RELATING TO DEFYING GRAVITY LYRICS FROM THE MUSICAL: WICKED

“Happy is what happens when all your dreams come true.”

Stephen Schwartz, Thank Goodness, Wicked: The Musical

If you have a social media account, you’ll likely agree with me when I say that Wicked is everywhere right now! The release of the new movie, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, is based on the original musical and it seems to be really trending right now – especially their skit for Jimmy Fallon (which you can watch here). And so, I decided to jump on the bandwagon with this blog post where I’ll be picking out some lyrics (you can read all of them here) from the Wicked song; Defying Gravity and illustrating how I relate to each bit…

THE LARGEST ‘MOVE’ I’VE MADE FOR MY MENTAL HEALTH | MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK 2024

“Wisdom comes from making mistakes, having the courage to face them, and to make adjustments moving forward based upon the knowledge acquired through those experiences.”

Ken Poirot

A few months ago, I actually sent out a ton of emails to various people regarding a series I had envisioned publishing on I’m NOT Disordered for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW). Despite obviously receiving replies, I’ve somehow managed to reach this Week without any content! You know sometimes when it feels like time has just snuck up on you and something you’ve been planning for ages is suddenly happening? This Week is like that! So, I debated not putting any content together at all because I was struggling to think of much to write about myself with this year’s theme being ‘movement’ – hence why I’d emailed lots of people; because they were people who would have had more to say on the topic! I was still experiencing some sort of pull towards the idea of a blog post though, and I began thinking of angles on the ‘movement’ thing that might be more apt for me… I think it’s obvious that the theme is referring to exercise and the benefits that being active can have on your mental health; but I don’t have great experiences, thoughts, or feelings about exercise, so I wanted to a be bit creative and I finally decided to put a different spin on it and talk about the largest and most recent ‘move’ I’ve made for my mental health…

GUEST POST: MY JOURNEY WITH PCOS BY EMMA GREAVES-MOUSA

I'm so pleased to bring this post to you all by Emma Greaves-Mousa who struggled after being diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). I also have this diagnosis but have been a lot more shy than Emma to share my story around it so i take my hat off to Emma for being so brave, open, and honest around this.

Also, if you want to know more about Emma's journey, check out her blog: https://adayinthehappylife.wordpress.com/

The day I was diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovaries) was the day myself and my husband were seeing a fertility doctor. We were checking that all was well as we wanted to try for a baby. I laid on the bed in the clinic while the doctor scanned my ovaries and womb. I have never had an ultrasound scan before so really didn’t know what he was looking for, or what he found. 

11 years prior to this, I sat in a doctor’s office age 17, describing a very irregular menstrual cycle. I was a ‘late developer’ with my period arriving age 17, years after most of my classmates. Finally, when it did arrive, it wasn’t clockwork like I’d been told during sex education lessons. What the hell was going on? The doctor prescribed me Microgynon 30. Walking out of the clinic I felt elated! Finally, something that will help with my irregular cycles, and also ensure that I don’t fall pregnant, how is this not a win win situation?! There was no conversation about what could have been causing an irregular cycle. There was no conversation about the weight that I had gained as my period arrived. There was no conversation about PCOS. 

MY THOUGHTS ON PERSONALITY | IN COLLABORATION WITH FUTURE LEARN & MONASH UNIVERSITY | AD

I recently started a new course with Monash University via futurelearn.com – Introduction to Psychology: The Psychology of Personality and it, inevitably, got me thinking a lot about personality, what it means to me, how it is developed and how it can become ‘disordered.’ 


A while ago now, the powers that be, renamed the diagnosis Borderline Personality Disorder to Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder. I laughed when I was told – it was just further evidence that the ultimate people to make such huge decisions don’t actually know all that much about the things they make decisions about. If they did, they’d know that, for the majority of service users, the biggest problem with the phrasing of BPD was the ‘Personality’ part and not the ‘Borderline’ bit. Yes, people unfamiliar to the diagnosis will wonder what is meant by ‘borderline’ but that can be answered. I know there are varied rationale behind the use of the word in the diagnosis; with the most common one being that it means borderline between sanity and insanity but if someone were to ask what is meant by ‘personality’ then it’s a different story – personality is subjective. Everyone has their own definition of it and their own belief on what shapes it. I mean, William Sheldon (1940) believed that personality was determined by your body shape and size (somatology)! He held the assumption that larger people (endomorphs) are more likely to be bold and assertive whereas smaller people (ectomorphs) are more likely to be intellectual and introverted. Once upon a time, I’m sure this theory was regarded very highly and agreed upon by many but these days? I know I can’t speak for anyone else, but I felt like laughing when I heard that this was a serious theory!