A GUIDE TO REMEMBRANCE AFTER PET LOSS | EXCLUSIVE ETSY DISCOUNT CODE!!! | IN JOINT COLLABORATION WITH EVERELLE CRAFT & GRACIE’S WAY

“Tears don’t measure weakness. They measure our need to grieve and keep loving the one we’ve lost.”

Melvina Young

The Bracelet: EverelleCraft on Etsy

Code: type ‘AIMEE’ at the checkout for 50% off the bracelet

After losing my eight-month-old bunny; Evie on May 22^nd I found a bracelet on Etsy from the store; EverelleCrafts (EverelleCraft - Etsy UK). I added ten charms all together with five each having the name of the pets I’ve lost these past eight years (Dolly, Pixie, Emmy, Gracie, and Evie) and the other five were the birthstones for each of them! When it arrived, I was absolutely over the moon with the quality and the final result of my customisation, and I actually shed a little tear when I saw all their names! I loved the bracelet so much that I actually got in touch with the store owner and after a chat, they offered a discount code exclusive to my readers/followers and I customised and ordered another three bracelets with one for each of the pets I have now (Luna, Ruby, and Tillie)! To share the discount code (which is exclusive to the bracelet linked at the beginning) and publicise the Etsy store, I put this blog post together where I’m going to chat about remembrance after losing a pet with a bit about the benefits of it, ideas for all sorts of memorials and methods of remembrance, and also some details on the Gracie’s Way (my pet bereavement project) resource that is super fitting and useful for this topic…

BLOGMAS 2019 – POST ELEVEN : POSITIVE INSTINCT | ETSY COLLABORATION | AD

Thanks to a poll on my Twitter back in November, my wonderful followers decided that I should publish a blog post and film a vlog every day for the entirety of December!

So welcome to December 11th…

Today is all about my collaboration with one very special brand on Etsy, in this post I’ll be reviewing the products they sent to me and on December 23rd you can enter a competition to win these products and the remaining five that I’ll be reviewing every other day this month!

 

So, at first, I had no clue how I was going to write an entire post about a cup and then I realized that maybe I could use the company’s name (Positive Instinct) as inspiration instead! So, I thought I’d talk a little about positivity, how I lost it, how I got it back, and how I maintain it…





I think that after the abuse positivity became very hard to come by because I honestly believe it made me into a different person. I think it’s inevitable that a trauma – of any kind – will change things for you and will have an impact on your personality, your ethics, morals, and all of the little things that make you who you are. I mean, before the abuse started when I was fifteen, I had had a very innocent and sheltered childhood and when you’ve experienced very little adversary in your life, it leaves you feeling pretty positive and trusting of others. So, the abuse was such a shock to the system that it felt as though it completely wiped away my personality and replaced it with an angrier and more negative one. By the time the abuse ended – after six months – I didn’t recognize myself.

BLOGMAS 2019 – POST NINE : NUDGE CARDS | ETSY COLLABORATION | AD

Thanks to a poll on my Twitter back in November, my wonderful followers decided that I should publish a blog post and film a vlog every day for the entirety of December! 

So welcome to December 9th…

Today is all about my collaboration with one very special brand on Etsy, in this post I’ll be reviewing the products they sent to me and on December 23rd you can enter a competition to win these products and the remaining six that I’ll be reviewing every other day this month!

The fourth product in the collaboration are the fantastically cute and useful Nudge Cards by the appropriately named company; Nudge Cards(!) who are based in Hull, England.

I thought these Nudge Cards were perfect for me because I find that when my mental health is poorly, I struggle to remember the healthy and safe coping skills I’ve been taught. It’s something that – I think – isn’t unique to me though, so in choosing these cards I hoped they would help others who are also trying to cope with this.

BLOGMAS 2019 – POST SEVEN : THE LITTLE PIN CO.| ETSY COLLABORATION | AD

Thanks to a poll on my Twitter back in November, my wonderful followers decided that I should publish a blog post and film a vlog every day for the entirety of December! 

So welcome to December 7th…

Today is all about my collaboration with one very special brand on Etsy, in this post I’ll be reviewing the products they sent to me and on December 23rd you can enter a competition to win these products and the remaining seven that I’ll be reviewing every other day this month!


This third product is a lovely little pin badge which reads ‘Brave and Strong’ from the very aptly named The Little Pin Co. who are based in Porthcawl, Wales.


I think that a bit of a big worry in mental health at the moment is that it’s becoming ‘trendy’ to have an actual mental health illness; granted, it’s mainly about Anxiety - with so many well-known people speaking out publicly to say they have experienced panic attacks. To be honest, I think my train of thought is that at least mental health is being talked about!

BLOGMAS 2019 – POST FIVE : BEAR IN MIND PSYCHOLOGY | ETSY COLLABORATION | AD

Thanks to a poll on my Twitter back in November, my wonderful followers decided that I should publish a blog post and film a vlog every day for the entirety of December! 

So welcome to December 5th…

Today is all about my collaboration with one very special brand on Etsy, in this post I’ll be reviewing the products they sent to me and on December 23rd you can enter a competition to win these products and the remaining eight that I’ll be reviewing every other day this month!


The second product are these very handy Schema Therapy Flashcards by the incredible Bear In Mind Psychology, who are based in Watford, England. 

I first heard about Schema Therapy in 2011 when I began seeing a Psychologist through my Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) and it ended up being my most well period in the three years before I was admitted to the long-term, specialist, psychiatric hospital.


For those who don’t know, to put it simply, Schema Therapy is all about identifying the different sides to you, understanding what they mean, realizing how they differ, and figuring out why they’re there. So, the Psychologist and I found that I have about three main Schemas; one that it angry, one that is sad, and one that is happy. 

BLOGMAS 2019 – POST THREE : THE HAPPI EMPIRE | ETSY COLLABORATION | AD

Thanks to a poll on my Twitter back in November, my wonderful followers decided that I should publish a blog post and film a vlog every day for the entirety of December!

So welcome to December 3^rd…

Today is all about my collaboration with one very special brand on Etsy, in this post I’ll be reviewing the products they sent to me and on December 23rd you can enter a competition to win these products and the remaining nine that I’ll be reviewing every other day this month!


The first of the Etsy products is this little mindfulness journal by the wonderful Happi Empire who are based in Perranporth, England. 


When I first began learning Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) as an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital specializing in Personality Disorders, I absolutely hated the coping skill of mindfulness! I took it to mean that in DBT they recommend that you ‘stay in the moment’ and I wholeheartedly believed that I would be unsafe if I did so. 


After the abuse in 2006 and 2007, I spent the following five years until I was admitted to the long-term hospital (for two and a half years) trying to pretend it hadn’t happened or do everything I could to block out the horrific memories. So, the last thing I wanted was to allow myself to ‘be in the moment’ where I worried that I’d end up so lost in the memories that I’d be unsafe. In all honesty, I thought that I’d end up wanting to be dead. So, I refused to engage in the Mindfulness exercises and hated completing the worksheets in group DBT sessions.