhuWfo3iEwMcLOJl88X7b5HFTRjUqnGR9PH3eT/s1640/Blogmas%20Facebook%20Cover.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ezzEVG_uVpA78RlrEvZ_5lTk4fhCENWYn4eA1IqQTdKKljQAvPDgnROcjpqdSWPfCMa7TgCBw4t-wOFLgk8wXLFfm0evhHoZGCSxrYhQ6gUYoPAllkzJG5JK0lTZ3JA9djeX9iDVUJ3Ez8m-0rzMi-jhuWfo3iEwMcLOJl88X7b5HFTRjUqnGR9PH3eT/w640-h360/Blogmas%20Facebook%20Cover.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PhoenixCove"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">PhoenixCove
- Etsy UK</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #595959; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #595959; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #595959; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Welcome to Blogmas Unboxed!!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This post was inspired by all the special, handmade gifts, I bought from
Phoenix Cove for my best-friend; Sophie, her husband (Craig), and daughter
(Freya), which I'll show you now, and then I thought I would also put together this little gift guide of presents that
can be given to entire families in order to save on buying individual gifts…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WOTL4cRJujREFxvQ6rnteO8SNtCK3wf3dIy_ViuoctR6qSrwXjae_pRSP2XYT2jZrEtnWpFPSkcpl-1P7P1PeeuJW9s0qln4s_hA9g9Yx0Jq-no1MqamT9Z3YMXUvS_m7BYWyWo3uBbR-aJzSRRXv9vp4AK0C6FyAdBz8lMzS0Vi8ohHUItIUHvJlaya/s960/Day20.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WOTL4cRJujREFxvQ6rnteO8SNtCK3wf3dIy_ViuoctR6qSrwXjae_pRSP2XYT2jZrEtnWpFPSkcpl-1P7P1PeeuJW9s0qln4s_hA9g9Yx0Jq-no1MqamT9Z3YMXUvS_m7BYWyWo3uBbR-aJzSRRXv9vp4AK0C6FyAdBz8lMzS0Vi8ohHUItIUHvJlaya/w640-h360/Day20.1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63nFm8ug9AlxOIpAghGHug6TElvPrcb0Fe0QD0uTvsiX-tFI9f5Hh-guH8umIMv2zMRJQ45GADapcYGpBMZKv5TzKqdVpkgzDU5TancsYtuXbVoG8uAY8Bm5qEljF2Ad7tP6Kp_OW4vDKrdEeODwHcbHgO085hmmLr9Q1ljDbGcTHGBrAIXSqT-VFq0SV/s960/Day20.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg63nFm8ug9AlxOIpAghGHug6TElvPrcb0Fe0QD0uTvsiX-tFI9f5Hh-guH8umIMv2zMRJQ45GADapcYGpBMZKv5TzKqdVpkgzDU5TancsYtuXbVoG8uAY8Bm5qEljF2Ad7tP6Kp_OW4vDKrdEeODwHcbHgO085hmmLr9Q1ljDbGcTHGBrAIXSqT-VFq0SV/w640-h360/Day20.2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdMX-gNgwlr83yYJVUw_HiioKd4IFWgfKKYd889sMxqumb3FhL7L7oKD4Oze3G-0mz6ao9JF59wCAYFfXTvk9IRDX0dnTm9zeOJBd5Yyj-ASJAw8w2IvfBzru77Q4dYZaKdvFeGAOUN7LlJmqerJ7l42Q_GtHIuKc8PUVIBtBqGeADAMl1bb2VFBuTrNU/s960/Day20.3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdMX-gNgwlr83yYJVUw_HiioKd4IFWgfKKYd889sMxqumb3FhL7L7oKD4Oze3G-0mz6ao9JF59wCAYFfXTvk9IRDX0dnTm9zeOJBd5Yyj-ASJAw8w2IvfBzru77Q4dYZaKdvFeGAOUN7LlJmqerJ7l42Q_GtHIuKc8PUVIBtBqGeADAMl1bb2VFBuTrNU/w640-h360/Day20.3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYarRvTZCIp_9hZs1cBRxepvv08Di2lFez3yycui33DY0xrylq7Cn8Lw9fw15BcKLGi2PaYK7yQbjkUCMB1RzLn4koZp-7bIYtaOc-0VSFr0pbnew_cTBQtndFpQerGPi9nGZ46ajaPyQoUgowjZzclk_AdavnAWWKo1FkqW1FAR10hjLBQJQnEgBXBfP/s960/Day20.4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJYarRvTZCIp_9hZs1cBRxepvv08Di2lFez3yycui33DY0xrylq7Cn8Lw9fw15BcKLGi2PaYK7yQbjkUCMB1RzLn4koZp-7bIYtaOc-0VSFr0pbnew_cTBQtndFpQerGPi9nGZ46ajaPyQoUgowjZzclk_AdavnAWWKo1FkqW1FAR10hjLBQJQnEgBXBfP/w640-h360/Day20.4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNLn2mDLgJ-D4klC6HFSvuxsW563d0VVTErCkakDbUR2pmyopiCuy0qqWkuG2vN1uUJZye2ItFbCU9vD63eQYXdieYz6Hp5_Qpwc_o2-GozXAG2lMOpphPdFj6kHjkdj-_z7cLjLo1abJqJcPZc8P0Tme-ZcYvsU06XGVbH0Vdg4bXsfp_DFLH7GJS39m/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNLn2mDLgJ-D4klC6HFSvuxsW563d0VVTErCkakDbUR2pmyopiCuy0qqWkuG2vN1uUJZye2ItFbCU9vD63eQYXdieYz6Hp5_Qpwc_o2-GozXAG2lMOpphPdFj6kHjkdj-_z7cLjLo1abJqJcPZc8P0Tme-ZcYvsU06XGVbH0Vdg4bXsfp_DFLH7GJS39m/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/sspa/click?ie=UTF8&spc=MTozOTUxMzgzNTQ5ODAwNjczOjE2OTkxOTE2NDQ6c3BfYXRmOjMwMDA4NDc0NTY0NjAzMjo6MDo6&url=%2FPersonalized-Customizable-Decorative-Birthday-Warming%2Fdp%2FB0CJTF431P%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1_sspa%3Fcrid%3D3TBNTOZDW628E%26keywords%3DFAMILY%2BGIFTS%26qid%3D1699191644%26sprefix%3Dfamily%2Bgifts%252Caps%252C130%26sr%3D8-1-spons%26sp_csd%3Dd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY%26psc%3D1">Wooden
Bear Puzzle</a>: £19.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/sspa/click?ie=UTF8&spc=MToxOTc5MjUwMjMyNzUwNjczOjE2OTkxOTE3NDU6c3BfYXRmOjIwMDM0MTIyMDcwMTk4OjowOjo&url=%2FKids-Against-Maturity-Families-Hilarious%2Fdp%2FB076PRWVFG%2Fref%3Dsr_1_3_sspa%3Fcrid%3D3TBNTOZDW628E%26keywords%3DFAMILY%2BGIFTS%26qid%3D1699191745%26sprefix%3Dfamily%2Bgifts%252Caps%252C130%26sr%3D8-3-spons%26sp_csd%3Dd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY%26psc%3D1">Kids
Against Maturity Family Card Game</a>: £19.87<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Buyagift-Family-Fun-Gift-Experiences/dp/B08GLXJBGZ/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3TBNTOZDW628E&keywords=FAMILY+GIFTS&qid=1699191745&sprefix=family+gifts%2Caps%2C130&sr=8-8">Family
Fun Experiences</a>: £49.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Personalised-Scrabble-Family-Print-Prints/dp/B08MWK9CKT/ref=sr_1_16?crid=3TBNTOZDW628E&keywords=FAMILY+GIFTS&qid=1699191745&sprefix=family+gifts%2Caps%2C130&sr=8-16">Personalised
Family Scrabble Print</a>: £8.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/sspa/click?ie=UTF8&spc=MToxOTc5MjUwMjMyNzUwNjczOjE2OTkxOTE3NDU6c3BfbXRmOjIwMDMyNjc4ODAyNjA4OjowOjo&url=%2FOUR-MOMENTS-Families-Conversation-Communication%2Fdp%2FB078M3B7SR%2Fref%3Dsr_1_20_sspa%3Fcrid%3D3TBNTOZDW628E%26keywords%3DFAMILY%2BGIFTS%26qid%3D1699191745%26sprefix%3Dfamily%2Bgifts%252Caps%252C130%26sr%3D8-20-spons%26sp_csd%3Dd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY%26psc%3D1">100
Conversation Starters for Families</a>: £17.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1StNr7RSzi4sfyRr2sWo7jhZJsYrN4cijiW9JliGacUI34SrDFHlbttHpbbN51ApnLXJMpW4xiJwnYVcBYBD73l9aiqe9lYkON5ZeKCIxvHUTk4c4BSK9cDw6vYFvwzVDKBdTplv3t0ne9ZULa5u1cv8AQwKzSufV9tgpt2cJeREFMF1XJtsmWRlj_Goi/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1StNr7RSzi4sfyRr2sWo7jhZJsYrN4cijiW9JliGacUI34SrDFHlbttHpbbN51ApnLXJMpW4xiJwnYVcBYBD73l9aiqe9lYkON5ZeKCIxvHUTk4c4BSK9cDw6vYFvwzVDKBdTplv3t0ne9ZULa5u1cv8AQwKzSufV9tgpt2cJeREFMF1XJtsmWRlj_Goi/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/letteroom/product/personalised-gift-family-hanging-decoration">Personalised
Family Christmas Decoration</a>: £19.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/woodysgiftpreciousprints/product/your-family-s-handprints-reproduced-in-solid-oak">Family
Handprint Wall Hanging</a>: £10.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/lucysworld/product/family-challenges-in-a-box">Family
Challenges Game</a>: £12.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/giftrepublic/product/100-things-to-do-with-family-bucket-list-scratch-poster">Family
Bucket List Scratch Poster</a>: £12.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/cocoapod/product/personalised-family-christmas-chocolate-box">Family
Christmas Chocolate Box</a>: £32.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTsY3ccC93Mzt9-4tTxKagSbMojCGj4saHeuZeqhHkmvg-l-NMTNnDtHIdkw1TURDsYQwWsvVTN86hSAYy2pxxr7hao-IugYS8Rhl6Ku0NshropBCnMPoanh-n3x40bzMrr2IhDJOgpR7E6TuDr1nmONwVb4sTwGuxp5x6jz0nOdjSxCzLo5qnC91jT0jf/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTsY3ccC93Mzt9-4tTxKagSbMojCGj4saHeuZeqhHkmvg-l-NMTNnDtHIdkw1TURDsYQwWsvVTN86hSAYy2pxxr7hao-IugYS8Rhl6Ku0NshropBCnMPoanh-n3x40bzMrr2IhDJOgpR7E6TuDr1nmONwVb4sTwGuxp5x6jz0nOdjSxCzLo5qnC91jT0jf/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1267373842/personalised-family-print-gift-ideas?click_key=be4a09e35cf8cc6b0146d17bea3a873af407b0de%3A1267373842&click_sum=99d6e216&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=family+gifts&ref=search_grid-390463-1-7&pro=1&frs=1&bes=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1">Personalised
Family Print</a>: £11.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1053849747/personalised-choose-your-own-family?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=family+gifts&ref=sc_gallery-1-5&frs=1&bes=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&plkey=78824dbb86deea5fdd1a84f2ae98c50e9f938c12%3A1053849747">Family
Figurines</a>: £24.79<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/626486492/anniversary-gift-personlised-family-name?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=family+gifts&ref=sc_gallery-1-15&bes=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&plkey=ef13fbde6b0a3b3fadec007e3d5588b4815b6570%3A626486492">Family
Name Street Sign</a>: £24.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/723827458/christmas-true-or-false-game-festive?click_key=187c89517c5f685a4765120b098dda858aa00a1e%3A723827458&click_sum=6cd51972&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=family+games&ref=search_grid-384948-1-1&etp=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1">Christmas
True or False Game</a>: £9.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1148752900/kids-vs-grown-ups-52-cards-with-96?click_key=0bbcafa240bf9daefc00aa5c4af51c26b402e554%3A1148752900&click_sum=0d03cad9&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=family+games&ref=search_grid-715848-1-16&sts=1&local_signal_search=1">Kids
Vs Grown Ups Game</a>: £6.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-56165378821602513102023-12-21T14:11:00.000+00:002023-12-21T14:11:04.469+00:00AN INTERRUPTION TO BLOGMAS UNBOXED | TW: DISCUSSION OF SUICIDE <p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5-_ys02_H4Spwt9POwHC6Qf_ovZyKqg2Wl-06VvlnXjq1Qc5V3sD9QVlgdERusNER2EJQovWom5hmQvH9gput8t2F3tgQhwFV2zNSQ5QxEuDgDgK6hAtYNcJV1h8W0Ixk3vQ4Jk5Z1uhUqkBjlMIPkJhOOH2cQEX7OAu7Il5jS5JP-EmS2KFgD8jg59AO/s1640/exclusive%20to%20www.imnotdisordered.co.uk.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5-_ys02_H4Spwt9POwHC6Qf_ovZyKqg2Wl-06VvlnXjq1Qc5V3sD9QVlgdERusNER2EJQovWom5hmQvH9gput8t2F3tgQhwFV2zNSQ5QxEuDgDgK6hAtYNcJV1h8W0Ixk3vQ4Jk5Z1uhUqkBjlMIPkJhOOH2cQEX7OAu7Il5jS5JP-EmS2KFgD8jg59AO/w640-h360/exclusive%20to%20www.imnotdisordered.co.uk.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I honestly can’t believe what I’m about to blog about… I mean, it
happened over a week ago, but it still feels surreal. And I still find it
extremely difficult to actually even just say the words because they continue
to feel dramatic and unbelievable. I mean, a little while after I first became
poorly – and right around the time I was given the Personality Disorder
diagnosis! – I was labelled an attention-seeker and dramatic countless times by
mental health professionals. And in all honesty, the sentence I’m about to say
feels like I’m fulfilling all those remarks… In the early hours of Friday 8<sup>th</sup>
December 2023, I jumped from a bridge…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Why I decided to interrupt Blogmas Unboxed with this post:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">On Awareness dates around various illnesses and experiences etc,
there seems to be two schools of people; the first, use the dates as a huge
opportunity and platform to talk about something that is really important to
them and which they feel passionately about. The second school of people, have
the attitude that there shouldn’t have to be a designated ‘date’ to be aware
and to talk about the cause and believe that a lot of people sometimes take the
occasion as a publicity opportunity more so than having a genuine experience or
really meaningful thoughts and feelings around it. And so, with this in mind
and the fact that I’m NOT Disordered is known for the honesty and openness of
its content, I decided that I want to really get across the fact that mental
illness doesn’t just ‘go away’ at Christmastime. That just because I’m
publishing a series of lovely festive posts; it doesn’t mean I’m not struggling
– remember: what you see on a person’s social media and blog and YouTube
channel and whatever else, is what they want you to see.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Since having the Police write down my statement and account of the
abuse I experienced when I was younger, I’ve found writing helpful for my
mental health – I mean, I likely wouldn’t have been a blogger for almost eleven
years if it wasn’t, would I? There have been a number of instances since I
experienced that notion of relief when I saw everything out of my head and in
actual words outside of it, where I have felt that I could write about
something I was struggling with more efficiently and honestly than if I talked
about it. And this meant that, especially when I was in a psychiatric hospital,
I would write notes and letters to the staff to explain the reasons for my
actions. When I started blogging though, I also came to realise that writing
wasn’t just therapeutic in a relieving sense, it was also an incredibly useful
way to actually process and thoroughly consider my thoughts, feelings, and
experiences. For this reason, I developed the belief that writing this blog
post would be incredibly beneficial to improving my understanding and ability
to cope with what I have done, and I consider this, so much more important than
telling you what I was going to gift one of my best-friends for Christmas!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Since the very first comment I received from a reader giving her
thanks to the fact that a piece of the content I had created had been
beneficial for her in some way, I’ve recognised that I’m NOT Disordered can
help others. This also gave me a fear though, that if it can be true, then surely,
it’s equally true and practical that my content could upset someone or – in
some way – leave a reader feeling worse…? And the thought of having this level
of influence has been – and sometimes still is – intimidating. It has
occasionally left me with some sort of reluctance to publish content at fear I
have worded something wrong or that someone might think I have treated a topic
incorrectly in one of the one million other ways that make writing about
‘mental health’ – in any shape or form – an absolute minefield. So, in all
honesty, I’m seriously hoping that my decision to publish this post as an
interruption to Blogmas Unboxed, will help at least one person other than
myself (whilst recognising the importance of helping myself too!). I hope that
it reassures someone that it’s not abnormal to still struggle at Christmas and that
it encourages someone to feel that despite this being ‘the happiest time of the
year,’ they can still talk about their mental health and can still get help to face
any similar experiences, thoughts, and feelings to those I’ll talk about in
this post.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">How it started:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Last weekend, I developed some pain in my tummy and having taken
an overdose a few days prior to it, and the pain being where my liver is, I
thought perhaps something was wrong with it and so I went to hospital (also
under the impression that there’d be nothing they could do about the overdose).
After some blood tests and some IV anti-sickness medication and painkillers, I
was diagnosed with Biliary Colic as a result of gall stones I was diagnosed
with a number of years ago. The Doctor explained that it typically clears up in
a few days and I went home. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">However, he also warned me that this illness can lead to infection
and so, when I began getting a temperature on the Thursday evening, I called my
GP, and she advised me to go to hospital for a surgical review. So, I attended
A&E and after being triaged, I found myself thinking things through, and
realised that even if I was diagnosed with the infection, I wouldn’t want
treatment for it; I would want to die from it. And the largest reason for me
feeling that way was because I’m literally so drained from trying to ignore the
strange, weird thoughts that I’m experiencing in part of my Psychosis diagnosis
and I’m starting to feel fairly hopeless with the thought that perhaps this
will never improve. So, I told a Healthcare Assistant in A&E that I was
leaving and went home. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Just after midnight on the Friday morning though, I was feeling so
rough and wondered whether the Crisis Team would be able to talk me through the
feelings and help me to find the strength to go back to A&E and get any
necessary tests and treatment/surgery. When I called, I recognised the Call
Handler’s name and so when she took my details but then didn’t ask why I was
calling I didn’t think much of it because she had never done wrong by me
before. She told me “I’ll put you on the call-back list and one of the Nurses
will call you back. It shouldn’t be too long.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Three hours later, I rang again and said that things in my head
were feeling worse – I was becoming more and more desperate to escape the
strange thoughts and beliefs I was experiencing – and asked her to cancel my
callback. She told me that there’d been a ‘clinical incident’ and there were
still three people in front of me to be phoned back, so I said that perhaps if
she’d asked why I was ringing, the Nurse might have phoned me earlier than this
‘incident’ taking place and explained to her that there was something medical
going on too. Her response? That I ‘never’ tell her why I’m ringing and that I
‘always’ say that I’d rather just tell the Nurse. As soon as she said it, I
felt my jaw drop and immediately turned on the video on my iPad and asked her
to repeat herself because straight away I knew I’d put in a complaint and –
sadly – I was worried she would then just totally deny saying it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After repeating herself, I pointed out that if I had never told
her in the past, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have if she’d asked me this time.
Then she said she would tell the Nurse not to call me back, I told her I’d
recorded her comment and would be putting a complaint in, and she said (word
for word as it’s from the recording) “that’s alright then Aimee, thank you” and
put the phone down. And as soon as that call ended, it was like a switch in my
had turned off. Like the strength and bravery to stay alive was gone and all I
was left with was a hugely overwhelming sense of loneliness, isolation, and the
sense I had just been massively dismissed. And so, I put a coat on and headed
to the iron bridge near my home which used to pass over a train track to work
as a shortcut from the housing estate to this huge hill and the woodland
covering the majority of it. However, it now just passes over the derelict
train tracks that have become massively overgrown by weeds, thorn bushes,
stones, bricks, and logs etc. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What happened:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">When I had almost reached the bridge, I realised that it wasn’t
how I’d remembered it in that the highest point of the bridge was actually
completely caged reaching overhead too. So, I ended up climbing over the metal
barrier following the edge of the lower part to the bridge and stood on the
ledge of the highest point of that. I made the decision to call 999, requested
an Ambulance and told the Call Handler that I was about to jump and that I was
only calling because I didn’t want to put random strangers through the
experience of finding my body. She asked my name, and which bridge I was on and
then I hung up and jumped. All I can remember from the actual jump was darkness
– I think more so because I closed my eyes rather than the fact the sky was
still dark – and a harsh stinging sensation on my cheeks from the air whipping
past my face as I fell… And then pure blackness for goodness knows how long. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">My next memory is… You know when you close your eyes, but they
still feel as though they’re open somehow, so that if there’s a bright light or
a flashing light it you can still sort of see it? I remember having my eyes
closed but being able to see a blue flashing light and then blackness again.
And then a really bright white light filled my vision and I remember thinking
‘I’m bleeding inside and now I’m dying. Please say I’m dying!’ But then I
coughed, and I heard a man’s voice shout “where are you?” as the light flicked
back over me and without feeling like I even had to think it through, the sense
popped into my head that I wasn’t dying; a Policeman or a Paramedic or someone had
a torch and was trying to find me. Equally easily, I also knew exactly where I
was; I knew I had jumped. I could feel thorns scratching across my left cheek
at the slightest movement, there was something hard under my back, and what
felt like a log under my left ankle. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I moved to sit up, but a pain seared through my back, my left
ankle, and the bottom of my ribs on the left-hand side, and I lay back down and
turned my head to the side to vomit. The Police seemed to use the sound of me
being sick to finally figure out where I was and before I knew it, they all had
their lights on me, and I could hear three sets of feet making their way
through the undergrowth and heading in my direction. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">For what felt like forever, the Police were on their radios
updating the control room that my ankle was kind of bent funny, that my back
was hurting, and that I felt like I couldn’t take a deep breath. They kept
saying that I needed to keep talking and I asked whether I should have died
from the height I had jumped, and they said that it probably depended on how I
landed and I remember feeling the distinct urge to roll my eyes and ask why I
can’t seem to kill myself, but I felt too exhausted. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Numerous times I heard them asking what the ETA was for the ‘Fire
and Ambulance’ and I remember asking why we needed a fire engine when I wasn’t
on fire and an Officer explained it was just to be able to move me out of the
ditch. The Fire Engine arrived, and then we had to wait for the Ambulance to
give the all-clear that I could be moved so someone put one of those foil
‘blankets’ on me to warm me up because by that point it was about 5am and I had
been lying on the ground in the freezing cold for around an hour. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Shortly before the Ambulance arrived, I remember saying that I
felt like everything was hurting more and the Police said it was likely because
the shock of the entire thing was wearing off so that meant all the pain could
come forward and my injuries would become more obvious. And I just kept my eyes
squeezed shut like a little kid making a Birthday wish, but I was wishing that
I could just somehow get back to that shock so that I wouldn’t be feeling like
I needed some serious painkillers to a point that I was crying and started
screaming whenever I even slightly moved or breathed too deeply. Fortunately, that
didn’t last too long before the Ambulance came and once the Paramedics got down
the bank to me and saw how much pain I was in, they drew up an injection of
Morphine and gave me some gas and air (laughing gas or Entonox). Then –
eventually – everyone helped put me on this really hard board the and I was
carried up the ditch and into the Ambulance which immediately headed for my
local A&E department/hospital.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After being there less than an hour, still in pain, and being told
I needed an X-ray that might take a while to be called for; I asked if I could
go home. The Nurse said she would have to go and speak to a Doctor then came
back and said “yes, get yourself away!” I was kind of shocked… I mean, of
course I wanted to go home, and I appreciated them saying I could, but surely,
I shouldn’t have? Like, shouldn’t I have seen – or even at least just been
offered the opportunity to see – the Psychiatric Liaison Team (PLT) in A&E?
I mean, I’ve never done what I did, and it actually felt really scary and almost
traumatic; to a point where I was shocked that I didn’t see PLT for this. Yet I’ve
been properly made to see them before I was allowed to leave the hospital, numerous
times and for instances that I would class as minor compared to this because
they were a hell of a lot less dangerous!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">All the thoughts I had whilst sat on a chair in the waiting room:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I have a choice to make…<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, I remember hobbling out of A&E on my sore ankle which I
could barely put weight on, but if I didn’t, the angle I then had to walk on
meant my ribs – which the Paramedics diagnosed as two of them being broken –
hurt even more! Plus, I was still pretty hysterically crying and on imagining I
must look a right mess, I was very grateful to find that the enormous A&E
waiting room I had to walk through to get out, was almost completely empty! And
with every twisted, painful step, I found my mind turning over and over trying
to decide whether to go and continue with my mission or call a taxi and go
home. It sounds sort of strange to say that when I was standing on the ledge of
a bridge, I didn’t feel faced with a choice so much as I did right there and
then in A&E. But I guess that’s part of the point when it comes to suicide
– you feel that there’s really no other way to make anything better or to even
just prevent things from getting any worse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I felt like my head was going to implode if I didn’t make a
decision because in it, all of these reasons and motivations and protective
factors and rationale were turning over and over again. They were going round
and round in a circle that started to flood out of my head and encase my entire
body in a way that was so powerful I felt like I couldn’t move anymore so I sat
on a chair in the waiting room debating whether to ring a taxi or turn it off
and find a higher ledge… And it was in that exact place – the waiting room
chair – that I just felt as though someone had hit me in the face with the words…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I don’t really want to die… <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Now, this is actually a remark I’ve had others make to me before;
back when they – and I – didn’t really understand my mental health and the
auditory hallucinations I used to experience. It happened because the voices
would be either telling me to attempt suicide or their presence made me want
to. But then, I would do something and once it was done my head would go quiet
and I’d recognise that if things stayed that way, I didn’t actually want to
die; so, I would go and get help for whatever I had done/taken. However, almost
every time I had asked for help or self-presented at hospital, either the
voices would come back and be really abusive and angry at me or I’d be treated
poorly by staff and wish I hadn’t gone. So, I’d leave or refuse treatment. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This pattern was often interpreted as attention seeking because
professionals would be like “if you really wanted to die you wouldn’t have told
us what you’d done, and if you really wanted help and weren’t just doing it for
attention, then you wouldn’t cause a fuss and drama after doing so, by running
off or needing to be restrained and sedated.” Of course, this was quite wrong
of them to say this, but it was actually sort of helpful because it made me
feel forced into gaining some sort of understanding of my mental health so that
I could explain things to professionals and not be branded an attention-seeker.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Why do I always have to learn things the hard way?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It felt almost ironic that on all those instances where people
have questioned my true motivation for making a suicide attempt, I’ve fought
against it, but I managed to come to asking myself sort-of similar questions
and coming to a sort-of similar conclusion… I’m one of those people anyway
though – those people who have to learn something for themselves – typically, this
means I tend to have to learn things the ‘hard way’ before they really stick
with me to the point where I feel there has been a change in one of my thought
processes I have or in my opinions and my actions etc. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I just think that arriving at the same conclusion by myself, means
a lot more to me than someone sitting there and trying to convince me of it. In
a lot of ways, I think that this is similar to mental health training with
professionals who often state that the most educational, interesting, and
convincing part was when they heard from someone who had a mental illness and
who had actually been in the exact situations that the professionals were being
taught how to respond to.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It took a lot for me to gain any sense of hope and to experience
any notion of recovery…<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I think that the largest reason for me being able to have the
instance of realisation that I had previously been unable to gain or
experience, was because back then – in the three years of my mental health
being at its absolute worst (2009 – 2012) – I had completely forgotten there
was a life out there which didn’t revolve around my illness, instances of
self-harm, and hospital admissions. More than that though, I had forgotten that
I could have a life without all these horrible experiences and this intense and
overwhelming sadness that seemed to over-power any ‘good’ in my life and squash
it down until it was tiny, unimportant, and forgettable. However, in 2012, I
made a suicide attempt that resulted in me being put on life support under the
Mental Capacity Act and when I woke from the sedation, I was admitted to a
private psychiatric hospital over 100 miles away from home and which specialised
in my diagnosis of a Personality Disorder.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I spent two and a half years sectioned under the 1983 Mental
Health Act at this hospital, having Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Self-Harm
Awareness Sessions, some 1:1 Trauma Therapy, and doing general therapeutic
activity groups on the timetable. After just under a year, I began to
experience the sensation that I was finally making steps in the right direction,
forwards! Gaining that notion, motivated me to create I’m NOT Disordered, and I
began blogging on January 6<sup>th</sup>, 2013, as a means of recording my
progress in a way that my loved ones could also follow it despite the huge
distance that now stood between us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Going into recovery and my enormously helpful experience in being
a blogger meant that I now know how it feels to be doing well. I now know it’s
possible. And so, upon recognising that I didn’t really want to die whilst sat
there in the waiting room, the second hardest part to deciding what to do next
came with tears because it was the realisation that no one was going to stop me
from leaving there and continuing to make another suicide attempt. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimmAgC_f4cT2vvSqCA_C38TqBVuH9fybUSeKcbt7TTe3BdmYrlR-eX0yZnQxWNXAuzH53nEWrcdqp0A4C57rMkPH5aE0it4vCVm65WL3W3Ph9ajVzYOqc7cc9YiDkwf5LO287v2Bqw177RBBE88e_U4uTzG7Fl-Jvs74egcho24sluqA3yne9UXzblEJqp/s700/bridge2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimmAgC_f4cT2vvSqCA_C38TqBVuH9fybUSeKcbt7TTe3BdmYrlR-eX0yZnQxWNXAuzH53nEWrcdqp0A4C57rMkPH5aE0it4vCVm65WL3W3Ph9ajVzYOqc7cc9YiDkwf5LO287v2Bqw177RBBE88e_U4uTzG7Fl-Jvs74egcho24sluqA3yne9UXzblEJqp/w457-h640/bridge2.jpg" width="457" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Am I still suicidal though?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Now, if you’ve ever been to hospital, you’ll know that a common
method professionals use to determine the need for medical treatment like
prescribing painkillers or doing scans etc. is by asking you to rate your pain
on a scale of 0 – 10 (with 0 being no pain at all). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Based on the success and efficiency of doing
this, it left me considering whether a must-ask questions with mental health
professionals interacting with or assessing someone who has said they feel
suicidal an/or have made an attempt, should be to ask the person to rate their
thoughts and feelings on a scale of 0 – 10. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I’ve seen mental health professionals hand out therapy ‘homework’
sheets which ask you to rate your mood in this way, but I don’t recall ever
being asked to do that in terms of my suicidality. And I think that it’s pretty
safe to say that perhaps the key reason for this is that people might often
think that if someone is suicidal, then that’s it – that’s all that they’re feeling.
All they’re thinking about. All that they want to do. It’s like it almost
becomes a definition of the person. I actually once heard a Nurse saying to a
Doctor “are you seeing the suicidal girl?” But I’ve heard – and known – there
are so many people who describe feeling suicidal but that they actually don’t
want to be, and so they don’t want to act upon it. And I think this is a good
illustration of my point that having a scale can help the professional asking
for the answer to be able to gain a better understanding and appreciation of both
just how unsafe a person is and what the right/best response would be.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, when I was standing on the ledge of the bridge, I’d have rated
myself as being at a 10 on the scale, and sat in that chair in the waiting
room, I was a 6 – which meant I was still on the scale, just not as convinced
it was the best thing to do, not as vulnerable, nor as unsafe. And in that
moment, I came to realise that actually, those 4 bits of difference that stood
between me as I felt there and then to me as I was back on that ledge, were
actually what really mattered the most. They were so important because they
symbolised an opportunity to either make myself safer and head towards 0 or –
equally meaningfully showed – that there was the potential to find myself
struggling even more that it would lead me back to a 10.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Recognising and utilising my strength...<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">As I became more and more passionate, dedicated, and ambitious in
my blogging career, I found contemplating myself ways to increase the size of
my audience in a bid to be able to help more people. In gaining this goal, I
recognised that to achieve it, I really needed to have some level of confidence
to be brave enough to talk to others about my blog, so I ended up using the
‘fake it ‘til you make it’ motto and just ignored and put to side any reluctance
or doubt. I used this method and thought process when I began to send out press
releases and collaboration requests, but I learnt that actually, you don’t get
very far in making connections in the blogging world if you don’t pay attention
or mention your statistics. Learning this, made me very uncomfortable because it
felt that it might appear quite obnoxious, and I worried it’d seem as though I
was ‘showing off.’ <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After a little bit of time though, I finally accepted that this
was just the way the blogging industry worked. That this is what the priorities
have to be for organisations who determine a blog collaboration as a business
or PR opportunity and recognise that it can be influential in many ways that
might vary from financially to their reputation to their social media following
and their general website traffic. So, I took on board my Mum’s wise words; “shy
bairns get nowt” and threw out all uncertainty and began adding the statistics
of my blog’s daily amount of traffic and all-time reader count to my press
releases and collaboration requests/pitches. I was reassured that this had been
the missing component when – from that point on – I have never had a pitch
turned down… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In fact, these days, I tend to be the one who receives them from the
organisations rather than the other way around! And, in fairness, when someone
approaches me with a collaboration idea, I do obviously like to research them
before deciding; but I’ve ended up not just considering the work they do and
their cause… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now – similarly, to when I was
the one sending the pitches and how mine were viewed and considered – I also prioritise
the gravity of their following and their reputation in the media and in the
industry on a whole! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Gaining this confidence to recognise my strengths (and my blog’s
strengths and achievements), you’d think that perhaps I would be able to do
that when it comes to my mental health. But, through this instance with the bridge,
I have really learnt that I do actually dismiss and genuinely fail to recognise
the strength I have within me. And I think a huge contributing factor to this
has been the comments of others who have branded me – and others who attempt or
commit suicide – as ‘weak’ because they deem suicide to be the ‘easy way out.’
As though going against the most basic human instinct to fight for survival is
straightforward and not at all challenging?! As if you don’t have to go through
the worst, most absolutely, enduring, and incredible pain in order to reach a
point even remotely close to being suicidal?!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Having a mental illness, I feel that I’ve become extremely
experienced in feeling that I’m being discriminated against, disrespected,
stigmatised, patronised, insulted, misunderstood, judged… I mean, these are all
incredibly common actions, attitudes, comments, and behaviours that those with
no real knowledge, understanding, or experience of mental illnesses can
exhibit. They have become so frequently discussed and publicised that not so
long ago, I reached a point where I came to recognise that such comments and
actions don’t need to be inflicted upon me for me to be affected by them. That
actually, I could just be having a normal interaction with someone new and even
if they’re totally silent, just being aware there are people out there who
believe these things, leaves me feeling very conscious that any person I’m
interacting with, might be thinking those things and/or are in agreement with
them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In sitting on that seat in A&E, I recognised that if it was
true (the realisation I talked about earlier that I really didn’t want to die) then
I needed to find the strength inside me, because otherwise, I really would end
up killing myself. I mean, in discharging me from hospital after barely being
there an hour and not having any sort of mental health assessment or help and
support, I felt that clearly, no one was going to stop – or even help – me to
stop me from doing that… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The aftermath:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The largest challenge I feel I’m experiencing at the moment is that
because of these strange thoughts and beliefs that are coming from the
psychosis and the suicidal feelings that are a result of trying to rationalise
them; I’m reacting or responding in those moments and then I make it through
them and I’m left dealing with the consequences. And sadly, when I’m on the
verge of doing these behaviours and coping in these unsafe ways, I can’t think
about the fact that I might survive it and consider what I would do then… It
feels kind of ironic, actually – the recognition that you do something
dangerous for so many reasons, but then those reasons go and instead of
relieve, you can end up finding new reasons purely in the consequences of what
you’ve done! And so, this is why the aftermath of a suicide attempt or
self-harm instance can be so important…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: 131.75pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Is there anyone to blame?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I feel like as a result of the abuse I experienced and because of my
position in the mental health world, I have become incredibly – and at times overwhelmingly
– aware of the word ‘responsibility.’ I mean to the point where it’s stopped
sounding like a word! It’s like when you try to type or write a word and you keep
spelling it wrong so many times that you begin wondering whether the word
you’re trying to spell even exists! The whole topic of responsibility in mental
health and especially in suicide attempts, is something which I feel
professionals (psychiatric and others) have totally rammed down my throat and used
to deafen my ears until it’s all I can think about in a lot of situations where
I previously wouldn’t have – sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it’s
not.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">In this attempt, I feel that I’ve found a balance in my thoughts
and opinions on responsibility because I 100% recognise that, when all is said
and done at the end of the day, it was me who jumped from the bridge. I would
say that someone pushed me and that someone led me there; but I don’t mean for those
things to be considered in physical and literal terms – it’s more in so far as my
feelings that other people have been influential in an emotional and
psychological sense. And this actually reminds me of one thing about making a
suicide attempt that I hate… When there’s someone else telling you “you can’t
blame it on them” or “how can you say that you wouldn’t have done it if that
hadn’t happened?!” The reason I can’t stand such comments is because it’s not
their bloody attempt! There’s this part in a TV series I used to watch called
Lost where one character throws a rock at another, and he says it hurt his knee
and the girl who threw it said, “your knee can’t hurt that bad” and the injured
guy said “it’s my knee! I’ll tell you how much it hurts!” Same thing – how can
a Police Officer or a Doctor who wasn’t even present when I jumped nor when I
was treat poorly from that Call Handler at the Crisis Team, tell me anything
about MY suicide attempt?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, with that being said, I very obviously do portion some level
of responsibility to what I did on that Call Handler (whose name I know and
have had to think hard on whether to disclose it, but in the end, I worried
that doing so – with the level of following I’m NOT Disordered has – could
potentially lead to a number of terrible consequences). The way I see it is
that yes, I’ve responded the way I have, but if she hadn’t made the comments she
made and treat me the way she did, I would have had nothing to respond to! I
mean, when I called the Crisis Team after recognising in A&E that I
wouldn’t want help for the infection, there wasn’t a single thought in my head
around jumping from a bridge! So, if I wasn’t already struggling with that, how
can anyone say that it would have still happened without that Call Handlers
response?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: 131.75pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Making a complaint<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That bit about responsibility has actually led me on really nicely
to the second bit of the aftermath which is about my thoughts and feelings
around putting a complaint in against the Call Handler… When she first made the
comment about how I ‘never’ tell her why I’m calling, I knew immediately that
if I were to survive that night, I would put a complaint in about her and what
she had said. I also knew that if I did, she would deny the entire thing and that
was such a sad notion because, in my opinion, making a ‘mistake’ or receiving a
complaint or bad feedback should be deemed as an opportunity to learn and to
take this on board in order to improve and to not let that happen again. It
shouldn’t be a chance to deny things and make excuses for your decisions, your
behaviour, your attitude…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After turning my iPad onto video and making out like I hadn’t
heard her so I asked her to repeat herself so that I would have the proof, all
the thoughts about making a complaint were very obviously put on the backburner
whilst I went ahead and did what I did and then went through everything that happened
in A&E. After I had a little sleep back at home, I looked up the phone
number for the Complaints Department of the NHS Trust who are the employer of
the Call Handler and called them. The girl who answered was so lovely, and as I
was telling her what had been said she said “can I just stop you there? I’m
sorry, I just need a moment because I really can’t believe this has happened!”
And she meant as in, it was so terrible and not that she thought I was lying,
but I offered to play the recording down the phone anyway and she listened and
said she had added that I had that evidence to the complaint and then she asked
what the impact had been for me… This was actually something I hadn’t
considered in making the decision to put a complaint in – the fact that I’d
likely have to relive a lot of it in order to provide the right information.
Having found that a few hours after the actual jump, I felt the distinct notion
that I’d been in a level of shock that had enabled me to still function immediately
after it. As it seemed to wear off though, I experienced a number of thoughts
and feelings which I feel indicated that I viewed the entire situation as
traumatic. Now, having experienced abuse, I really don’t use that word
(‘trauma’) often or lightly, so I hope that says a lot about the gravity and
power of my memories from that night. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Having talked about the abuse numerous times and in a whole
variety of situations, I’ve learnt that talking about something traumatic can
be helpful, and so I told the Complaints staff what I had done in response to
the comments and explained that I recognise it was my response, but if the Call
Handler hadn’t made the comments or treat me the way she did, I would have had
nothing to respond to! I mean, yes, I had been ringing because I felt suicidal,
but there were no thoughts in my head to go ahead and actually make an attempt –
it had purely been about refusing medical treatment – never mind anything to do
with a bridge! The Complaints Department explained that because of the severity
of the impact it had, the complaint should be fast-tracked to an Investigator
who would call me back to ask more questions before looking into the entire
incident, speaking to the Call Handler, and then they’d put a report/response
together.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Now, because it has taken me so long to write this post (almost
two weeks!) I actually received the phone call from the Investigator the other
day and he asked me to repeat what had happened, what my thoughts and feelings
were about that, and what my motivations were for making the complaint. We
talked about the resolution I might like from the complaint, and I told him
that speaking up wasn’t about getting the Call Handler into ‘trouble,’ and that
I’d like a written apology either from her or from the Team but acknowledging
who had been responsible. Some people might think that this is quite a trivial
expectation considering the gravity and seriousness of everything that
happened, but I have so much respect and appreciation for people who apologise
for their actions or attitude. Having had ‘responsibility’ drilled into me over
the years, apologising is something which I deem to come hand-in-hand with that,
and it’s actually something which I used to find really difficult – purely
because I’m sometimes quite a stubborn person and I don’t like to be wrong. However,
my Mum raised me with the belief that you should treat others how you want to
be treated and if I would hold importance to someone acknowledging their
wrongdoing, then why shouldn’t I extend the same courtesy when I’m in the wrong
too? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">After my phone call with the Investigator, I was messaging someone
who has also been under the care of the same Crisis Team from time to time and I
told her what had happened, and she replied with ‘was it a female Call Handler
by any chance?’ and I genuinely felt sick because knew straightaway what I was
about to learn… This other person has previously made a complaint against this
same Call Handler! And so, with my hands shaking with anger, I called the
Investigator back and told him what I’d learnt and that I recognised he
wouldn’t be able to talk about it, but that I wanted him to know that due to
gaining this piece of information, I would now like it recorded that I would
want disciplinary action against her to come from my complaint. I just thought
‘stuff the apology! She probably said ‘sorry’ with the last complaint against
her and doing so, has clearly taught her nothing!’ I mean, really, I don’t know
that there’s not even more people than the two of us who have complained about
her too – to be fair, the amount of service users the Trust has, I find it hard
to imagine that only two of us have been treat poorly by her. A sad but
realistic thought… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: 131.75pt; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calibri Light"; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Can I ever call the Crisis Team again?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">One of my
first comments to the Complaint Department after telling them what had
happened, was basically asking how on earth I could ever call the Crisis Team
again! See, this wouldn’t have been an issue if it had been a Nurse that said
it because I could ring and just ask that I not be passed to them, but because
she was a Call Handler; I wouldn’t have a choice as to whether I talk to her or
not if she were to answer the phone. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">That was a hard realisation because I actually, have mostly found
the Crisis Team helpful – to the point where I actually gave them chocolates
and a card to say thank you after being under their care earlier this year! So,
with that in mind, I didn’t want to feel that I’d lost that support just
because of one member of their staff, but; I also think it’s so important to
recognise that one person working for an organisation is representing that
entire organisation and so their behaviour and attitude reflects – deservedly or
not – upon all their colleagues.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Fortunately, the Complaints Department came up with the idea of me
calling the Crisis Team for a nearby town, but which is still within the same
NHS Trust, and speaking to their Call Handler who could then refer me to the
Nurses in my area. And who could then check if the Call Handler in question is
on shift and if not, then I can ring direct to my area from then on. So, I’ve
done that twice now and after each time I’ve talked about how lovely the Call
Handlers from this other Team were and it became a sort of sad thought too
because really, they are treating me how I should be treat – especially from a service
like this! And so, it shouldn’t really be something you’re ‘grateful’ for – it should
be the norm. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What I want to be taken from this:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To be honest, one thought that was making me somewhat reluctant to
post this piece was the worry that people will read this and will feel dubious in
calling their own Crisis Team – especially, if they haven’t spoken to them
already and so they have no prior experience or knowledge as to whether their
local Team is of a similar attitude/standard. I worry that this will mean they’re
now filled with the worry that they’ll be treat this way too… <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt right 451.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">So, instead
of having these thoughts, the one thing I’d like people to take from this post
is the encouragement to speak up if you’re treat – no matter who by – poorly
and to work your damned hardest to not let that experience worsen your mental or
physical health in any way. Please always know that you and your life are worth
so much more and are way too special to be destroyed by something like this.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 131.75pt right 451.3pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeORuJ_z82T_C_RJk8-On13WGs8xDYCBZVEemb_-y_FpNhn4dDEahg9-iNgRPiISSdQps5YCUwEGuNiC_cXz26LPbdY8Y_skWSqWHxn8WgQ2Mp_UJJjJoY0X2WQUOiYzzBCJ1c6npeyLYI6c2TvMe0UNlbfwmHY-ODeu8mz07fq_KBvpi2eB17xrk8uZvi/s330/Bridge3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="236" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeORuJ_z82T_C_RJk8-On13WGs8xDYCBZVEemb_-y_FpNhn4dDEahg9-iNgRPiISSdQps5YCUwEGuNiC_cXz26LPbdY8Y_skWSqWHxn8WgQ2Mp_UJJjJoY0X2WQUOiYzzBCJ1c6npeyLYI6c2TvMe0UNlbfwmHY-ODeu8mz07fq_KBvpi2eB17xrk8uZvi/w458-h640/Bridge3.jpg" width="458" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-78015296203524031832023-12-19T16:00:00.021+00:002023-12-19T16:00:00.215+00:00DAY NINETEEN OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: A Q&A WITH THE 'ELVES' BEHIND AN AMAZING CHARITY: CHRISTMAS FOR CAMHS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGTlu79iuKltlw5MYTqmcaRvX5b9LY9GRekOz0ou5I6NXB9BMEYaET7i6Ig6LQbo5pGGFgHUe8qdlP6pJwH3wmuCX8CxvcJFxkm6rUqrDd0TKplHRVAPtbSqrbK1EV-D69uoMnwDD0lXqhwNpzchkEsYcxyd8CcWN2B1mIm8s0VT36B2g32xI14tldLh6/s600/Day19.1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="600" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcGTlu79iuKltlw5MYTqmcaRvX5b9LY9GRekOz0ou5I6NXB9BMEYaET7i6Ig6LQbo5pGGFgHUe8qdlP6pJwH3wmuCX8CxvcJFxkm6rUqrDd0TKplHRVAPtbSqrbK1EV-D69uoMnwDD0lXqhwNpzchkEsYcxyd8CcWN2B1mIm8s0VT36B2g32xI14tldLh6/w640-h214/Day19.1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-7187645a-7fff-d448-9161-20fb96249dbf"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To donate to Christmas for CAMHS:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/xmas-camhs" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Making Christmas Magic For Young People in CAMHS Units (2023) - JustGiving</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For the rest of Christmas for CAMHS links:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://linktr.ee/christmasforcamhs" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Christmas For CAMHS | Twitter, Facebook | Linktree</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If you’ve been reading, I’m NOT Disordered for some time you’ll likely know that when I was fifteen, I went through a really traumatic experience that lasted six months. Across these months I turned to an unsafe coping skill and developed a really bad reputation at school with my teachers because I was angry at them for not realising what was happening to me or even, at the very least, questioning why there was such a marked change in my behaviour and attitude. Somehow though, I was referred to my local Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and sadly, it took so long to actually be offered an appointment that by the time I was, a lot of things had changed, and I was no longer willing to engage with the professional help and support being offered. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sadly, my story or journey isn’t a rarity; in fact, when I was arranging the event to celebrate the publication of my new book, I ended up talking about mental health with the staff who asked me what I had written about and two of them actually said that they were waiting so long for the appointment that they ended up having to be referred to adult services because they turned 18! This isn’t right, and it isn’t good enough. And so, I’m a huge advocate for being so proactive and for viewing children and young people with signs and symptoms of a mental illness as so important because failing them at that age, begs the question: “what chance do they have at a happy, healthy, and safe future?” I mean, I honestly believe that if I’d gotten help with my mental health sooner, I would never have gotten to the point of making that first suicide attempt… never mind the other three and the two-and-a-half years sectioned in a psychiatric hospital!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It isn’t just about physically and literally getting the help; it’s also important to recognise that how a child or young person is treated when they’re vulnerable, can really shape and influence their thoughts in some really drastic ways. So, if they are to feel isolated, ignored, and dismissed by mental health professionals, it can leave them having a negative view of psychiatric services on a whole and this could mean that if they aren’t given appointments at that young age and their mental illness continues into adulthood, they’re reluctant to reach out for help and support later in life. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgktd97IYRvRpbe4dqq_W67ZwBYKmyqXgrhnWljbcFwVJcZUuiRQFtGLf_KkOvJj6BTs2HTG-RvqLJxhaqMUAIMjdIDqgv_cPieuQKw_oLK9IOMdwuhBgKPOqb8ruh0xinxbWSBl7FWETffjPjXNE-AofDe2Ma2oy4dfOMI-ptfoQ3F8N22pjKgTIPIJnXv/s960/407480075_6940577349331002_4072976036951320673_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgktd97IYRvRpbe4dqq_W67ZwBYKmyqXgrhnWljbcFwVJcZUuiRQFtGLf_KkOvJj6BTs2HTG-RvqLJxhaqMUAIMjdIDqgv_cPieuQKw_oLK9IOMdwuhBgKPOqb8ruh0xinxbWSBl7FWETffjPjXNE-AofDe2Ma2oy4dfOMI-ptfoQ3F8N22pjKgTIPIJnXv/w480-h640/407480075_6940577349331002_4072976036951320673_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Now, anyone who knows me more personally than through my blog will tell you immediately that I’m a huge fan of the festive period – in fact, with my announcement that I’m doing Blogmas again this year (producing daily content every day from December 1</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">st</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> until Christmas Day) you can probably say this if you only know me through, I’m NOT Disordered! I really like to make the most of this time of year particularly because I have spent two Christmases in mental health hospitals, and I will never forget how disappointing and totally un-magical (if that’s a word?!) it all was to be woken up by staff telling you it’s medication time!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, with my CAMHS story and love for Christmas in mind, when I spotted Christmas for CAMHS on Twitter, I decided to reach out and see if I could help promote the charity and so we put this little Q&A together to bring some insight into the charity, the work they do, why they do it, and even some advice on how you can manage your mental health at Christmastime…</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What year was Christmas for CAMHS created?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Christmas for CAMHS was first created in 2016. This is our year of giving gifts to young people in CAMHS units across the UK. </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Whose idea was it originally?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The idea originally began from an experience our now trustee Dr Ro Bevan had working in a CAMHS unit back.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Where did the inspiration and motivation come from to set up the charity?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Christmas For CAMHS was originally set up because Ro saw a huge disparity in the way CAMHS units were treated over the festive period compared to other NHS services for children and young people. We wanted to do something to change that.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In 2015 Ro was working in a children's hospital for those with a physical illness. That Christmas the children’s hospital had tons of presents donated, mostly from corporate donors - so many presents that there was enough leftover for patients’ birthdays until June of the following year! A year later, she was working in child and adolescent mental health and, in stark contrast, they had no presents donated at all. The patients had one present each, chosen by the therapy team and paid for by the ward - scrimped and saved from the NHS budget that is meant to cover therapeutic activities and other expenses. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ro posted about the inequality on Facebook and before she knew it, her post had gone viral with 1,032 shares and so many supportive comments. It inspired her to start Christmas For CAMHS the following year to support these children and young people who would otherwise be forgotten by the generous public.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How does the charity work? What does the charity do?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our charity is relatively simple in how it works and what we do. We provide Christmas gifts and goodies (activities, decorations, ward gifts etc) for children and young people who will be spending the festive season in a CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) hospital. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When we first began in 2016, we just set up a simple fundraiser online where we raised around £1000 and managed to send around 300 gifts to young people in units that year. Since then, we have grown to be able to reach every CAMHS unit in the UK, but we still work in a pretty similar way! We have our online fundraising page running each year where people donate either as individuals or on behalf of fundraisers they have run in their local community or with work colleagues. We also get some corporate donations and people setting up their own fundraising pages to do amazing challenges to raise money for us (last year one fundraiser ran a marathon around a Christmas tree!). We also have a wish list where people can donate specific chosen gifts to us. This fundraising enables us to purchase gifts and activities.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At the same time as this, our team is reaching out to every CAMHS unit in the UK to ask the staff that work there how many young people they might have over Christmas (we usually send for how many beds they have as some units won't know until the last minute who they’ll have in). We also ask them what they think their young people might like, picking from a list of tried and tested categories, and the age range of their young people. Our elves then work night and day to ensure that gifts are bought that align with what each CAMHS unit has requested and that are safe for young people in hospital for their mental health to be given. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Once the gifts have arrived we have a major ‘packing weekend,’ which tends to happen in Bath. During this, volunteers come and help us pack up massive boxes with all the assigned gifts, some Christmas decorations, some activities (such as colour in paper chains or blank cards), a Wellbeing Advent Calendar, some fidget toys and an extra ‘ward gift’ for each ward to enjoy together. We don’t wrap the gifts, so the wards can check them, but we do provide wrapping paper and sticky gift tags. We also provide a bigger gift, when requested, for young people on the wards who may not receive a gift from anyone else this Christmas, such as young people who have no family support. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The gifts then get delivered to each CAMHS ward ahead of Christmas day. In 2022, we sent almost 1500 individual gifts, as well as 46 additional gifts for young people in particular need, in addition to 96 advent calendars, 133 decoration and activity kits and 135 ward gifts - plus over a thousand fidget toys and lots of homemade Christmas Cards. We were delighted to raise £17,000 over a 12 month period, which enables us to keep going for Christmas 2023.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This year we are also sending wards some paper chain ‘strips’ with cheesy cracker jokes written on them, made by members of the public and assembled by young people on the wards, providing a tangible reminder that we are all still connected despite what the young people are going through.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Do you have volunteers and/or staff with experience of CAMHS or other mental health services? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We do! We’ve actually reached a stage where young people who received gifts from us whilst they were on CAMHS wards a previous Christmas have reached out to volunteer, which is so lovely for our team. They are such valued members of the volunteer team too as they have very specific lived experience of not only being on a CAMHS ward over Christmas but also receiving gifts from us. They have lots of great ideas particularly of activities to provide and gifts to give - the paper chain project was their idea! </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lots of our volunteers have some kind of lived experience of mental ill health, either themselves or through friends/family, which is often the reason why they choose to volunteer.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Which mental illness have you found that the children and young people you are gifting are struggling with the most?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We actually never find out the specific illnesses the young people we send gifts to are struggling with as it doesn’t make a difference to the gifts we give them. In fact, we don’t have any identifying information about them at all! We of course know if we’re sending to a specific ward, such as an eating disorder ward or a ward that specifically works with young people that also have learning disabilities who are in crisis with their mental health. In these cases, we try to be extra selective about what we do or don’t send, so that the gifts are appropriate. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9IajClf7uRMSMYkYj6ApEeQF-0xs6MmofW3pjouEplMrgvUe_yWN2-E0PrLvR22SuYMnEO_JZg8FMKPRlvn_xKhIoO9qJ_O04-14lsToYJTNDNXCLCZp1BBhqSKAGM4fA4fzQ__IUXJNOKK2vLaN4HyBpuUVZq1K0-hrWEnE9UxZ0Uk-Qa2E4x78iBpw/s1080/Day19.2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9IajClf7uRMSMYkYj6ApEeQF-0xs6MmofW3pjouEplMrgvUe_yWN2-E0PrLvR22SuYMnEO_JZg8FMKPRlvn_xKhIoO9qJ_O04-14lsToYJTNDNXCLCZp1BBhqSKAGM4fA4fzQ__IUXJNOKK2vLaN4HyBpuUVZq1K0-hrWEnE9UxZ0Uk-Qa2E4x78iBpw/w640-h640/Day19.2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 700; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What do you think can make Christmas so difficult for some people to cope with their mental health?</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I think there's many reasons that Christmas might be an especially challenging time for some young people who may already be struggling with their mental health. There’s added pressure around Christmas to appear ‘festive’ and ‘happy’ and it can be really hard to be surrounded by that if you’re not feeling that within yourself. There’s also lots of financial pressure put on families around Christmas and pressure to spend a lot of additional time with the people you live with, which might be difficult for some young people. For children still in education, it can be challenging to lose some of their normal routine of going into school. And for lots of people, Christmas can just make them feel extra lonely as they can feel like everyone has support but them. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Has there been any particular children and young people who have really stuck out in your memory as appreciating your work?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We don’t have direct contact with the young people we donate to unless they want to send us a message on social media or a card. However, the young people that really stick with us are the ones who we do hear from afterward or the young people who run a fundraising event to raise money for other children and young people who might be having a hard time. We really love hearing that our gifts and goodies have made a positive impact. A young person recently told us:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“The gift made me smile so much. I’d had such a bad day and it was an utterly terrifying time in my life - I was about to turn 18 and had never felt more alone. It was so weird but lovely to think that people who didn’t know me cared enough to make me and my friends feel special and connected. You really do such an amazing job. You’re so kind, thank you.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hearing things like this makes all the work that organising the gifts takes worthwhile.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Having said that, our whole team and everyone who donates is thinking of every child and young person who will be spending the Christmas period in hospital due to their mental health, which is exactly why we do what we do – we want them to know that we’re thinking of them and that lots and lots of people are holding them in their hearts.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Are there any gifts you’ve given through the charity that you will never forget?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Some of the really important gifts we give are for children and young people whose only gift might be through Christmas for CAMHS. If the staff identify they have a young person under this category we make sure to send an additional gift. These might be young people who live in care or young refugees or asylum seekers who might be separated from their loved ones. We can’t tell you what we’re sending this year (we wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise!) but last year we sent items such as wearable blankets, squishmallows, make up, specialist art equipment and games. </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: red; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What one bit of advice would you like to give to any young people reading this blog post?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We don’t give advice as a charity but, on a personal level, I’d like to remind young people that, if they’re not feeling well, to seek out support however they feel comfortable to. This could be by talking to a trusted adult or GP, or there are some fantastic charities who directly support young people with their mental health, such as </span><a href="https://giveusashout.org/about-us/about-shout/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Shout</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, </span><a href="https://www.papyrus-uk.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Papyrus</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> and </span><a href="https://www.youngminds.org.uk/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: #1155cc; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">YoungMinds</span></a><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> - both Shout and Papyrus can be contacted by young people in crisis. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We want every young person to know and to remember that there are people caring about you all year round, including this Christmas. And if you are struggling this Christmas, we send you gentle care and hope things ease up soon. </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Thank you all so much, I know everyone with I’m NOT Disordered wish you all have the bestest Christmas – you’ve certainly earned it for all of the amazing work you do!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To donate to Christmas for CAMHS:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/xmas-camhs" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Making Christmas Magic For Young People in CAMHS Units (2023) - JustGiving</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For the rest of Christmas for CAMHS links:</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://linktr.ee/christmasforcamhs" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="color: blue; font-size: 14pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Christmas For CAMHS | Twitter, Facebook | Linktree</span></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKcC9pFJRbfCObgkIEq9AtXwFM8WgUjf5f3qYlGqkbR6W7lkjyqO7hLEEh-AN6cRyvavNakWV3wwtaFkTC7MOcamn5-64rIm0pvRcaxsb19XfTk0y4bCiasvmf08Hr7rtn4UMMitSZlgOSwzLf02-87SUq2x-ICZRJ5Ol7LYfftymVL42hX6wGwa4yOFpB/s1920/thumbnail_IMG_9285.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1440" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKcC9pFJRbfCObgkIEq9AtXwFM8WgUjf5f3qYlGqkbR6W7lkjyqO7hLEEh-AN6cRyvavNakWV3wwtaFkTC7MOcamn5-64rIm0pvRcaxsb19XfTk0y4bCiasvmf08Hr7rtn4UMMitSZlgOSwzLf02-87SUq2x-ICZRJ5Ol7LYfftymVL42hX6wGwa4yOFpB/w480-h640/thumbnail_IMG_9285.jpg" width="480" /></a></div></span>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-58682065689569098942023-12-18T16:00:00.001+00:002023-12-18T16:00:00.324+00:00DAY EIGHTEEN OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: HUGE CHRISTMAS HOMEWARE WISHLIST | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhslP4JoVaCpSRNApDq9u_5mM3t55iWqa4sODWjgCHCGK-ToLEwJBD-R_HJRYR28nhrS0dRzKiCzK5KH7mjn7ZthA0QiwzLKo5XInceH62WADI27tWtH9ChK7MyLLOExrXOp0uXjCWvIl_S845lMzrfz-qhkTwJNdAYV_J-W55rFxmEN-XUE12eCBiozAyT/s1640/Blogmas%20Facebook%20Cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhslP4JoVaCpSRNApDq9u_5mM3t55iWqa4sODWjgCHCGK-ToLEwJBD-R_HJRYR28nhrS0dRzKiCzK5KH7mjn7ZthA0QiwzLKo5XInceH62WADI27tWtH9ChK7MyLLOExrXOp0uXjCWvIl_S845lMzrfz-qhkTwJNdAYV_J-W55rFxmEN-XUE12eCBiozAyT/w640-h362/Blogmas%20Facebook%20Cover.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PhoenixCove"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">PhoenixCove
- Etsy UK</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #595959; font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #595959; font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #595959; font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Welcome to Blogmas Unboxed!!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">I literally can’t believe we’re on Day Eighteen already! Sometimes
it feels like this month is going really fast and sometimes I’m really happy
that it’s going slowly because I’m enjoying every minute of it! Anyway, for
Blogmas Unboxed today, I’ve put together an enormous Wishlist for Christmas
homeware items (using my colour scheme; pink, gold, and various shades of blue –
but it’s mainly about the pink!) from a whole variety of stores and websites
and with a huge range in budget. Hopefully you’ll find something inspirational
or something that will work for your own home too…</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p><span></span></o:p></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5WcjkMenKBFcJ4UT4jTm4r9L0xs0cWxoGg0BbozS3qN06d8GdJyK9eSOSbxbWUpQbIsQHo_nHC2XTo__ovAN_0y_WA8mWLZQWWmLWdl5I_pYQO6zoUHj9cdb6XGDxxxZxDFFibOP-wVZ-2cvGcZNdi_GAgm2JMIlJ1NsBF-CaGDLUgyWR78CYTxL3za9r/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5WcjkMenKBFcJ4UT4jTm4r9L0xs0cWxoGg0BbozS3qN06d8GdJyK9eSOSbxbWUpQbIsQHo_nHC2XTo__ovAN_0y_WA8mWLZQWWmLWdl5I_pYQO6zoUHj9cdb6XGDxxxZxDFFibOP-wVZ-2cvGcZNdi_GAgm2JMIlJ1NsBF-CaGDLUgyWR78CYTxL3za9r/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1077651638/dusty-pink-velvet-christmas-tree-bows?click_key=1e7394d3ce18d62d04ab8ba81141d5a57db47cfe%3A1077651638&click_sum=253fcecb&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=christmas+decorations+pink&ref=search_grid-304429-2-32&sts=1&local_signal_search=1">Dusty
Pink Velvet Bows</a>: £3.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/860921100/highland-cows-village-gossip-white?click_key=d937d4dd29775d7bebf697721bcdb060643e0ead%3A860921100&click_sum=567942e1&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=christmas+decorations&ref=search_grid-122434-5-20&sts=1&local_signal_search=1">Highland
Cows (I love them!) Christmas Tree Ornament</a>: £5.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1286031886/pastel-pink-bauble-feather-bauble-pink?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=christmas+decorations+pink&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&organic_search_click=1">Pink
Feather Bauble</a>: £3.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1582487257/pink-christmas-tree-garland-pink?click_key=f4fe19f6431370b24d70e4b7167201d154d9ef64%3A1582487257&click_sum=254b1de0&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=christmas+decorations+pink&ref=search_grid-741217-1-18&frs=1&cns=1&local_signal_search=1">Pink
Christmas Tree Garland</a>: £14.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/893332111/magical-crystal-ball-christmas-hanging?click_key=88c88e03756dbc91bc6c14f16a10b171e0ca563b%3A893332111&click_sum=78693f32&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=christmas+decorations+pink&ref=search_grid-870267-4-3&frs=1&sts=1&local_signal_search=1">Crystal
Ball Tree Decoration</a>: £14.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix0hDOX3QRC18bgmFQ4QO4hn78SrLAikuhhdV_LEZWxLpJgEYZ6awHmkf8sJAGNIeVw8XmUBq0ixBpXklOdXt8doKrCvYsy28t7FfXzyVZkg34TXyeUy0RZFVteXtIBoT3BxOQnSieOqH0vcTOsRFa1oH-EZglirv52pIiXaxGx6Fouj11IkCy24upEvIs/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(3).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix0hDOX3QRC18bgmFQ4QO4hn78SrLAikuhhdV_LEZWxLpJgEYZ6awHmkf8sJAGNIeVw8XmUBq0ixBpXklOdXt8doKrCvYsy28t7FfXzyVZkg34TXyeUy0RZFVteXtIBoT3BxOQnSieOqH0vcTOsRFa1oH-EZglirv52pIiXaxGx6Fouj11IkCy24upEvIs/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(3).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/rainbowsweetsandtreats/product/a-set-of-6-luxury-bright-pink-christmas-crackers">Pink
Christmas Crackers</a>: £30.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/dibor/product/cotton-snowdrift-indoor-christmas-wreath">Blush
Pink Half Wreath</a>: £25.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/dibor/product/fairytale-forest-christmas-candle-holder-centrepiece?attributionToken=f_B-CgwIgNyeqgYQ14TLsQIQARokNjU1M2Y3NjEtMDAwMC0yY2Y1LTk1MTctMzBmZDM4MTFkZjE4KhtHQTEuMS4xNTQ1ODQ5OTY0LjE2OTg3NzM5MjAyGMLwnhXKyZIijr6dFdSynRWmi-8XxsvzFzoOZGVmYXVsdF9zZWFyY2hIAQ&referredBy=search">Pink
Christmas Centrepiece</a>: £26.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/thelittletop/product/personalised-pink-velvet-christmas-stocking?attributionToken=f_B-CgwIgN-eqgYQiZP8zgIQARokNjU1NDQ5ODctMDAwMC0yYTUxLTg1YWItMzBmZDM4MTNjYThjKhtHQTEuMS4xNTQ1ODQ5OTY0LjE2OTg3NzM5MjAyGI6-nRWmi-8XxsvzF8rJkiLUsp0VwvCeFToOZGVmYXVsdF9zZWFyY2hIAQ&referredBy=search">Personalised
Velvet Christmas Stocking</a>: £55.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/bookishly/product/merry-and-bright-christmas-pennant">Merry
& Bright Decoration</a>: £29.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE2nFuoThEMXh1jxY_kyvi7BEsZCFO9Hb-q-jsWBjuJWYoHlpy0F6l-IoRUtAZB4JgOP9rnyl7aVsOGGPhHktQ__mLz7F5Llqf1kxa6TiDY5ijBrijqNPHEtF1q5KVevqgmp9SPcEsI3r025YHhs5sSN2qLC5tRe4Z2ANHC0Fu_kolzzAuPBqF0JDHnDU0/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE2nFuoThEMXh1jxY_kyvi7BEsZCFO9Hb-q-jsWBjuJWYoHlpy0F6l-IoRUtAZB4JgOP9rnyl7aVsOGGPhHktQ__mLz7F5Llqf1kxa6TiDY5ijBrijqNPHEtF1q5KVevqgmp9SPcEsI3r025YHhs5sSN2qLC5tRe4Z2ANHC0Fu_kolzzAuPBqF0JDHnDU0/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/sspa/click?ie=UTF8&spc=MToyMjgzNDU4ODMxMTA5NjczOjE2OTkxOTczNzU6c3BfYXRmOjMwMDA2NzUyNjYzMTczMjo6MDo6&url=%2FHOVUK%25C2%25AE-Chunky-Garlands-Christmas-Decoration%2Fdp%2FB09NGTW2LW%2Fref%3Dsr_1_2_sspa%3Fcrid%3DSJ4Z2BJ44AT6%26keywords%3Dpink%2Bchristmas%2Bdecorations%26qid%3D1699197375%26sprefix%3Dpink%2B%252Caps%252C322%26sr%3D8-2-spons%26sp_csd%3Dd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY%26psc%3D1">Blush
Pink Tinsel</a>: £12.42<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Ornaments-Decoration-Nutcracker-Decorations/dp/B0CKHGQFYH/ref=sr_1_7?crid=SJ4Z2BJ44AT6&keywords=pink+christmas+decorations&qid=1699197375&sprefix=pink+%2Caps%2C322&sr=8-7">12pcs
Christmas Ornaments</a>: £13.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Decorations-Artificial-Accessories-Arrangements/dp/B0BDRDP6HP/ref=sr_1_39?crid=SJ4Z2BJ44AT6&keywords=pink+christmas+decorations&qid=1699197375&sprefix=pink+%2Caps%2C322&sr=8-39">Artificial
Christmas Tree Feathers</a>: £7.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gukasxi-Christmas-Ornaments-Decoration-Shatterproof/dp/B0B4QQNK49/ref=sr_1_100?crid=SJ4Z2BJ44AT6&keywords=pink+christmas+decorations&qid=1699197943&sprefix=pink+%2Caps%2C322&sr=8-100">Light
Blue & Pink Baubles</a>: £11.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BJ2PMPQF/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&aaxitk=345e2bbe22e6c9fd853184ac89715810&content-id=amzn1.sym.7f1cbbd2-fdf7-4044-bc96-f3654999c0b1%3Aamzn1.sym.7f1cbbd2-fdf7-4044-bc96-f3654999c0b1&hsa_cr_id=0&pd_rd_plhdr=t&pd_rd_r=68523144-c92d-469e-b645-e4879f86e5cc&pd_rd_w=GIJBa&pd_rd_wg=hBu15&qid=1699205590&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_1_img&sr=1-2-dc1129fb-c8d4-4aec-832b-0226c0abeddd">Christmas
Tree Ornament Set</a>: £18.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicrhyyZH6mNGJYdDVRFcemayeimEZnKxezLi74li27s2CUMbX3MLN1SdA-oDga3SE-UsUF-tVmKZyoI16dGTaWp6carOMGLVyVs46gRduuxgdBasWJPaZLQkjfz2HLREPJw7umpSTooAgtWydDk7M6p96GH6FXdaQHmC-yIdnUVHzkd0yEHrc6bptxMuXI/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicrhyyZH6mNGJYdDVRFcemayeimEZnKxezLi74li27s2CUMbX3MLN1SdA-oDga3SE-UsUF-tVmKZyoI16dGTaWp6carOMGLVyVs46gRduuxgdBasWJPaZLQkjfz2HLREPJw7umpSTooAgtWydDk7M6p96GH6FXdaQHmC-yIdnUVHzkd0yEHrc6bptxMuXI/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.tkmaxx.com/uk/en/christmas/christmas/christmas-decorations/christmas-tree-decorations/two-pack-pink+white-donuts-christmas-tree-baubles/p/91247504">Doughnut
Tree Decorations</a>: £6.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.tkmaxx.com/uk/en/christmas/christmas/christmas-decorations/christmas-decorative-accessories/white-ceramic-polar-bear-20cm/p/91256692">Ceramic
Polar Bear</a>: £7.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.tkmaxx.com/uk/en/home/furnishings+home-accessories/home-furnishings/throws+blankets/white+blue-faux-fur-snowflake-throw-127x152cm/p/88593623">Bella
Lux Snowflake Throw</a>: £29.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.tkmaxx.com/uk/en/christmas/christmas/christmas-decorations/wreaths+garlands/metallic-pink-eucalyptus-wreath-45x45cm/p/40079546">Metallic
Pink Wreath</a>: £24.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.tkmaxx.com/uk/en/christmas/christmas/christmas-decorations/wreaths+garlands/green-glittered-garland-180x25cm/p/40082212">Glittered
Garland</a>: £19.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtgrmDUAb_FmMl_gIcCTpnKbgcGDv3d7dri4qZeedjQS0W0BmOmIjd_YtBLYgGYdpKLTCxZ3PvF9uWpUCtiStvTDScCze9QyfaQGmUOx1kEtpMdEEK3LnqyDk_JWJlSuxrk7vvpsvdhUgkUIuTtZb-pJRYRO59Gw9JeF6fqxNMHOMcxuO3Okb0TafF35EC/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(4).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtgrmDUAb_FmMl_gIcCTpnKbgcGDv3d7dri4qZeedjQS0W0BmOmIjd_YtBLYgGYdpKLTCxZ3PvF9uWpUCtiStvTDScCze9QyfaQGmUOx1kEtpMdEEK3LnqyDk_JWJlSuxrk7vvpsvdhUgkUIuTtZb-pJRYRO59Gw9JeF6fqxNMHOMcxuO3Okb0TafF35EC/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(4).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/brand/studio/lit-premium-navy-christmas-tree-788632#colcode=78863218">Lit
Navy Christmas Tree</a>: £120.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/brand/studio/deer-with-animals-786936#colcode=78693699">Deer
with Animals Decoration</a>: £30.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/brand/studio/of-6-charcoal-flocked-baubles-786558#colcode=78655869">Charcoal
Flocked Baubles</a>: £15.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/brand/studio/of-3-hedgehog-decorations-737136#colcode=73713669">Hedgehog
Decorations</a>: £12.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/brand/gisela-graham/reindeer-dec-34-960364#colcode=96036401">Reindeer
Decoration</a>: £45.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioleJJ4CLkD6BnFbSaTBnJYNbugybfS0T_CstzPjHk3QDfsyMQYF33e9c7Y4q-q-oGs6paKIvm3VNUYeo3l0liVuI5zqcP9HLKi0BNZ99sDgPy3dZQ4_5q-ZOScBq6m8XuGEmX6vZG8DY_DDeCnxDSJw4PtpKQyLbZhJPfVkoGmUYVvIvYpVmhQJTT3oYY/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(5).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioleJJ4CLkD6BnFbSaTBnJYNbugybfS0T_CstzPjHk3QDfsyMQYF33e9c7Y4q-q-oGs6paKIvm3VNUYeo3l0liVuI5zqcP9HLKi0BNZ99sDgPy3dZQ4_5q-ZOScBq6m8XuGEmX6vZG8DY_DDeCnxDSJw4PtpKQyLbZhJPfVkoGmUYVvIvYpVmhQJTT3oYY/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(5).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.dunelm.com/product/santa-unicorn-pink-duvet-cover-pillowcase-set-1000224811">Santa
Duvet Cover</a>: £8.00+<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.dunelm.com/product/artificial-white-rose-eucalyptus-and-laurel-garland-1000224720">Artificial
Garland</a>: £20.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.dunelm.com/product/gold-heart-shaped-wreath-hanging-decoration-1000224522">Gold
Heart Hanging Decoration</a>: £3.50<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.dunelm.com/product/blue-fixed-paper-honeycomb-hanging-decoration-with-tassel-1000224206">Navy
Honeycomb Decoration with Tassel</a>: £2.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.dunelm.com/product/pack-of-3-blue-paper-ringlet-tree-mantle-decorations-1000224215">Blue
Paper Mantel Decorations</a>: £10.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvdCP5CUZLKyc31NfpaUgqYIsGhy5Z3mk1juVJgOQrMlreJS7f8DgqW5gsk55zP5kc57dY1nH7CisE3QgoL72jx6QYJCDWdziJJPTQnSIpat3WISwPqv1fA_9JCjHFb2PLv_Inml4Gf5Hfol9e3lUP57wuOE0G56k0BPl_uN1bkI8MX9XzgubyOvx2Kfg/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(6).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilvdCP5CUZLKyc31NfpaUgqYIsGhy5Z3mk1juVJgOQrMlreJS7f8DgqW5gsk55zP5kc57dY1nH7CisE3QgoL72jx6QYJCDWdziJJPTQnSIpat3WISwPqv1fA_9JCjHFb2PLv_Inml4Gf5Hfol9e3lUP57wuOE0G56k0BPl_uN1bkI8MX9XzgubyOvx2Kfg/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(6).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.therange.co.uk/christmas/christmas-trees/tree-accessories/tree-skirts/blush-or-white-faux-fur-tree-skirt/?position=9&s=314800#314800">Blush
Faux Fur Tree Skirt</a>: £12.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.therange.co.uk/christmas/christmas-decorations/models-scenes-ornaments-and-figurines/christmas-ornaments-and-figurines/christmas-bird-clip?position=1&s=15899#15899">Christmas
Bird Clip</a>: £1.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.therange.co.uk/christmas/christmas-decorations/tree-decorations/hanging-decorations/black-swan?position=8&s=53068#53068">Black
Swan</a>: £3.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.therange.co.uk/christmas/christmas-decorations/tree-decorations/undertree-decorations/set-of-3-golden-presents?position=22&s=76901">Set
of 3 Gold Presents</a>: £34.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.therange.co.uk/christmas/christmas-decorations/tree-decorations/baubles/blue-glitter-ridged-bauble?position=13&s=17525#17525">Blue
Glittered Ridged Baubles</a>: £1.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-22870767012055987152023-12-17T16:00:00.002+00:002023-12-17T16:21:20.969+00:00DAY SEVENTEEN OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: A GIFT GUIDE FOR BLOGGERS | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNECmmXjfOtrO2WSGzt9huZxDSuCIQh7Mzathu-rltYt-ydGUFtxJoIZksHI0DjlaTXQJdyO_kv2nayxbWVAa_FtRo2K5T22qnewtK7IqhLJRYOk67EjSUp1E9Qtx-qfsSDTRdrcEQ-lcrkhbtEV1ulOTpEqSrW1q_8hk9hO-czgjyVozAYJz4jboERThO/s1640/Blogmas%20Facebook%20Cover.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNECmmXjfOtrO2WSGzt9huZxDSuCIQh7Mzathu-rltYt-ydGUFtxJoIZksHI0DjlaTXQJdyO_kv2nayxbWVAa_FtRo2K5T22qnewtK7IqhLJRYOk67EjSUp1E9Qtx-qfsSDTRdrcEQ-lcrkhbtEV1ulOTpEqSrW1q_8hk9hO-czgjyVozAYJz4jboERThO/w640-h360/Blogmas%20Facebook%20Cover.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PhoenixCove"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">PhoenixCove
- Etsy UK</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #595959; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #595959; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #595959; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Welcome to Blogmas Unboxed!!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Today I'll be sharing with you a gift made by Phoenix Cove for
my best-friend and fellow Blogger; Martin Baker (of <a href="http://www.gumonmyshoe.com/">www.gumonmyshoe.com</a>), and it has also inspired to
create this gift guide especially themed just for the Bloggers in your life… There also may or may not be a little reel at the end of Martin and I exchanging gifts and having a festive night-in...<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-YsfYdgrs3gFu2Cqq525KV8Ym2SEQ_J6K52bbyVa7GtTEduX7PYb4C83OkhOHnUcLZJHEV7s47dkxtULLLM4U3I5FsMgo1ROOaO2d5ONpiV03htUQt0OWdRVyQm65Zp0TPRinAOmfn9upxfkgTovF93hqyfVQdI5m3n-LZlzVGtw6g4gLloKHDKt9OMB/s960/Day16.1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-YsfYdgrs3gFu2Cqq525KV8Ym2SEQ_J6K52bbyVa7GtTEduX7PYb4C83OkhOHnUcLZJHEV7s47dkxtULLLM4U3I5FsMgo1ROOaO2d5ONpiV03htUQt0OWdRVyQm65Zp0TPRinAOmfn9upxfkgTovF93hqyfVQdI5m3n-LZlzVGtw6g4gLloKHDKt9OMB/w640-h360/Day16.1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Qn_T5RUdIFtixXZ1wM0_1QABGAEj4G3ezPFm2UEVaH-RgQ4MwRRzZhffWi7PfPObsdQ1qjgnN4PAMkE1DnE3rtp39GGOEzcFe9FG2m5OUH1VeXi_Kun5ztrWxKmrLdjpN7H1AryIGnS7ZBX63Bab8NYQI_LVClgoqwCU8rm7mPrXhKumeosou1kC1rgY/s960/Day16.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Qn_T5RUdIFtixXZ1wM0_1QABGAEj4G3ezPFm2UEVaH-RgQ4MwRRzZhffWi7PfPObsdQ1qjgnN4PAMkE1DnE3rtp39GGOEzcFe9FG2m5OUH1VeXi_Kun5ztrWxKmrLdjpN7H1AryIGnS7ZBX63Bab8NYQI_LVClgoqwCU8rm7mPrXhKumeosou1kC1rgY/w640-h360/Day16.2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1aaJ7DLfHxXtEEGGvM6_rmn3a4byQsKnOq5rssvp16S17y81oj1mlyn-HtbyoJp3COI-GD2O7dabCKOc-UiXBqv-B9tQbFUdHYVx_Ti0zJ6iSMmxkZDHiXGS0Gvm2-1i8OQt7LESklbb5FkoqkeET__G5PHaANbbhvE0NqFRap_ZBlPmMbKYBdrE4SAbw/s960/Day16.3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1aaJ7DLfHxXtEEGGvM6_rmn3a4byQsKnOq5rssvp16S17y81oj1mlyn-HtbyoJp3COI-GD2O7dabCKOc-UiXBqv-B9tQbFUdHYVx_Ti0zJ6iSMmxkZDHiXGS0Gvm2-1i8OQt7LESklbb5FkoqkeET__G5PHaANbbhvE0NqFRap_ZBlPmMbKYBdrE4SAbw/w640-h360/Day16.3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRk1n4zc-1GblCrv9HQ496cg4u6lZKeQvvNh1a2cwfQPVeztK6kwP-8jUFd7mlJe-DrEYOaz6tu2IedH6U8UCqofCPc0r7eQ_TWdZdwnYGbJylpezK4RTAWix2cq2pauJvyeLROb2UtSWPtKEElGniyOlO4WHWk5N25aiv5NL0oyE2JMf79_xLUuVbFHSk/s960/Day16.4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRk1n4zc-1GblCrv9HQ496cg4u6lZKeQvvNh1a2cwfQPVeztK6kwP-8jUFd7mlJe-DrEYOaz6tu2IedH6U8UCqofCPc0r7eQ_TWdZdwnYGbJylpezK4RTAWix2cq2pauJvyeLROb2UtSWPtKEElGniyOlO4WHWk5N25aiv5NL0oyE2JMf79_xLUuVbFHSk/w640-h360/Day16.4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzYS_RxlWId7oeeB7HglwBEaRsx6Mz0ylIIKHKRYXV-5Xx3NMlWkaJi3th2984hgLpvKxehkW6pqhy-m1HIWoXTbzFq3JFAbRAHwHsvWU1kDU4RkGHAdHq-PJNPwRRk4Mr6QinDYL5HCrDKIZZEQGxLsdZYRgMOG_JB6h_zojA2Sg7n_RHav3bFZhKR86e/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzYS_RxlWId7oeeB7HglwBEaRsx6Mz0ylIIKHKRYXV-5Xx3NMlWkaJi3th2984hgLpvKxehkW6pqhy-m1HIWoXTbzFq3JFAbRAHwHsvWU1kDU4RkGHAdHq-PJNPwRRk4Mr6QinDYL5HCrDKIZZEQGxLsdZYRgMOG_JB6h_zojA2Sg7n_RHav3bFZhKR86e/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Studio-Creator-INF-033-Microphone/dp/B0BV3F5N1B/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=blogger&qid=1699131696&sr=8-2">Studio
Creator Vlogging Kit</a>: £19.99<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/sspa/click?ie=UTF8&spc=MTo2NjY2MDk2NTQxNTM0NjcyOjE2OTkxMzE3OTk6c3BfYXRmX25leHQ6MzAwMDcxNzkyNTUzNjMyOjowOjo&url=%2FPULUZ-Portable-Photography-Shooting-Backdrops%2Fdp%2FB072148WM9%2Fref%3Dsr_1_18_sspa%3Fkeywords%3Dblogger%26qid%3D1699131799%26sr%3D8-18-spons%26sp_csd%3Dd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGZfbmV4dA%26psc%3D1">Mini
Photo Studio Box</a>: £11.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blogging-gifts-blogger-accessories-enthusiast/dp/B08Z13GYPF/ref=sr_1_20?keywords=blogger&qid=1699131799&sr=8-20">Blogger
Notebook</a>: £5.24<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blogger-vlogger-planner-bloggers-vloggers/dp/B09TMXDWNZ/ref=sr_1_21?keywords=blogger&qid=1699131799&sr=8-21">Blogger
& Vlogger Planner</a>: £4.75<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://aax-eu.amazon.co.uk/x/c/RJsY8XQolDrcIv9xJ8FrxpUAAAGLnCW-swMAAAH2AQBvbm9fdHhuX2JpZDEgICBvbm9fdHhuX2ltcDEgICDPi2H5/https:/www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B096SGYXP2/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B096SGYXP2&ref_=sbv_search_btf&qid=&pd_rd_w=GOi4x&content-id=amzn1.sym.cab9ee05-8f29-499e-bde4-4dc96c7cac26%3Aamzn1.sym.cab9ee05-8f29-499e-bde4-4dc96c7cac26&pf_rd_p=cab9ee05-8f29-499e-bde4-4dc96c7cac26&pf_rd_r=BSZG3VAVM1D8B7N8QRNG&pd_rd_wg=lXm7m&pd_rd_r=0e7b6be7-7b0b-4016-abbb-a0b23591c328&pd_rd_plhdr=t">Blogger
T-Shirt</a>: £17.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ISaRDOoQJdk3kJe73TRbblE2MCIWGyU_YVBGhm6A_3Y_YZwE0B753QD65FoudGsHigb4uKBBGFpDjPNlmMrEELhECuZ4DrrYed5RLzcm8pE6bbCaqB9_5DdH8pfsi7tD4rBRBb1PDKRxbRIWwQMHNLyF8mzSFKNAvrCGRoj8NdxgAOoMUXPVSD1AmkNX/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ISaRDOoQJdk3kJe73TRbblE2MCIWGyU_YVBGhm6A_3Y_YZwE0B753QD65FoudGsHigb4uKBBGFpDjPNlmMrEELhECuZ4DrrYed5RLzcm8pE6bbCaqB9_5DdH8pfsi7tD4rBRBb1PDKRxbRIWwQMHNLyF8mzSFKNAvrCGRoj8NdxgAOoMUXPVSD1AmkNX/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/designed/product/personalised-blog-lover-s-journal-or-notebook">Personalised
Blogger Journal</a>: £26.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/bettieconfetti/product/photography-pencil-set-born-to-shoot">Photography
Pencils</a>: £11.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/sarahlovelandphotography/product/how-to-master-your-dslr-camera?attributionToken=gQHwgAoMCMbmmqoGENW30tYCEAEaJDY1NTE1NDQ0LTAwMDAtMmMyZC04ZGUyLTI0MDU4ODcwMDJmNCobR0ExLjEuMTU0NTg0OTk2NC4xNjk4NzczOTIwMhimi-8Xjr6dFcLwnhXKyZIi1LKdFcbL8xc6DmRlZmF1bHRfc2VhcmNoQAFIAQ&referredBy=search">How
To Master Your Camera</a>: £19.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/marthabrook/product/any-text-foiled-softback-notebook">Softback
Notebook</a>: £14.95<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.notonthehighstreet.com/ohsobellomyplanner/product/dated-planner-inserts-for-ring-binders-planners">Dated
Planner</a>: £40.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibVt8_LtV0t1ea34FbfSmkzA37MGvom3vxF0xBbowzozhmtUM7jhLuJmBFF6kW8aXxV1fd04uCXvusaCWNZVYHugp0YGzyNugbVuNFqWqH2UN2c5X_iljF71sOR_QlR1aOxR1gqPMrwM_KC8deS27ynpLjTAZTYyqGh18d6Ly09Gdxghqbauy3mA28nsxx/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibVt8_LtV0t1ea34FbfSmkzA37MGvom3vxF0xBbowzozhmtUM7jhLuJmBFF6kW8aXxV1fd04uCXvusaCWNZVYHugp0YGzyNugbVuNFqWqH2UN2c5X_iljF71sOR_QlR1aOxR1gqPMrwM_KC8deS27ynpLjTAZTYyqGh18d6Ly09Gdxghqbauy3mA28nsxx/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1480682591/writing-author-gift-candle-for-writer?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=blogger&ref=sr_gallery-1-7&sts=1&local_signal_search=1&organic_search_click=1">Writing
Candle</a>: £9.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1029211895/blogger-mug-gift-idea-for-him-or-her?click_key=bb5984db92e4039da2044f1ee4fa168231fac523%3A1029211895&click_sum=4dcd3908&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=blogger&ref=search_grid-853723-1-6&pro=1&frs=1&local_signal_search=1">Blogger
Mug</a>: £15.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1466850775/blogger-letter-patches-iron-on-sew-on?click_key=b48ef71dacc474622cd6bea9a9a768c64b3e5a64%3A1466850775&click_sum=5cffbb9d&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=blogger&ref=search_grid-964023-1-41&frs=1&local_signal_search=1">Iron
On Letter Patches</a>: £2.50<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/269250606/blogging-shirt-eat-sleep-blog-t-shirt?click_key=1365cea9d1a636e2fb292220953273bb5f679cf0%3A269250606&click_sum=dbcd88c1&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=blogger&ref=search_grid-470982-2-23&local_signal_search=1">Blogging
T-Shirt</a>: £13.22<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1588473483/orange-eight-figure-blogger-mug?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=blogger&ref=sr_gallery-5-11&pro=1&local_signal_search=1&organic_search_click=1">Eight
Figure Blogger Mug</a>: £19.99</span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: large; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><b>THE REEL:</b></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qdvj4eMYW6o" width="320" youtube-src-id="qdvj4eMYW6o"></iframe></div><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6736163775512352300.post-80068708960284893182023-12-14T16:00:00.005+00:002023-12-14T16:00:00.143+00:00DAY FOURTEEN OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: MY AMAZON CHRISTMAS WISHLIST & PHOENIX COVE’S TOP 5 ITEMS | IN COLLABORATION WITH AMAZON UK & PHOENIX COVE<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxAgnBxue5vsNpiIt98oQVyknq8CIW7XW6KPgxoOrgKcT-XmLBdOcXb66RfGTz5vLgo-0eWK9FlYaa-8upUiAqjFTmC9kWDjbbQ1LfKhiHK8bkusGg3DIU6Fp6H2Dei5dKm0fxoezZIOdZl4CxMNWmKnnhpmCkEcg2AMeaG-nu3JXTrXJnhQnXPWwTQRFD/s1640/Blogmas%20Facebook%20Cover.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1640" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxAgnBxue5vsNpiIt98oQVyknq8CIW7XW6KPgxoOrgKcT-XmLBdOcXb66RfGTz5vLgo-0eWK9FlYaa-8upUiAqjFTmC9kWDjbbQ1LfKhiHK8bkusGg3DIU6Fp6H2Dei5dKm0fxoezZIOdZl4CxMNWmKnnhpmCkEcg2AMeaG-nu3JXTrXJnhQnXPWwTQRFD/w640-h360/Blogmas%20Facebook%20Cover.png" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PhoenixCove"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">PhoenixCove
- Etsy UK</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #595959; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #595959; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #595959; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span><b><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This blog post is part of the Blogmas Unboxed series of posts
which is content published daily from December 1<sup>st</sup> until the 25<sup>th</sup>
(Christmas Day). In addition to the usual collaboration with this year’s
Blogmas partner; Phoenix Cove, today’s post is also in collaboration with
Amazon UK who have asked me and Cleo (the lovely owner of popular Etsy store: Phoenix
Cove) to share some of our favourite items from their site…<span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a> <o:p></o:p><p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMwOQLF56oNFhTSPW3yLPoaEqO4MhWJzntR6B5XN-VHRQ33jXapcycdopVFP-ddHfe6_ys9p3nxv3say4yjw_GewcLee9KQbyif9dJelsGsG_GgHnzRSwN7wX4FZxkXMMX45dfLNodCqhggaVg1q-j954XgTPMQ9AMthdEhoBbyLUqa27GcCrANHRAD5BI/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(4).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMwOQLF56oNFhTSPW3yLPoaEqO4MhWJzntR6B5XN-VHRQ33jXapcycdopVFP-ddHfe6_ys9p3nxv3say4yjw_GewcLee9KQbyif9dJelsGsG_GgHnzRSwN7wX4FZxkXMMX45dfLNodCqhggaVg1q-j954XgTPMQ9AMthdEhoBbyLUqa27GcCrANHRAD5BI/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(4).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BMLFKB96/?coliid=I2P6L8CU1J6WXF&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Estarer
Canvas Handbag</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £34.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Moschino-Jc4011pp0gla0651-Handbag-15X17X7/dp/B0B6WSD3FM/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=moschino+handbags&qid=1695239130&sr=8-2">Love
Moschino Lilac Handbag</a>: £102.49<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancapelion-Striped-Glitter-Pullover-Knitwear/dp/B08GLJLJHN/ref=sr_1_13_sspa?keywords=womens+jumpers&qid=1695239311&sr=8-13-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1">Striped
Glitter Jumper</a>: £32.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Kors-Womens-Watch-MK5774/dp/B00BFO9PVK/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=womens+designer+watches&qid=1695239498&sr=8-6">Michael
Kors Watch</a>: £124.02<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/BSLVWG-Vintage-Bohemian-Stackable-Adjustable/dp/B0C4PFJ68Z/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=womens+gold+rings&qid=1695239733&sr=8-9">Stackable
Vintage Gold Rings</a>: £7.66<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkR7SV07LP0wpZRg5QvEMkcOpB5xwcAdXegVaeFyUMPKBq2Zr3Lvsps1ytc35rQQZIWye89rDJZz42voG87AWoQ2Ludbvfer6LOrYbkWqITpyvbMfQ0gznN71dUJ4XmdETkE6PXmmSH8sErAsmjaE36smpcHjFeapnxFd-zYp8cei-ud9RSrJsDb7D2zR_/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(3).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkR7SV07LP0wpZRg5QvEMkcOpB5xwcAdXegVaeFyUMPKBq2Zr3Lvsps1ytc35rQQZIWye89rDJZz42voG87AWoQ2Ludbvfer6LOrYbkWqITpyvbMfQ0gznN71dUJ4XmdETkE6PXmmSH8sErAsmjaE36smpcHjFeapnxFd-zYp8cei-ud9RSrJsDb7D2zR_/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(3).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B52VQ1CG/?coliid=I1V709JGX4NVD2&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Travel
Make-Up Brushes Set</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £4.59<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08MBZ8S5N/?coliid=I3L5EL7QCQ6TW9&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp&th=1"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Charlotte
Tilbury Mini Bronze and Glow</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £32.34<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B9Y3XHP9/?coliid=I2JWOUSN4GP2TO&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Elegant Touch
Fashionably Latte</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £6.50<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BRNS2ZFW/?coliid=I1BGFXEC41CECC&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">John Frieda
Volume Lift Shampoo</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £2.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnetic-Eyelashes-Extension-Eyeliner-Applicator/dp/B0BB2VRWL2/ref=sr_1_14_sspa?crid=2AXI4U42EW4LO&keywords=magnetic+eyelashes&qid=1695157634&sprefix=magnetic+%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-14-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Lola’s Lashes
Magnetic Eyelashes Kit</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £23.80<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3hhWq9hH7y3uXeqqjLPGgBNkHFkSdCCZ_4TqwmBc3YJ7dJDoCGQ4G1pFnya01MMMU5URuxWrzrWWkW1OT5Z--q2HyHp_OHLJ5v0aVrqBkRG2PMA8ETXYaFAsp6C6HAg0Mc3yWdLcyxREfwkfH77xTSRAu1GsRoZFcD0piTvWRN7HbXtnCB6T4u06YCrtR/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3hhWq9hH7y3uXeqqjLPGgBNkHFkSdCCZ_4TqwmBc3YJ7dJDoCGQ4G1pFnya01MMMU5URuxWrzrWWkW1OT5Z--q2HyHp_OHLJ5v0aVrqBkRG2PMA8ETXYaFAsp6C6HAg0Mc3yWdLcyxREfwkfH77xTSRAu1GsRoZFcD0piTvWRN7HbXtnCB6T4u06YCrtR/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09J8NCWK4/?coliid=I2Q3AM4V8WYHSW&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Small
Portable Power Bank</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £30.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08C1RR8JM/?coliid=I2TP0EJUZUA4KY&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Amazon Fire
TV Stick</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £44.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BPP2XQCM/?coliid=I28EC457TE3OJ3&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Headphones</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £11.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tripod-Fotopro-Flexible-Wrappable-Lightweight/dp/B07DDBXYW7/ref=sr_1_30?crid=1ZQW641S46SUC&keywords=mini+tripod&qid=1695158647&sprefix=mini+tripod%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-30"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Flexible Mini
Tripod</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £24.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/HENGHUI-Magnetic-Generation-Detachable-PurpleGray/dp/B0BKVQVJN6/ref=sr_1_8_sspa?crid=1EKDW7EYLO6HG&keywords=ipad+keyboard&qid=1695159033&sprefix=ipad+keyboar%2Caps%2C534&sr=8-8-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">iPad Keyboard
Case with TouchPad</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £39.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1kJYTZX9z0ZHxGO3llGGEBmvfqvRsXuoWf4CaiuRYK-cwtwNUcClkRqDVpzfNmq2wUA18I_qSYxtzpWQVokn5NKnCLU2FIpIE-ngE_5R49MJWvYdJDNQxYFKTWjQDG3_3olusBXYlwXMSydHJUn4ayjxYzW7FlycHH_4am6IXDL-3zQGMXFhV88x8KKDX/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1kJYTZX9z0ZHxGO3llGGEBmvfqvRsXuoWf4CaiuRYK-cwtwNUcClkRqDVpzfNmq2wUA18I_qSYxtzpWQVokn5NKnCLU2FIpIE-ngE_5R49MJWvYdJDNQxYFKTWjQDG3_3olusBXYlwXMSydHJUn4ayjxYzW7FlycHH_4am6IXDL-3zQGMXFhV88x8KKDX/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(2).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0851G5KSP/?coliid=I2XK7TUIPVJ1R9&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Blush Pink
Duvet Cover Set</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £13.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Daytesy-Cloud-Shape-Mirror-Decorative/dp/B08XW2XFQY/ref=sr_1_3?crid=16Y7D0R2B6ZIF&keywords=gold+cloud+mirror&qid=1695240432&sprefix=%2Caps%2C1897&sr=8-3">Cloud
Mirror</a>: £20.79<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/MaySunset-Inspirational-Jewelry-Ceramic-Trinket/dp/B09G1D8MLV/ref=sr_1_31_sspa?keywords=sass+and+belle&qid=1695240607&sr=8-31-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1">Trinket
Tray</a>: £12.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sass-Belle-Pressed-Flowers-Storage/dp/B08665ZMWY/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=sass+and+belle&qid=1695240752&sr=8-2">Sass
& Belle Pressed Flower Storage Jar</a>: £8.37<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/AIVORIUY-Artificial-Blossom-Garland-Decoration/dp/B093XYNRJ8/ref=sr_1_58?keywords=fake+garland&qid=1695240932&sr=8-58">Artificial
Cherry Blossom Garland</a>: £17.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwwt1HOm38cUk0yW-2UdQwIHd-pgOHBK9ofs_aiVstJIvvGyutRKZKUFUWdtzllf9CYSMXZ5wyUhbGoio5U_Tss6WYjvXj5BjFiLLK0CBByNETubMcOBcSji3YpmjOqayZhAxGXoN9x9TmaBhuiqZc2F8Qqug__g7S8keKFUJ5DMNZECC2ZS-Ay8RAzZ5R/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwwt1HOm38cUk0yW-2UdQwIHd-pgOHBK9ofs_aiVstJIvvGyutRKZKUFUWdtzllf9CYSMXZ5wyUhbGoio5U_Tss6WYjvXj5BjFiLLK0CBByNETubMcOBcSji3YpmjOqayZhAxGXoN9x9TmaBhuiqZc2F8Qqug__g7S8keKFUJ5DMNZECC2ZS-Ay8RAzZ5R/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09F6V5V7B/?coliid=I2MYF61GPTSONJ&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Just Eat Gift
Card</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:
£25.00<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B5BBZS65/?coliid=I2RL61XY3KQIBV&colid=5ZTJJDKZP2WU&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_gv_ov_lig_pi_dp"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Fringe Studio
Journal</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £17.11<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blogging-Instagram-Engagement-Writing-Platforms/dp/1637306334/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1695158866&sr=8-9"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Blogging on
Instagram by Terri Nakamura</span></a><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: £21.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/TGSC-Ballpoint-Effortless-Anti-Smudge-Long-Lasting/dp/1837880875/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?keywords=bee+pen+blue+ink&qid=1695241286&sr=8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1">Queen
Bee Pen Set</a>: £8.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/HERYEBING-Capacity-Cosmetic-Waterproof-Organiser/dp/B0C3CV3K8G/ref=sr_1_93?crid=28HFP06HBNDXX&keywords=makeup+bag&qid=1695241534&sprefix=bee%2Caps%2C15173&sr=8-93">Large
Capacity Travel Makeup Bag</a>: £19.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">And now it’s
over to Cleo, owner of Phoenix Cove, who has put together her five favourite
items from Amazon…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmU1xI_U-nx0OapvnSVpnvD5CowgOqg886ROPyEzO3MLTvPW6-4bQf6hT9CLh0uMEVP5OhunbleUhdz-HwCExrNMG233A1xmj7ZfJbWERvi4m_hreDBG6EuVfTI7poNMHiBdiHvnohUVassunNmIAImALq0bIBiu8aZYgEl4lPqWbRnqWSvwsDX_QMb3X/s2000/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmU1xI_U-nx0OapvnSVpnvD5CowgOqg886ROPyEzO3MLTvPW6-4bQf6hT9CLh0uMEVP5OhunbleUhdz-HwCExrNMG233A1xmj7ZfJbWERvi4m_hreDBG6EuVfTI7poNMHiBdiHvnohUVassunNmIAImALq0bIBiu8aZYgEl4lPqWbRnqWSvwsDX_QMb3X/w640-h512/Brown%20Aesthetic%20Family%20Photo%20Collage.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Calibri Light",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09GF4LB1N/?coliid=IB74PBX3P481R&colid=3AYQOOSMHIZ2M&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_vv_lig_dp_it">Magnetic
Blackboard</a>: £12.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09MK6DBQL/?coliid=I1E5UM2SXNXMOM&colid=3AYQOOSMHIZ2M&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_vv_lig_dp_it">Foldable
Tablet Stand</a>: £69.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BRTRQKHG/?coliid=I21H64MFGKMM5&colid=3AYQOOSMHIZ2M&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_vv_lig_dp_it">Self-Adhesive
Hooks</a>: £7.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BYDJRP7P/?coliid=I3A36RJCYXQKUO&colid=3AYQOOSMHIZ2M&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_vv_lig_dp_it&th=1">Pink
Travel Tumbler</a>: £10.99<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri Light",sans-serif; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CDCJHZNL/?coliid=I251DO05VVWDCS&colid=3AYQOOSMHIZ2M&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_vv_lig_dp_it">Wireless
Over Ear Headphones</a>: £29.99<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></span><p></p>Aimee Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11062493238644563559noreply@blogger.com