ESSENTIAL ITEMS FOR BLOGGERS

So, I know I’m NOT Disordered is all about mental health and that my posts are usually very deep and meaningful with lots of talk about difficult subjects like self-harm and abuse; but the blog began for my own gain and enjoyment and it’d be sad to lose that when I really enjoy doing these sorts of posts too… Originally, I started blogging for many reasons but it was largely to do with the fact that I enjoyed writing and found it very therapeutic and beneficial to my mental health. Perhaps I’m NOT Disordered wouldn’t be so popular if I found it more of a chore and considered it to be more like work.

There has to be a balance though; with my blog now having over half a million readers, I can’t exactly half ass it and stop putting so much dedication and effort into the content. Well, I could; but I’d feel as though I were letting a lot of people – including myself – down by failing to provide  the helpful, validating, reassuring, safe space that  I feel – and have been told – I’ve created in continuing to dedicate a large part of my time and effort to I’m NOT Disordered. I guess it’s no surprise that from the outside, my blogging and social media posting is often mistakenly labelled work and I’m frequently being advised to take time ‘off.’ I just don’t think I could justify calling this work when I enjoy it as much as I do!

Having now blogged for over seven years (you can read I’m NOT Disordered’s Birthday post here) and having as many readers as I do, I feel that I’m maybe now qualified to give advice and tips to other Bloggers or potential Bloggers. After recently signing a contract with O2 for the iPad 7^th generation in the 10.2” screen size, I was inspired to write this post about products and items that I’d advise you own to aid in your Blogging adventures!!

STATIONERY

A Fancy Pen: Gold Twist Pen – Dangling ‘A’ : £8.00

HAPPY SEVENTH BIRTHDAY I’M NOT DISORDERED!!!

As if seven years have gone by with, I’m NOT Disordered! I mean, when – earlier in the last year – we reached half a million readers, I found it so strange to think that the blog has come this far and yet I still remember the day I started it!

I had been a sectioned inpatient in a psychiatric hospital over 100 miles away from home for almost a year when my Key Nurse and I had a very intense 1:1 in the conference room. We decided that every evening, I’d write a little bit about the abuse for the staff to read so that they could better understand me, and so that I would have an outlet. I was so confident that agreeing to do this was the making of my recovery that I decided I should keep some sort of record of things as they improved. I don’t know why a diary or journal didn’t cross my mind; just… for some reason I opened up my laptop (which I was allowed at nighttime) and created a Blogger account…

How strange is it to think that something that has played such a hugely incredible part of my life started out so simply and in such an unimportant way?! But maybe that has helped build my blog into what it is today; that I didn’t start it for the freebies; the gifted products and the PR trips. I’m NOT Disordered is about educating others in mental health and helping those struggling to see that they are not alone.

So, to celebrate another year of being able to do that - and more(!) - and with over half a million of you, here’s a little post:

First Birthday:

http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2014/01/happy-first-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

Second Birthday:

http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2015/01/happy-second-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

Third Birthday:

http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2016/01/happy-third-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

Fourth Birthday:

www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2017/01/happy-fourth-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

Fifth Birthday:

www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2018/01/happy-fifth-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

Sixth Birthday:

http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2019/01/happy-sixth-birthday-im-not-disordered.html

A LETTER TO YOU | I’M NOT DISORDERED’S UPCOMING BIRTHDAY!!

With I’m NOT Disordered’s seventh Birthday just around the corner (January 6^th), and the blog post to celebrate scheduled, it felt only right that I write a little something for you all!

To those who use my blog to feel less alone,


I’m so, so, sorry that you’ve felt alone in the first place – I know what an awful feeling that can be, so I really appreciate that I’m NOT Disordered helps you to feel understood and validated.


Loneliness in mental health is – sadly – a common feeling because our thoughts often lead us to believe that no one else has ever experienced what we are going through and in doing so, we’re left thinking that no one could ever understand how we feel.


When I was abused in 2006, there was very little in the media about rape and sexual abuse and the little sexual education I’d done at School, had been the traditional teaching of how-to-put-a-condom-on-a-banana! So, when the abuse began, I didn’t even know what it was called; never mind know that anyone else had ever been through it! And not knowing others had experienced abuse, meant that I didn’t know it could be survived – that you could come out of it ‘ok’. I didn’t realize that it would end; never mind that it could impact your mental health – let’s be honest, there wasn’t a whole lot in the media about that either – or that you could also come out of it stronger than ever! Perhaps if I’d known this, I might have felt better placed in speaking up against the abuse and reporting it the second it started and not two years later!

MY BIRTHDAY WISHLIST | AMAZON & ASOS | AD

It’s that time of the year again; my Birthday! This year, on February 1^st, I’ll be twenty nine! I literally can’t believe it! Obviously there’ll be a proper Birthday post going up on the day but in the meantime… here’s a very obvious hint for those who were wondering what to get me 😉

Because after surgery on a snapped tendon, I deserve this...

Gordon’s Pink Gin Gift Set: £19.99

Because red hair has become my trademark and so it should always be bright…

Pantene Red Expressions Intensive Treatment: £4.25

THE IMPORTANCE OF VALIDATION IN MENTAL & PHYSICAL HEALTH

So, if you follow my Twitter you’ll have seen why this topic is so relevant in my life right now. So here’s why validation has had as great an impact on my mental and physical health as painkillers have(!)…

Back in late 2006, after the abuse began, I started having crippling tummy pains and was constantly being rushed to hospital for pain relief and tests but only on two occasions did they find something – cysts on my ovaries. I ended up having surgery one time to drain one of the cysts but for all of the times I was taken to hospital and they found nothing, I worried that soon the Doctors and Nurses would grow sick of me and that there could be one time when something was seriously wrong and they wouldn’t believe me. But the pain felt as real and as genuine as the keyboard feels while I type this.


Since my mental health has been completely stable after my medication increase earlier this year, I’ve noticed that I’m more in-tune with my body and physical health. I’ve occasionally had tummy pains still, but they’ve always found something; and I’ve actually been diagnosed with Poly-Cystic Ovaries. So, when I slipped on the ice on November 30^th (this year), I thought straight away that my wrist was broken but when I was sitting in the Minor Injuries waiting room, I was so scared that my X Ray would come back normal that I worried what it would mean to be told that nothing was wrong and be left doubting myself and my instincts again. But instead, the Nurse came along and said that it was ‘no wonder’ I was in so much pain because I had a Buckle Break right the way through the Radius in my wrist. I remember thinking ‘and if the X-Ray had come back ok then my pain would have been disingenuous?!’ But I guess that’s why validation is so essential; because otherwise, there’s the danger that you feel as though no one believes you – that they think you’re lying.