WHY MY DESPERATION FOR POSITIVITY AFTER FINDING MY RABBIT DEAD INSPIRED MY NEW BOOK | THE GRACIE’S WAY BOOK: A MENTAL HEALTH COMPANION FOR PET OWNERS

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”

Toni Morrison

I’m so excited to eventually be able to talk about my brand-new book on I’m NOT Disordered  and all because it was finally announced on Gracie’s Way in an article for Halloween (https://www.graciesway.co.uk/2026/10/the-scariest-moment-since-starting.html), with the angle to make it relevant to the date being that it was the scariest thing I’ve done since launching Gracie’s Way (the pet bereavement project I started in January). With the book being very obviously massively inspired – in so many different ways – by Gracie’s Way, it felt only right that it be there that I announce the new book and its title and reveal the cover! But of course, I couldn’t not do content for it on here because there are also so many things that make it relevant to mental health (which is clearly the overarching theme of this blog) so let’s get chatting about one of the largest elements of that: the fact that a huge inspiration for writing this book is the desperation of finding something positive out of something so sad and traumatic...

I’M NOT DISORDERED X ELI GARDNER | READ A BOOK DAY 2026

“This book is for anyone who has loved and lost an animal... Let me help you to find them again, through this story.”

Eli Gardner

At the end of July, my pet bereavement project (Gracie’s Way) received a follow on the project’s Instagram (@GraciesWayUK) from indie Author; Eli Gardner, I decided to check out her profile (@abrakadabraink). When I discovered she had written a book which included discussion of the topic pet bereavement and that she uses her book sales to fund animal rescue, I immediately DM’d her to say thanks and then asked if she’d like to collaborate. I give some brief descriptions of Gracie’s Way, and I’m NOT Disordered and offered to put together a proper collaboration pitch if she was interested, but she actually agreed to the collaboration without me doing so! In our talks to determine exactly what shape the collaboration would take, Eli very kindly gifted me a personalised copy of the book as well as sending a lot more copies with the plan of running a giveaway on both I’m NOT Disordered and Gracie’s Way! So, the plan for this blog post – for Read A Book Day 2026 – is that I’m going to chat through my favourite bits/quotes from Eli’s book; It’s A Wonderful Afterlife and then this will be followed with a Q&A with Eli, and then the methods for entering the giveaway...

RELATING TO MY TWO FAVOURITE PAGES | IN COLLABORATION WITH STACEY MCNEILL, AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR OF FOX UNDER THE MOON | NATIONAL READING DAY 2026

foxunderthemoon | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok | Linktree

Purchase the Book: https://foxunderthemoonart.com/pages/seasons

“That’s the thing about books; they let you travel without moving your feet.”

Jhumpa Lahiri

In November last year, I visited the Christmas Market at the Spanish City with my fellow mental health blogging best-friend; Martin Baker of Gum On My Shoe, and we met the lovely Stacey McNeill and Jamie! I spotted the subtitle of the book: ‘Seasons of Comfort and Hope’ and asked, “does this mean there’s relevance to mental health?” she nodded and said “yes.” And I was like “just the right person to meet!” and within minutes we were exchanging the stories of our creative journeys, and I’d given her my business card! Kindly, she sent me a copy of the book with a card for myself and Martin and then we emailed about collaborating and, almost before I knew it, this blog post was underway! This post will focus on my two favourite pages from the book…

RELATING TO: A LITTLE BOOK OF LEADERSHIP LESSONS BY STEPH EDUSEI

*This book and its PDF were gifted to me by the Author*

BUY THE BOOK ON AMAZON HERE!

“Not ‘little’ in that it was diminished or insignificant, but ‘little’ in that it is, I believe, short and snappy. I want it to be the type of book that people will pick up and think, ‘this doesn’t look too overwhelming to read.’ I want it to be the type of book you can dip in and out of and get something out of every chapter individually, without having to read the whole thing.”

‘Introduction’ of A Little of Leadership Lessons by Steph Edusei

Noticing this book on Steph’s Facebook page (which you can follow here), I was immediately taken by the title and the thought of learning something so profound and professional from someone who I have known for a number of years and have met (I used to volunteer for the Communications and Marketing department of the Hospice Steph is CEO of: St Oswald’s Hospice). I was pleasantly surprised to read in the Introduction of the book that there was going to be ‘key learning points’ and ‘suggestions for further learning’ at the end of every Chapter. As Steph writes though: ‘if you don’t feel it’s important to dig into theories and read around a subject right now then just ignore that bit, I completely understand…’I however, love elements like this! So, I seriously couldn’t wait to get started…

EVERYTHING I’VE ACHIEVED SINCE BEING SECTIONED ONE YEAR AGO

On this day (February 18^th) 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!

AND THE YEAR 2023 IS COMING TO AN END… | PART ONE

“She remembered who she was, and the game changed.”

Lalah Deliah

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 here) 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…

HOW I’VE MADE IT THIS FAR | MY NEW BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY NOW!!! | PART 1 OF 4

Buy You’re NOT Disordered NOW!!

*This post is the first of 4 which will be published every day for the following 3 days!*  

If you’ve read I’m NOT Disordered for a while or have seen the cover graphic to the left of the blog posts, then you’ll probably know that I released a book a few years ago called Everything Disordered (which you can also buy on Amazon - just click on the cover!) and I was honestly worried that having already written a book, the importance and meaning would be taken away in publishing another. Fortunately, the entire process of YND – from having the idea for it to the publication party and everything in between! – has (for so many reasons) felt massively different from that which I experienced with my first book. And one of the largest differences has been the sense of achievement and the notion that it really is a true testament to the progress I’ve made; both in my blogging career and in my mental health recovery journey…

WRITING THE FOREWORD FOR MY FRIEND'S BOOK BY MARTIN BAKER | 7 DAYS UNTIL YOU'RE NOT DISORDERED PUBLISHES!!!

Foreword /ˈfɔːwəːd/ 

Noun: a short introduction to a book, typically by a person other than the author. 

 

Would you mind writing a foreword for me?  

I was happy and proud earlier this year when my friend Aimee Wilson invited me to write the foreword for her new book You’re NOT Disordered: The Ultimate Wellbeing Guide for Bloggers. It was a great honour and responsibility, and something I took very seriously. I remember when Fran and I were looking for someone to write the foreword for our book High Tide, Low Tide: The Caring Friend’s Guide to Bipolar Disorder. It was important to find someone we trusted, who also had relevant experience and standing. For Aimee to extend me that degree of trust meant a great deal, not least because I knew how important her writing in general — and this book in particular — was to her.  

MOST NECESSARY ITEMS FOR WRITING A BOOK | 25 DAYS UNTIL YOU’RE NOT DISORDERED IS PUBLISHED!!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH AMAZON UK

Earlier this year, in January, I published a post celebrating the tenth Birthday of I’m NOT Disordered and at the end of it, I finally announced that I had been working on a new book (you can read the post here). I set the publication date at April 20^th (the anniversary of the abuse ‘ending’) but in February, I was sectioned and hospitalised for ten days and that really ate into my valuable writing time and left me having to write a blog post (which you can read here) that explained my decision to delay the publication to November 18^th (the anniversary of the start of the abuse). After finally being discharged from the psychiatric hospital, I decided to publish a post (which you can read here) revealing the title for the book: You’re NOT Disordered: The Ultimate Wellbeing Guide for Bloggers. Finally, in June 2023, I revealed my book’s cover in a post (which you can read here) that talked about why I care what you all think. And now, with just 25 days until the publication of You’re NOT Disordered (or YND), I thought I’d tell you the five items I think are most needed for writing a book…

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY 2023 | IN COLLABORATION WITH RICHMOND FELLOWSHIP

I won’t lie, I kind of failed to think about the fact that not everyone has Twitter (X) or Instagram and so, if I don’t share my World Mental Health Day content with Richmond Fellowship on I’m NOT Disordered, you guys might not ever see our content!

So, over on their Twitter account was this…

RE-EVALUATING MY ENTIRE LIFE

“Evaluate yourself and your calling worthily enough, and be proud of it.”

Sunday Adelaja

Even if you only really ‘know’ me through, I’m NOT Disordered or via my social media (@aimes_wilson on Instagram and Twitter), then you will likely be aware of the massive mental health relapse I’ve been going through for around a month. What you likely won’t know – because even those who actually ‘know’ me don’t all know! – is that this relapse is the result of a ‘psychotic episode’ that has mainly evolved around me having these two ‘delusional beliefs’ that have massively impacted my safety on far too many occasions and to far too great a degree of severity. In the last three weeks alone, I’ve had to attend my local A&E several times, have ended up in resuscitation, have been sedated, I’ve also even required surgery because my conviction of these beliefs has been so great, powerful, and overwhelming. These instances – and numerous other situations I’ve found myself in recently – have resulted in me engaging in some very difficult conversations with a variety of people, and it was one of these, that has led to this blog post…