THREE MILLION READERS!!!

“Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.”

Roy T. Bennett

When I’m NOT Disordered reached around 2,950,000 readers I realised I should start deciding/planning/preparing to write a celebratory blog post and then I made a bit of a mistake of asking AI (namely Chat GPT) for ideas on a theme or angle for it… Why was it a mistake? Because I loved almost all of its ideas! So, in this post, I will be chatting through a whole mix of bits and pieces about this achievement; reasons why I started, reasons why I temporarily quit, reasons why I kept going and the lessons I learned throughout those moments...

HOW I FEEL ABOUT ADVICE

I was recently out with some friends and we got talking about someone we know who recently flashed off her CV in a seemingly desperate bid to illustrate her entitlement to her position in teaching. Later in the conversation, one of my friends was praising my use of social media – namely Twitter - and asking for my thoughts on an online project; seemingly deeming me to be an ‘expert’ in the field! It made me think though, about whether I’m comfortable being thought of in that way and looked to for that kind of advice…


When I first started I’m NOT Disordered in January 2013, my only technical abilities were to manage my own social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I think that in starting to blog, my priorities were more about it being therapeutic for myself to reflect, to provide my friends and family with insight into my life in the psychiatric hospital over 100 miles away from them, and to encourage others to talk more openly about mental health. It was never about improving my technical ability, getting so many readers, free gifts, and event invitations. I think that the fact I didn’t start off with these intentions makes me feel slightly like a fraud and that it is wrong to accept any recognition for my ‘skills’ in achieving such opportunities.

BLOGMAS 2019 – POST FOUR : LESSONS LEARNT FROM FIRSTS | JACK & THE BEANSTALK PANTOMIME AT WHITLEY BAY PLAYHOUSE | 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 4th…

Yesterday (December 3^rd) I went to Whitley Bay Playhouse and saw Jack And The Beanstalk with my Mum. Now, should you be surprised that I’m not just writing a review on the pantomime? Not if you’re a long-time reader! There are so many excellent blogs out there that write great reviews, that you don’t need another one from me(!); so I like to put a different spin on things and with it being the first time I’ve seen this story, it got me thinking about writing this post on new things and firsts…

Ironically, I actually wasn’t sure where to start with this post because when I think of firsts, I immediately go to the negatives; the first time I self-harmed, my first suicide attempt, the first time I was sectioned… and I felt as though I shouldn’t talk about those things in Blogmas but hey! This is a mental health blog and mental health doesn’t just go away for December and Christmas! So, to put a positive spin on things; here’s the lessons I learnt from my firsts…