DAY TWELVE | A SECRET BLOGMAS 2025

“Just as we expect others to value our boundaries, it’s equally important for us to respect the boundaries of others.”

Laurie Buchanan

Welcome to A Secret Blogmas 2025!

Today is Day Twelve and this twelfth post is all about the beneficial impact there is if you – as a content creator – set boundaries within your career/work. In this post, I’ll be looking at exactly what is meant by boundaries for content creators, why they’re important, and how to set them. I’ll also be chatting about my own boundaries and how and why I have them. Keep reading to find out why and how setting boundaries can impact the success and popularity of your content and/or your platform…

WHY LOCKDOWN 2021 IS MAKING THE DIGITAL WORLD SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT

Regardless of statistics, the UK lockdown and Coronavirus pandemic have become controversial topics of discussion and controversy is something I like to try and stay away from on I’m NOT Disordered… However, since the Prime Minister announced the new 2021 UK lockdown restrictions and guidelines a few nights ago, I’ve felt that I needed to do something on my blog just to recognize the momentousness of the situation…

I was asked a little while ago how the new lockdown was affecting me and I said that the only real difference to my life was that it’s meant losing my sessions with my Richmond Fellowship support worker. I can still do my weekly food shop, collect my medication, do tasks online for St Oswald’s Hospice, and have my Carers over. Most importantly, I can still do the one thing that I put the majority of my energy and time into: blogging.

Of course, I recognize how incredibly fortunate I am to be able to say all of that when there are so many people out there who are less able – or completely unable – to keep to their own, usual routines. However, I’m definitely a believer that you shouldn’t compare your own hardship to another person’s. Everyone is different, and each person’s struggle has the right to be regarded as equally important to any other person.

I think that whilst everyone is having completely different – sometimes even opposite – experiences of lockdown 2021, a mutual beneficial source has been the digital world. As a blogger this is very obviously a great thing, but not only because it raises my audience numbers! It’s also because I feel that I’ve spent the eight years since I started blogging trying to encourage more people to use social media and access the digital world in general. There’s always so much negative publicity around the industry; largely because of the number of instances of trolling and online bullying leading to someone committing suicide.

Another factor around the criticisms and drawbacks on the digital world is that there’s a lot of content online that can be deemed as encouraging and inspirational of some aspects of mental health; particularly self-harm and eating disorders. Regarding this, I always believe that if you search for that sort of unsafe content, then you’ll find it. If, however, you search for support groups and help and advice, you’ll find an abundance of that too!

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE MEDIA & MENTAL HEALTH | IN COLLABORATION WITH TIME TO CHANGE STORYCAMP 2020

The latest theme for Time To Change StoryCamp 2020 is mental health and the media and I thought it might be a good opportunity to talk about my own experiences with the topic, the positives and negatives I’ve discovered, and my advice on dealing with those negatives of the media…

My first memory of the media

I guess that my first real recollection of the media and the impact it could have on the world was when my cartoons were paused to break the news of the death of Princess Diana in 1997 – when I was just six years old! I guess this meant that the first thing I learnt was that horrific stories could put a stop to fun and laughter. They could over-rule them, take priority and become the focus for everyone. I also saw how media can influence your feelings in projecting emotions appropriate to the content. Finally, with the circumstances of the Princess’s death being around photographers chasing her car (I realise this is debateable!) I saw the impact the media can have on a more practical level and that once you’re in the ‘spotlight’ you can almost completely lose any sense of privacy.



The lack of content on some topics

My next thoughts on the media have come through the abuse I experienced when I was 15. In 2006, when the abuse started, I felt that there weren’t a whole lot of stories in the media about abuse and rape. The lack of this content meant that the only reason I suspected what was happening to me was wrong was because it hurt so much! The absence of these stories also meant that I felt so alone in my experiences and thought I was literally the only person in the world who had ever been raped or abused. Feeling lonely with something like that can be so debilitating because you’re thinking that you can’t talk to someone as they won’t be able to empathise, understand, or identify in any way.

There was also a huge lack for content on mental health, suicide, and self-harm back then which meant that I was absolutely terrified when I started experiencing hallucinations and thoughts to self-harm and attempt suicide. I think that it stemmed from the fact that without any information to the contrary, I thought if I told anyone what I was experiencing and feeling I’d be locked away in a psychiatric hospital and medicated! I also didn’t know who I would even talk to in terms of professionals. Like, I didn’t realise you could speak to your GP or even that you could have therapy on the NHS.

TRAVELLING & MENTAL HEALTH | IN COLLABORATION WITH LNER | AD

I’m very proud to be able to say that I’m collaborating with London North Eastern Railway (LNER) on a series of posts in the run-up to a complimentary first-class trip on June 15^th. 

I wanted to chat a bit about what travelling means for me, how it has impacted my life and my mental health, and how it can be beneficial for you!

I was born in Dorset but moved to the North East before I turned one and once my Mum and I were up here, we only moved to a new house twice – I lived in the final home for almost twenty years before being admitted to the Hospital in Bradford.

I only went on a handful of holidays growing up, and my Aunt had moved to Dubai, so we were fortunate enough to be able to visit her a few times and my Mum and I went to Spain once with one of my friend’s and her Mum. I think that one of my only – and definitely my favourite – memories from my holidays was when we swam with Dolphins in Dubai! Travelling made me happy. 

So, from where I stand; – or sit because I’m typing this on my bed(!) – it’s kind of reasonable for me to have turned to travelling when my mental health first deteriorated. I don’t think my fascination with travelling was really cemented until I moved to my Dad’s home in Dorset in 2011. At first, it was brilliant! I did all the sensible things in notifying mental health services back in Northumberland and then I started to make myself a new life. I enrolled at a local College, I got myself a weekend job at the local Primark and my Dad bought me two kittens in an attempt to replace the cat I’d grown up with at my Mum’s. Of course, mental health doesn’t just stay in one postcode or town. It follows you everywhere! So, when my Step-Mum said she couldn’t deal with having me live there permanently and my Dad told me I’d have to leave, my reaction was to overdose on my anti-depressant medication. I became tachycardia (had a fast heart rate) and collapsed. In Hospital, I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and taken to a psychiatric hospital for a few days before being discharged to go and collect my suitcase from my Dad’s. It was thrown at me and I was taken to a hotel near the airport to catch a flight the following day; my Mum said that when I called her from the hotel room, I was hysterical.