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...

MY LIFE THROUGHOUT THE LAST YEAR SINCE FINDING GRACIE

“We all have life storms, and when we get the rough times and we recover from them, we should celebrate that we got through it. No matter how bad it may seem, there's always something beautiful that you can find.”

Mattie Stepanek

Like most anniversaries celebrated on I’m NOT Disordered, when it comes to them, I can never believe it’s been that long already; and it’s absolutely the same with the one-year anniversary of finding Gracie – I can’t quite believe it’s here! It honestly doesn’t feel like it’s been nearly half that time since I almost stood on my youngest rabbit’s cold, lifeless body in the sitting room doorway. But here we are – I've had a year; have I managed to change things round?

A HUGE GUIDE TO THE FOUR IMPACTS PET BEREAVEMENT HAS ON YOUR MENTAL HEALTH | IN COLLABORATION WITH PAWFECT PICCIES | NATIONAL GRIEF AWARENESS DAY 2026

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PawfectPiccies - Etsy UK

@PawfectPiccies on Instagram

Pawfect Piccies on Facebook

“Legacy is not leaving something for people. It's leaving something in people.”

Peter Strople

A little while ago, I published a short Q&A about my upcoming – at that time – appearance on BBC Radio Newcastle (you can read the blog post: A SHORT Q&A ABOUT MY UPCOMING RADIO APPEARANCE | I'm NOT Disordered) but something I didn’t mention was the efforts I was going to in order to decide what to wear for it. And I realise it sounds strange to care about my outfit when it’s a radio appearance(!), but I knew there’d be photos being taken for both my social media and for theirs too. So, I knew I wanted something special rather than just another jumper and it was whilst I was on Instagram, that I saw an advert for a company adding pet photos to clothing and inspired by the ad, I ended up finding Pawfect Piccies on Etsy. To find out about my BBC appearance (which you can listen to on my YouTube channel: youtube.com/@aimes_wilson/videos), why it became the ultimate illustration of encouraging talk about pet bereavement because of the recognition of the positive impact that can have on your mental health, and for more details on the collaboration side of this blog post with Pawfect Piccies and photos of my t-shirt from their store (you can purchase the exact same one: Custom Pet T-shirt Dog Drawing From Photo Portrait T-shirt Personalized Dog Pullover Custom Cat T-shirt Dog Mum Gift Dog Lover Shirt - Etsy UK and use the discount code IMNOTDISORDERED at the checkout for 35% off the final cost of your Pawfect Piccies haul!), keep reading…

Welcome, Tillie

Tillie, you arrived so small,
With snowy paws and ears so tall.
A little grey nose, soft and sweet,
Like healing sent on velvet feet.