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“Whatever
choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”
Roy
T. Bennett
Welcome to Day Five of the Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) series; 5 Things to Take Action With. Today, I’m going to provide a number of resources to help you to take action on any issues regarding your coping skills…
“The
kindness one does for one animal may not change the world, but it will change
the world of that one animal.”
Unknown
Wondering where the content has been for almost one month? My youngest bunny; Evie, who I literally just got in November 2025 after Gracie died on November 1st (you can read my blog post about Gracie’s death here and the post about getting Evie, is here), was diagnosed with Gut Stasis (the disease that has taken both my first rabbit; Pixie – whose death you can read about here – and Gracie from me) at the beginning of the month. In a bid to raise awareness of Stasis, I published a piece of content over on the website for my pet bereavement project: Gracie’s Way (which you can read here) and on its Instagram (which you can view here). In creating that content, I started to think about myself and how my own mental health had been affected, and it is those thoughts that have inspired this post in which I’ll list the most difficult moments for your mental health when you have a poorly pet and I’ll obviously also add some advice and tips on ways to cope with those instances…
“Statistics: The only science that enables
different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions.”
Evan
Esar
Welcome to A Secret Blogmas
2025!
Today is Day Eight and this eighth post is all about the beneficial impact social media insights and statistics can have for content creation. In this post, I’ll discuss the different stats you can look at and use in your content creation strategy to evaluate how successful and popular your content is, as well as how you can use them to inspire and shape the content you create next. Keep reading to find out why and how insights and statistics can impact the success and popularity of your content and/or your platform…
Goodbye,
goodbye, goodbye,
You
were bigger than the whole sky,
You
were more than just a short time,
And
I’ve got a lot to pine about
I’ve
got a lot to live without
Taylor
Swift – Bigger Than The Whole Sky
I’ve always said that since Day One of creating I’m NOT Disordered back in 2013, the content has been about what I want to publish, what I want to create, and what I – and my mental health – benefit from writing about. So, when I found myself full to the brim of sad thoughts and feelings when my youngest bunny; Gracie, passed away on November 1st, I immediately thought ‘I’ll write a blog post; that’ll help!’ I fully recognise that it might not ‘do well’ in terms of gaining readers but ultimately, it’s helped me to process these thoughts and feelings massively and that actually feels so much more important and worthy of publishing…
“Successful people recognize crisis as a time for change - from lesser to greater, smaller to bigger.”
Edwin Louis
Cole
*This
is Part One of Three*
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You may remember that a number of months ago (June) I wrote a blog post launching my new media Campaign; Shake My Hand (you can read the post here: MY JOURNEY TO CREATE A MEDIA CAMPAIGN | CELEBRATING THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF SHAKE MY HAND’S WEBSITE | ad | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)) so in addition to writing the content for World Suicide Prevention Day 2024 (WSPD) over on the Shake My Hand website (www.shakemyhandcampaign.com), I thought ‘how could I not write something for my own blog?!’ I also recognised that my news article for the Campaign was of a completely different angle than I would write for I’m NOT Disordered, but at the same time, I still wanted to incorporate Shake My Hand in this post. So, I’ve decided to talk about how staying productive with the Campaign is saving my life…
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When I’m writing a blog post and creating content for, I’m NOT Disordered, I always try to think of both sides to it – to consider whether someone could see the title and think or believe the exact opposite or at least view things from a different angle. And this post was no different; I recognise that the title might sound as though I’m ungrateful or being contradictory because I chose to create my blog and to become a Blogger, so to then say anything bad about it? Well, it might appear to some as though I have no right to do so because I’ve basically put myself in the situation and I’m pretty much choosing to stay in it! I’d like to think though, that regular readers of I’m NOT Disordered will recognise that I almost always talk exclusively about all the benefits and positive elements to being a Blogger and so to confront the difficult bits is a refreshing change and implies my recognition that there are definitely two sides to it...
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…
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So, in my last two posts (here and here) I talked about how my mental health has taken a massive nose dive since February, when I relapsed in my recovery. I have been sectioned and admitted to a psychiatric hospital (Lowry Ward - Acute Admission Ward (Newcastle) - CNTW049 - Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust), restrained, given medical treatment against my will, sedated, and put under the care of the two most advanced, specialist teams in my local mental health NHS Trust (CNTW) – the ‘Step Up team’ and the Crisis Team! So, I really wanted to put together a more positive and useful post…
So, you may remember that I lost my cat; Emmy, a few months ago. She had been best-friends for over a year with my lop eared lionhead bunny; Luna. She was all Luna had ever known. And losing her was heartbreaking for both of us.
From the day Emmy was put to sleep, our Veterinary Practice recommended adding a bunny companion to help Luna cope with the sadness, stress and confusion of the loss. And, for a little while, I thought that I’d completely made my mind up and that I wouldn’t be getting another fluffy one. But then, Luna began depositing waste everywhere and the Vets explained it was from the stress, so I discovered Simply Beautiful Mini Lop Bunny Rabbits and on January 9th, I added Gracie to our family!
Being a blogger and with I’m NOT Disordered having such an enormously important part of my life, I regularly find myself in conversations about social media and the digital world in general with a whole host of different people, and everyone has a different opinion of it. I’ve heard people absolutely trash the industry and talk about all the negative consequences it can have on society, especially in so far as online bullying and pressures around body image. Then, there are others who talk about how beneficial it can be in helping to maintain contact with loved ones and providing the opportunity to connect with like-minded people. But no matter which team you’re on, the conversation almost always turns into recognising that whether the internet is your friend or your enemy, you need to learn some coping skills…
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Earlier this month (July 17th), it was eight years to the date of me being sectioned and beginning a two-and-a-half-year long admission in a psychiatric hospital which specialised in Personality Disorders...
For the
three years previously to that admission, I’d been in and out of both
psychiatric and medical hospitals because my local NHS mental health Trust had
no services specifically for someone with a Personality Disorder diagnosis. The
lack of understanding from the professionals who – in my opinion – should have
actually been the most knowledgeable people in providing help and support,
contributed to a number of other reasons why I had made two suicide attempts
and self harmed on a number of occasions. The lack of services in my locality
was also a reasons why, when I ended up on life support after a third suicide
attempt, the professionals made the decision to admit me to a private hospital
over 100 miles away from home, where the ‘average length of admission, was 12 –
18 months.
After around six or seven months in the hospital, I had a really positive 1:1 with my Key Nurse and it felt like such a productive step toward recovery, that I decided I wanted to document it in some way. And so, I’m NOT Disordered was born and my blogging career began.
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“Scared is what you’re feeling. Brave is what you’re doing.”
Apologies for the gap between the last post and this, hopefully when you read this you’ll understand why that happened…
MANAGING THE RELUCTANCE TO EVEN GO TO HOSPITAL
You know, when my mental health was at its most poorly – when I was finding myself in hospitals two and three times a week – one key reason for me going there tended be that I had self-harmed (in a way which could have actually cost me my life, but it wasn’t always a suicide attempt) in response to auditory hallucinations. Then, when they were content with my actions and silenced, I didn’t want to die or experience pain in any way, so I would seek medical attention for whatever I had done.
But, the professionals attitude changed toward me when they couldn’t understand the power of the hallucinations, and in their eyes; I was just wasting their time and resources. From then, I found myself being met with disdain and contempt from the moment I checked in at the A&E reception desk and that – I’d like to think, understandably – led to an intense reluctance to ever set foot in a hospital. It was like every time I entered the building, I could almost hear the eyes of all the hospital staff roll in their sockets, coupled with their overwhelming urge to comment; “it’s her again.”
*this post contains gifted products: Ruby Tiger Gin and Tiger Gin*
This, for me, is quite an exciting little collaboration because it’s a bit different to anything I’ve worked on before; but you know me – always pushing the boundaries of creativity in my blog posts…
When Tiger Gin contacted me on Twitter, I pretty much knew straight away how our collaboration would work; in terms of knowing what I’d like from them, and having an idea in mind as to how I would make the collaboration relevant to I’m NOT Disordered. And in all honesty, I’m actually surprised with myself that this is a topic I’ve never really touched on before in blog posts because it’s something that has been very relevant to my life and my mental health in particular...
“No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being
good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind.”
Taylor Swift
So, I woke up with this Taylor Swift song in my head (Never Grow Up) and with the therapeutic tools that I’ve learnt over the years, I decided to try ‘flooding’ myself with the song… but instead of playing that one song over and over, it ended up turning into a marathon of all my favourite Taylor Swift songs!! And in the process of my little appreciation concert(!), I found myself – as I’m sure we all do when listening to music – thinking about everything that the lyrics reminded me of. In doing this, I got to wondering whether the meaning of those songs for me, would be a surprise to others…
So, even if
you’ve been reading, I’m NOT Disordered for a while, you may not know that the
abuse I experienced when I was younger was a result of a very well-respected
man being given an opportunity.
The reasons you may not know is because for legal reasons I can’t name my abuser and this side of the abuse – the details of how it started – has always been difficult to describe without disclosing identifiable information about my abuser. I’m at a point now though, that if I don’t disclose his name, but can give sort of abstract details about him and people will know who I’m talking about, that says more about him than it should about the legalities of the situation. And to know that this is the case, is actually really helpful for my mental health.
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