Tag: A problem shared

Lewis Capaldi showed that mental health issues can and do affect anyone

Last Saturday, I witnessed one of the most heartbreaking things I’ve ever seen. I sat down to watch Lewis Capaldi deliver yet another amazing Pyramid Stage performance at Glastonbury. He knocked it out of the park during his previous appearance at the festival and I fully expected him to do that again. Sadly, that wasn’t …

Get up and start again

I’ve lost my way with the blog over recent months. Since starting in May 2019, I averaged close to a new post each week for the first two years. However, since August 2021, I’ve written just 25 posts (including this one) – an average of one per fortnight. It is easy to come up with …

Breaking the stigma – do most of us have mental health issues?

I’ve been agonising for months over whether to write this post, largely as it may be misinterpreted, and people may have widely different views regarding the answer to the question in the blog title. However, a TV documentary we watched as a family this week made my mind up for me. More of that later. …

Do you have opportunities to talk about your mental health?

I’m fortunate to work for a company which places a great deal of importance on the mental health of employees. The Wellbeing team in our HR department are fantastic. They regularly arrange lunchtime catch-ups for staff to understand what support is available and to provide an opportunity for us to talk in a safe space. …

What would happen if you looked at your story and wrote it from another person’s point of view?

I recently watched a snippet of a TED talk which really hit home. The talk is titled How Changing Your Story Can Change Your Life, by Lori Gottlieb. The general theme is that what we tell ourselves shapes how we live our lives – Gottlieb summarises this by saying “The way we narrate our lives …

Don’t despair if you’re struggling to lose weight – it isn’t easy. A weight-loss / fat-shedding update

I’ve written about my need to lose weight on at least 3 previous occasions, the first back in September 2019, and here I am yet again, revisiting the same subject. The reason being that weight-wise, I’m in the same situation today as I was 29 months ago and I’ve recently been questioning why that is. …

My first panic attack in a long time – exactly what happened

I’ve been thinking long and hard for a few weeks now about whether to write this post, primarily as it’s been a while since anything like this happened but also because I don’t want to seem a bit stupid / melodramatic and I don’t want to worry my Mum, who I know doesn’t like these …

I’m experiencing writer’s block for the first time

For the first time since starting this blog in 2019, I’m experiencing writer’s block. I wrote earlier this year about having lost a bit of my enthusiasm for the blog ( you can find that post here ) though this feels different. It’s not that I’m falling out of love with the blog – it’s …

The good outweighs the bad more often than not

A couple of weeks ago, Lux Bay played our first gig in 22 months. We’d been practicing for a couple of months beforehand, revisiting every song in our sets to ensure everything would be perfect. Not for us a nice easy lead back into the world of gigging, such as a relatively stress-free pub gig. …

My mobile phone is sucking the life out of me…

Now there’s an attention-grabbing title for you! Don’t worry – this isn’t clickbait. It’s exactly how I feel right now. I imagine some of you may have gasped when you first read that title? Possibly even recoiled in horror at such an outlandish thought? If you did react in that way, good. I’m pleased about …