5 QUICK TIPS FOR GIFTING | IN COLLABORATION WITH PAPER EMPORIUM | INCLUDING AN EXCLUSIVE 30% DISCOUNT CODE!!!

**DISCOUNT CODE: BLOG30**

PaperEmporiumCo - Etsy UK

Paper Emporium (@paperemporiumco) • Instagram photos and videos

So, I was browsing Etsy for Mother’s Day gifts for the previous blog post (which you can read here) when I came across this incredible gift from the amazingly talented Paper Emporium which I immediately personalised and added to my basket as a gift for my Mum for Mother’s Day! It’s basically a print (which you can choose to have framed at an extra cost) and you type in a location, a time, and a date and then they print what the sky looked like on that exact occasion. You can obviously choose to use any sort of special date or anniversary, but I picked the date, time, and place where I was born. Then you can type in a title that goes above the star image (I put: ‘The Day You Brought Me Into The World’) and a message (I wrote ‘Forever Grateful For You xxx’) for the bottom of it. I was so proud and chuffed with this gift that I got in touch with the lovely Paper Emporium team and pitched the idea of a collaboration and they even created the exclusive discount code (BLOG30) for a whopping 30% off any of their items!!

DAY TWO OF BLOGMAS UNBOXED 2023: AN ITEM FOR GRACIE’S 1ST CHRISTMAS, A MENTAL HEALTH MYTH-BUSTING CHAT INSPIRED BY RABBIT HALLUCINATIONS, & A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR LUNA | IN COLLABORATION WITH PHOENIX COVE

PhoenixCove - Etsy UK

https://www.instagram.com/phoenixcove.co/

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixcove.co

https://www.tiktok.com/@phoenixcove.co

Welcome to Blogmas Unboxed!!

So, the first piece I’m going to share with you from the wonderful and talented Cleo from Phoenix Cove – a popular Etsy store – is this cute little decoration marking that this Christmas is the first one for one of my mini-Lionhead bunny’s; Gracie. So, inspired by this item, I thought I’d write a little piece about her, and I’ve created a reel of some of my favourite moments and photos of both her, and my other mini-Lionhead; Luna (who I got one of the wooden letters for)…  

WHY I CARE WHAT YOU THINK | YOU’RE NOT DISORDERED COVER REVEAL!!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH DINKY DESIGNS FROM ETSY UK & INCLUDING A DISCOUNT CODE!!!

This post is in collaboration with the Etsy store: Dinky Designs who created the board of You’re NOT Disordered’s front cover that is featured below. In celebration of You’re NOT Disordered’s cover release, they’ve kindly created a 20% discount code for any of their products, just type the below in at the checkout:

YND20

So, for well over a year now, I’ve been working on a new book; You’re NOT Disordered: The Ultimate Wellbeing Guide for Bloggers (I revealed the title here). I actually originally had the idea way back before I published my first book: Everything Disordered (which you can buy here) in 2021, but I decided to work on the brainwave for that one first! So, it feels like You’re NOT Disordered has been a long time coming and that has become especially true since having to push back the publication date this year from the original date of April 20^th to November 18^th due to my mental health relapse and hospital admission in February (you can read more about that decision here). So, this post just in itself actually feels like it’s been in the works for forever too because since the moment I felt content with the cover design (a good few months ago now), I wanted to reveal it to you all!

Eventually, it’s here though; the cover (on a board which you can buy here from Dinky Designs) and a little chat on why your thoughts, feelings, and opinions matter so much to me…

#HEREFORTHEKITTENS | THE SERIES FINALE! | WEEK FOUR: MY TIPS FOR LIFE WITH A KITTEN, FAVOURITE PHOTO, & MORE! | IN COLLABORATION WITH CATS PROTECTION & FEATURING AN ETSY DISCOUNT CODE | AD

This post is the final part of a series named Here For The Kittens and is in collaboration with Cats Protection, the UK’s largest feline welfare charity…

You can find all the links for their social media here: Cats Protection’s LinkTr.ee

You can find the first post of this series here: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/hereforthekittens-series-intro-managing.html

The second post is here: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/05/hereforthekittens-week-one-all-emotions.html

The third post here: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/06/hereforthekittens-week-two-unseen-baby.html 

And the Fourth is here: http://www.imnotdisordered.co.uk/2023/06/hereforthekittens-penultimate-post-week.html

I feel like this past month has been an absolute whirlwind and I know people say it a lot, but I honestly can’t believe how fast the time has gone! Perhaps that saying about ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ is true? I feel like it was ages ago that I paid the deposit for Ruby and that the time between then and getting her went so slowly but now I have her; everything seems to be whizzing by! It’s a notion though, that has made me even more determined to enjoy her being a kitten! And so, I’m really grateful to Cats Protection for helping with this collaboration – I don’t know that I would have been able to document my first month with Ruby so well if this series hadn’t happened! So, a massive thank you to their Relationships Manager and the whole Media Team! Now, for the series finale, I’ll be sharing my top tips to looking after a kitten (learnt over the past month with Ruby), as well as a letter to her, and my favourite videos, photos, and moments with Ruby across this past month (and yes, it was incredibly difficult to choose those!) …

MENTAL HEALTH & FRIENDSHIPS | IN COLLABORATION WITH THE DESIGN PARLOUR | DISCOUNT CODE INCLUDED!!!

So, this post has been a long time in the making! Its inspiration actually came when I was gift hunting for the Birthday of three of my five best-friends who were all celebrating in the same month (March!). So, I found some lovely customisable prints on Etsy from The Design Parlour, and we decided to team up to bring you this blog post of a chat about the impact mental health can have on friendships, and we’ve even thrown in a huge discount code…

WHY IT’S AN ACHIEVEMENT TO MAKE FRIENDS WHILST EXPERIENCING TRAUMA

“A best friend is the only one that walks into your life when the world has walked out”

Shannon Alder

The best friend I met first was Sophie in 2006/2007. Now, if you’ve read, I’m NOT Disordered for a while now, you’ll know that the abuse I experienced started in 2006 so meeting Sophie around that time was pretty special and important. I mean, whilst the years my mental health was at its most poorly were horrific and challenging, the time during the actual abuse was the most overwhelming and difficult in my life. I was so full of anger and hatred towards almost everyone who mattered in my life because no one recognised what was happening to me and so, no one stopped it.

Meeting Sophie during that really frustrating time meant I felt a whole lot less isolated and alone. I mean, she didn’t know about it either, but to see that I was capable of building a new friendship whilst feeling the way I did and thinking the things I did? Well, that gave me hope. It left me thinking that if I could challenge those lonely thoughts and emotions by adding someone to my life, I might just get through it. I might just survive. Sophie made me feel stronger and more positive at a time when it felt like I had been feeling the exact opposite for forever!

BUDGET BLOGMAS | DAY ONE: INTRODUCTION | IN COLLABORATION WITH PRETTY PERFECT PRODUCTS

Hello and welcome to I’m NOT Disordered’s Budget Blogmas!

Today, I thought I’d do a bit of an introduction to the series and explain the inspiration and thinking process behind it. Plus, I’ll tell you a little bit of what to expect from the series…

A huge contributor to the idea of this year’s Blogmas theme was actually my Mum – so a massive thank you to her! And as usual, I kind of snowballed from her idea and created an entire series of Blogmas content! 

WHY I’M DOING THIS… 

On thinking about the topic, the Social Media Manager had suggested, I decided to take on the theme for a number of reasons:

1.     So many Bloggers use this time of the year as an excuse to create elaborate gift guides full of items and products half of their readers may not be able to afford. This is one of the many reasons why I appreciate Victoria Magrath’s content on www.inthefrow.com because she tends to cater to her target audience and so the content and the price of the things she blogs about, are relevant and appropriate. Now, I’ve really enjoyed doing gift guides or picking out items and products which I would buy if I could afford it, but there’s a difference between letting your imagination run wild and giving your readers unrealistic goals and expectations.

WHY MY PETS HAVE A SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT | IN COLLABORATION WITH FLUFFY CREATURES LTD | DISCOUNT CODE INCLUDED | AD

*This piece is in collaboration with the Etsy store: Fluffy Creatures LTD and features photos of their products which weren’t gifted, though there is a discount code below!)*

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/FluffyCreatureLtd

https://www.instagram.com/fluffycreatureltd/

Discount code (20% off when you spend £10): NOTDISORDERED

So, you may have missed it, but I got a new mini lop lionhead bunny (Luna) on September 1^st (you can read about her arrival here) and it almost felt inevitable – to me – that I created a joint Instagram account for her and my little calico rescue cat; Emmy… 

https://www.instagram.com/big.pawslittle.paws/

A FRESH START

The reason I had to make the decision to even just get Luna was because my previous lop Lionhead bunny; Pixie was put to sleep in April (you can read about her death here).

ADVICE FOR BPD BLOGGERS & EVERYTHING IT MEANS TO BE IN THE TOP FIVE OF UK BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER BLOGS!! | PRETTY PERFECT PRODUCTS DISCOUNT CODE INCLUDED!!!

https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_borderline_personality_disorder_blogs/

For a while now, I’m NOT Disordered has been on the list of the top five blogs in the UK about Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), but now it’s been refreshed, and my blog is moving up (to number three), I thought I’d write a little piece about what it means to me, everything it’s making me think about, and any advice I have for other Bloggers to make the list…

“Mighty things from small beginnings grow” – John Dryden

Even over eight years later, it’s still overwhelming and startling to really consider and think about how I’m NOT Disordered started and then all that it is now!

In 2013, when I started blogging, there were about three well known mental health blogs, and none of them were written by a current psychiatric service user. It meant that I’m NOT Disordered had found a niche without even really trying; and I’m so grateful for that, because I think it’s something which has had a big impact on its popularity. I mean, why would people choose to read my blog over one with similar content?

In having this niche and the blogging market being completely unsaturated by mental health bloggers, it also meant that there was a lack of more experienced bloggers to look to for guidance and inspiration. I sort of felt as though I was learning as I went – and yes, that often meant learning through ‘mistakes’ or errors in judgment. And yes, that meant I was shedding tears of frustration and failure quite a lot, but it also meant that I was so much stronger for going through those instances. And that I now have the experience that I can use to help others to avoid having to go down the routes I did to learn these things.

HAPPY EASTER 2020 | IN COLLABORATION WITH LALEE LAND LDN | DISCOUNT CODE | AD

Quick post to wish you all a very Happy Easter and to show you my new bunny bracelet from the wonderful Lalee Land LDN (who collaborated with me on my Christmas Competition last year, you can read my review on some of their other amazing products here)! It’s a super cute little charm and you can even choose the colour of the thread!

And there’s so many more products on their Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/laleelandLDN

Once you’ve picked some products out, you can get 10% off your order by typing in IMNOTDISORDERED at the checkout!

https://twitter.com/LaleeLandLDN

https://www.instagram.com/laleelandldn/

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.

A YEAR WITH EMMY | MY EXCLUSIVE DESIGN FOR BANDANA BOWTIQUE & A DISCOUNT CODE | AD

When all the tears are rolling down your face

And it feels like yours was the only heart to break

When you come back home and all the lights are out, ooh

And you're getting used to no one else being around

Oh, oh, I'll be there

When you need a little love, I got a little love to share

Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna come through

You'll never be alone, I'll be there for you

Jess Glynne - I'll Be There

To celebrate Emmy's very first Adoptaversary I'm honoured to say that Bandana Bowtique gave me the opportunity to design a bandana for pets that will be sold on their Etsy shop! Having discovered how good it feels to have adopted a pet; I thought that this little slogan (Adopt Don't Shop) would be perfect!
You can also get 15% off any of their products with the code IMNOTDISORDERED at the checkout! 

Dear Emmy,


Happy First Adoptaversary!


I’m so sorry for the start you had in life - I wish I knew who had dumped you on the streets when you were only a few weeks old because I would kick their ass from here to next week! I’m so grateful that Willows Cat Adoption Center found you and helped you get to the point where I could adopt you! I think that being dumped made you a little fighter though! You’re strong-willed and unafraid (even of the Vets!). I’d like to think that makes you a little like me; you’ve had your courage and fight tested by hardships in life and you’ve come out the other side, the winner.

LESSONS LEARNT SINCE ADOPTING EMMY| IN COLLABORATION WITH BANDANA BOWTIQUE | EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT CODE INCLUDED | AD

“Even the smallest ones can change the world”

-       Peter Rabbit

 


You don’t have had to have been reading I’m NOT Disordered very long to know that my mental health is greatly benefited by having my pets (a two-year-old bunny named Pixie and a one-year-old kitten named Emmy) because I regularly talk about them, promote the general notion of having pets, and have collaborated on a few pieces for Pets at Home, Cats Protection and Willows Cat Adoption Centre. And if you know this, then you’ll appreciate my happiness when I found an excuse to go into my local Pets at Home; the bow on Emmy’s collar was frayed but things got even better when I spotted some new collars and accessories! I’ve always wanted to dress up my pets, but I’ve been very skeptical that they’d tolerate anything so when I fell in love with the ‘So Meowgical’ bandana for cats, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to give it a go! And, much to my excitement, Emmy loved her trendy new neckerchief and - as I said to my Mum - “she ponced about in it like she was all proud of herself!” And of course, once I’d seen that she liked it, I went ahead to searched for cat bandanas on Etsy! I’ve never used Etsy before but the price on the personalized neckerchief, from Bandana Bowtique, that I picked out was so good that I figured it wouldn’t matter too much if the order didn’t work. But of course, it did, and after the neckerchief was delivered in a matter of days (despite it only being a £1 delivery charge) I messaged the seller to suggest a collaboration. And I’m very pleased to say that Bandana Bowtique have offered you all an exclusive 15% discount code to use on their Etsy shop  - all you have to do is type in IMNOTDISORDERED at the checkout! 

TOP FIVE NOTEBOOKS THAT MAKE FOR WRITING INSPIRATION | FUTURE LEARN DISCOUNT CODE | AD

So I recently had a massive overhaul of my wardrobe and it spurred me on to sort through everything on the shelf under the coffee table. That shelf is like the ‘bottom drawer’ people talk about where you find random things and they just all go in that one place. Anyway! There was a ton of notebooks and organizers under there that weren’t being used and – I believed – weren’t going to be used. So of course, I threw out the lot and promptly started an online course with Future Learn! Going notebook shopping for taking notes on this new course inspired this post… I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about my favourite five notebooks, and the writing inspiration they bring:

‘MAKE TODAY GREAT’

https://www.paperchase.com/en_gb/gifts/gifts-for/stationery-lovers/moglea-make-today-great-lined-notebook.html

THE IMPORTANCE OF NOT TAKING ON TOO MUCH | FUTURE LEARN | AD

Recently, during my relapse, I’ve found that a lot of professionals and those who care about me (mainly my Mum) have talked to me about how much I take on in life.

They have helped me to realize that before the relapse, I was doing a lot of different things at once; from courses with Future Learn, to the problems of others, to projects with different organizations.

EDUCATION

There’re so many courses on Future Learn that I’d like to do at the moment, but I’ve learnt to do one at a time and to add the rest to my ‘Wishlist’ on the site. Now, I’m doing ‘Beyond Diagnosis:Is Psychiatric Diagnosis Helpful?’ which is a module facilitated by the University of Liverpool so it’s degree level learning. Considering the highest level, I’ve ever done was my A Levels in 2009…

EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT CODE!!! | THREE FUTURELEARN COURSES I'D RECOMMEND | FUTURELEARN | AD

I'm beyond excited to offer you all a discount code of 15% off a* FutureLearn course!

*this code only applies to courses that are available to upgrade and not for degree's or paid-for courses

Aimee_Wilson_15

(This code will only be available for the first 80 people to use it!)

For the Writer:

1.     Start Writing Fiction

This course eight-week course is developed by the Open University and you’re advised to spend three hours a week on it. It’s also completely FREE but for £42 you can ‘upgrade’ to have unlimited access (which means there’s no eight-week limit) and a certificate. In this course you will hear from established writers who will talk about how they first began writing, and you’ll learn how to keep a journal and use it as a tool to develop your ideas and document your inspiration.