Hey guys! It’s Mental Health Awareness Week. This means that around the country, conversations are happening about mental illness, mental health, and what to do to get from one to the other. This is obviously great! As a society, we’re learning to talk to each other about the hard stuff. The stigma and silence that previously isolated those of us struggling is starting to shift. Now, say what you want about social media, but I honestly feel that it’s played a major role in helping this movement. Yes, it has contributed to the increase in mental illness as well. Feeling that everyone else is doing better than you can definitely…
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Why It’s Possible To Have Too Much Help
“Do you ever feel smothered, like you get too much help?” This was a question one of the dads asked me at a recent talk I did. It was a really interesting question, and quite insightful. We’d been discussing how important it is to ask for help, how there is no shame in admitting that you need support; which is something I always tell others, but manage to often forget myself. But… Can you get too much help?? And to answer the question (again), yes and no. (Super helpful, right?) Ok, I probably need to clarify a bit there. Yes, it is possible to have too much help, but no, I…
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How To Meet Other People & Make Awesome New Friends
Hey, you sweet thing! Parenthood can be lonely, especially if your pre-children friends are still, well… pre-children. Whilst some of us are lucky that our social groups quite happily accommodate for our wild offspring, many parents are left spending more time with the parents on Peppa Pig than other real-life adults. This isn’t just the stay-at-homers either; even when working, your social interactions may be limited, so even though you’re surrounded by people you might still be lonely. I don’t think I need to tell you how sucky being lonely is. And how, the longer you’ve gone without meeting people, the more difficult and freaking terrifying the thought of trying…
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5 Questions to Ask Yourself to Figure Out Who You Are
It can be easy as a parent to lose a bit of yourself in parenthood. For a while your whole life, out of necessity, revolves around the beautiful tiny people who inhabit your home; which doesn’t leave much room for, well, anything else really. For many parents who have more than one child, this can mean years of holding this parent role first and foremost, so it’s not surprising that the person you were pre-children becomes a distant memory – almost like you’re thinking of a completely different person. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though! Parenthood is wonderfully fulfilling and enriching, and so it’s completely normal for it to…
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LOVE (in real life)
Love is a wonderful thing. I consider myself so incredibly lucky to have found such a strong connection with someone, to have found my soul mate – in fact, before I met him, I didn’t actually “believe” in soul mates, so this meeting brought a huge shift in the way I viewed love. However, as I’ve talked about before, having kids changes a relationship. The relationship isn’t necessarily better or worse, it’s just different. Life gets busier, time seems to fly by, and the time that used to be spent simply bonding with your other half is now often few and far between. In tiredness and hunger, words can become harsher,…
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DON’T STOP DATING
I remember when my partner and I first met. I remember talking with him for hours about anything and everything. I remember the butterflies I’d get when I saw his face, or even just his name pop up on my phone. I remember using any opportunity to talk about him, or to him, and feeling both incredibly nervous around him, but also incredibly – and instantly – comfortable with him. I remember suddenly realising, quite quickly after we started dating, that I’d met my soul mate. It was almost like I’d found a hidden part of my heart that I didn’t know existed and had been busy walking around in…
