MID YEAR REVIEW

JANUARY

Favourite pic:

Favourite blog post:

A GUIDE TO EVENTS | MY ONE MILLION READERS PARTY!!! | I'm NOT Disordered (imnotdisordered.co.uk)

In other news…

I’m NOT Disordered turned NINE!!

MY JANUARY

With my Birthday on the horizon (February 1^st), I thought I’d do a bit of a round-up of January; with everything from favourite photos to best purchases…

A FUNNY STORY SEEING ME INTO THE MONTH:

On January 1^st, I tweeted ASOS to thank their customer service from New Years Eve but didn’t actually talk about what had happened and the reason why I’d had to contact them – and it was kind of funny, so I thought I’d share it here…

So, I had some items from a huge ASOS order to take to my local post office (which is about a twenty-minute walk away from my home) and since it was processed through ASOS’ website, I figured there was no chance that the post office would have held different hours for New Years Eve. So, after arriving there a hot and sweaty mess from the weight of the parcel, I found that whilst the place was closed, there were still two staff inside and so I desperately knocked on the glass door.

The female assistant I’d met on the many occasions I’ve used the post office, came to the door and asked why I was there and what I had wanted to do. She told me that their systems had been down since 1pm (it was about 4pm) and that they were shutting early anyway. Rather than get into any kind of ‘well-you-should-have-updated-the-website-and-not-accepted-the-return!’ kind of argument, I begged her to just take the parcel in and store it somewhere until they were back open, and I could come in with the QR code. She called her boss over and he said they wouldn’t accept responsibility and I told them that was fine, “but please just take the parcel! I can’t carry it anymore!”

ADVENT CALENDARS FOR LITERALLY EVERYONE!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH AMAZON | AD

So, I thought I had decided that I wanted a particular branded beauty Advent Calendar this year, but I found that my budget wasn’t going to stretch that far. So, I began searching for alternatives and ended up teaming up with Amazon to show you their massive variety of Advent Calendars for 2021…

Five TV & Film Advent Calendars: 

1.     Harry Potter Advent Calendar: £22.99

2.     Star Wars Advent Calendar: £17.99

3.     Lego Marvel The Avengers: £24.99

4.     Dr Who: £109.99

5.     National Geographic: £39.99

50 OF MY FAVOURITE I’M NOT DISORDERED BLOG POSTS | CELEBRATING 850,000 READERS!!

It feels like just yesterday that I was writing the post celebrating 800,000 readers (you can read it here) and now, just over three months later, we’re on 850,000!

I’ve had so many ideas for this blog post, and very quickly realised that I was going to struggle to decide on one particular theme or format for it. I decided that to be celebrating this milestone, the post really should just be about I’m NOT Disordered…

 

THE MONUMENTAL POSTS FOR MY MENTAL HEALTH

RECOVERY:

 

Saturday, 19 January 2013

The Bad Tribunal

www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2013/01/i-genuinely-believe-she-would-kill.html

 

Thursday, 28 February 2013

The AWOL Procedure

www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2013/02/and-why-are-you-in-there-because-shes.html

 

Sunday, 14 April 2013

The Photographic Reminder

http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2013/04/be-brave.html

 

Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Psychotherapy Began!!!

http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2013/05/im-only-anxious-because-of-you.html

 

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

I Came So Close

http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2013/05/again.html

 

Monday, 20 May 2013

And Then I Told the Whole Story

http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2013/05/im-going-to-need-lot-of-prn.html

 

BLOGMAS 2020 WITH I’M NOT DISORDERED | RECOMMENDATION SIXTEEN: MY TEN FAVOURITE APPS | IN COLLABORATION WITH O2 | AD

Hello and welcome to recommendation number sixteen of Blogmas 2020 with I’m NOT Disordered!

Today, I’ll be collaborating with O2 to recommend some of the apps I use the most…

 

MY TEN FAVOURITE APPS:

*in no particular order*

Twitter

I’ve found that you’re so much more likely to get a response from an organisation if it’s on Twitter rather than through their customer service! I think it’s because of the publicity aspect of it… particularly when the individual has more followers than the organisation! So that’s the superficial side of Twitter. But it’s like I always say; social media and the internet is what you make of it. If you want to see negative, triggering content then search for it. If you’re looking for support or help, there’s plenty of that online too! I particularly enjoy the hashtag chats where, at a certain time on a certain day, people with something in common use the same hashtag to create a conversation amongst themselves. Sometimes these chats are actually fairly structured with an ice breaker and a theme; and I think this illustrates the huge potential Twitter has to create a safe, comfortable, and supportive forum for users to feel they can be unapologetically and unconditionally themselves.

FIVE FAVOURITE PERSON ACCOUNTS:

BEST FRIENDS & MENTAL HEALTH

ps. i have so many pics with my besties that i decided to just include this one because I think it sums up friendship perfectly! 

With it recently being Best Friends Day, I was inspired to write this post all about why friendship is so important in mental health…


Growing up, I don’t think I ever paid much attention to my friendships, and that doesn’t mean I was isolated and didn’t have any. It was just that I wasn’t really conscious of the possibility that I could be friendless and that meant I wasn’t very appreciative of the fact that I had three best friends who I’d do everything with! 


I felt like this all through First School until we started Middle School and each of us found their own friendship groups. It seemed to be fairly natural and with us all being in different classes anyway it’s kind of just made sense that we’d find other friends who were in our class. A huge milestone and test in the group’s friendship came when one of my friends lost her mother very suddenly. Our other two friends had no real reaction – that I know of – but I (and my Mum!) were there for her and her family in a flash, and our friendship seemed to repair itself a little for the duration of Middle School.

MY TOP TEN FAVOURITE THINGS ABOUT BLOGGING

1.      Being able to meet like-minded people

It’s obvious that you won’t always see eye-to-eye with everyone in life but having huge aspects of your life in common with others gives you a pretty good opportunity of meeting people who you’ll identify with. I only have one friend who has a Blog (Marty from gumonmyshoe.com) and I’d honestly be lost without him! It’s so helpful to have someone who truly understands some of the challenges and accomplishments I go through from having I’m NOT Disordered. He knows that when I’m on my phone while we’re out together it doesn’t mean I’m being rude or prioritizing my notifications over friend-time. And he appreciates what a huge achievement it is to land a new collaboration with another organization/individual.

2.      Having the opportunity to empty my mind

When I started to blog from the Psychiatric Hospital in 2013, it was all about getting my thoughts out of my head and it especially became about venting through the drama that would go on between other inpatients and staff. There was a lot of explosive relationships on that ward and sometimes hiding in my room wasn’t enough of an escape from the yelling, aggression and swearing. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that I was never a part of the arguments, but blogging gave me a more productive outlet and helped me reign in my frustrations when things were getting really heated.

FIVE SONGS HELPING ME THROUGH MY MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

I won't live inside your world

'Cause your punches and your names
All your jokes and stupid games
They don't work
No, they don't hurt
Watch them just go right through me
Because they mean nothing to me

-          Grace Vanderwaal – Clay

The huge catalyst for this recent ‘blip’ in my mental health was the news about my abuser’s new job role. It brought back all the old feelings about him – the anger, frustration, sadness… it all came flooding back, overwhelming me and taking over all of the positive thoughts and feelings. To come through the blip, I’m trying to regain some control over all those negative feelings and bring them in check so that they’re manageable and aren’t influencing my thoughts to self-harm or cause me to feel suicidal. Instead, I’m trying to adopt the attitude that no matter what he says or does, I’ll just get on with my life. I have to.

BLOGGING, JUDGEMENT & ASKING FOR HELP | RELATING TO NINE NEW AMSTERDAM QUOTES

 

“Social media’s weird. It’s like we’re not even us when we’re on it. It’s like we’re the thing                                  that we wish we were. Or even worse, we’re the thing that we think others want us to be” – Iggy

I’ve thought a lot about this one… I kind of think of myself as a promoter of social media and blogging. Both have helped my mental health so much that I want to shout it from the rooftops in the off-chance they can help others in the same way. But I can’t deny the negative side of it and I think it’d be naiive of me to do so. As I’m NOT Disordered has grown more successful and opportunities have been offered to me because of that success, things have often become overwhelming. I think the biggest struggle has – ironically - come with my recovery. I’ve had to battle two different schools of thoughts: 1. No one will read the blog if I’m in recovery and 2. I can’t talk about days when I struggle because people will lose hope. I’ve finally learnt that as long as I’m being honest in my work and enjoying it, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks.

12 CATS OF CHRISTMAS WITH I'M NOT DISORDERED | POST TWELVE | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS PROTECTION | AD

I hope that this series raises the profile of Cats Protection's work and an awareness that cats aren’t just for Christmas. Pet’s aren’t presents. They need to be given a loving, permanent home and not a one-day excuse for some excitement and a few happy squeals! Pets are a amazing, beautiful and heart-warming commitment. 

https://twitter.com/CatsProtection

https://www.cats.org.uk/

I hope that this series raises the profile of Cats Protection's work and an awareness that cats aren’t just for Christmas. Pet’s aren’t presents. They need to be given a loving, permanent home and not a one-day excuse for some excitement and a few happy squeals! Pets are a amazing, beautiful and heart-warming 

commitment.

https://twitter.com/CatsProtection

https://www.cats.org.uk/

https://www.cats.org.uk/tyneside

https://www.facebook.com/CPTynesideAdoptionCentre/

https://twitter.com/CPTynesideAC

Owner: Me!

Name: Emmy

12 CATS OF CHRISTMAS WITH I'M NOT DISORDERED | POST ELEVEN | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS PROTECTION | AD

I hope that this series raises the profile of Cats Protection's work and an awareness that cats aren’t just for Christmas. Pet’s aren’t presents. They need to be given a loving, permanent home and not a one-day excuse for some excitement and a few happy squeals! Pets are a amazing, beautiful and heart-warming 
commitment.

https://twitter.com/CatsProtection

https://www.cats.org.uk/

https://www.cats.org.uk/tyneside

https://www.facebook.com/CPTynesideAdoptionCentre/

https://twitter.com/CPTynesideAC

Owner: Chris Jackson, Customer Engagement Advisor, Cats Protection Tyneside Adoption Centre

Name: Magic

12 CATS OF CHRISTMAS WITH I'M NOT DISORDERED | POST SEVEN | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS PROTECTION | AD

I hope that this series raises the profile of Cats Protection's work and an awareness that cats aren’t just for Christmas. Pet’s aren’t presents. They need to be given a loving, permanent home and not a one-day excuse for some excitement and a few happy squeals! Pets are a amazing, beautiful and heart-warming commitment. 

https://twitter.com/CatsProtection

https://www.cats.org.uk/

https://www.cats.org.uk/tyneside

https://www.facebook.com/CPTynesideAdoptionCentre/

https://twitter.com/CPTynesideAC

Owner: my Mum

Name: Millie