MY EDINBURGH RECOMMENDATIONS | IN COLLABORATION WITH EDINBURGH BUS TOURS

To bring you something a bit different, with very little mention of mental health(!), I’ve teamed up with Edinburgh Bus Tours to bring to you this piece about my greatest recommendations for a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland…

When I was younger, if I was going to visit somewhere, my first ‘must-see’ was the stores! If I spotted a River Island or New Look then who cared about a huge castle or an impressive cathedral?! However, now that I’m thirty-one, I’m finding that when I go on a trip these days, I’m more interested in seeing the sights because I recognise that I can’t see them back home; so booking a tour route (there are a number to choose from – or you can purchase a ticket that allows you to do any/all of them!) with Edinburgh Bus Tours seemed like an obvious way to do this on my trip.

I chose the Majestic tour because it included some city sights and a costal one (The Royal Yacht Britannia on Leith coast) – I like the Coast in terms of photographs, but I’m a ‘city girl’ at heart! And this tour seemed to be the best of both worlds! The variety of the tours; their mix of theme and their different routes around Edinburgh really provide a brilliant opportunity for absolutely anyone’s preferences to be catered to.

TWELVE OF THE BEST BUNNY BUYS| MARKING TWELVE MONTHS WITHOUT PIXIE | IN COLLABORATION WITH AMAZON UK

This blog post had the huge potential to be incredibly emotional and overwhelming but having just published two pieces with an abundance of those exact qualities (the one marking fifteen years since the abuse ended and the poem), I thought it would be a bit too much. And that opinion isn’t solely about wanting content that appeals to my readership, it’s also about recognising my own boundaries and tolerance levels. I mean, there’s only so much I can cope with delving into and writing about! So, when Amazon UK asked to do a collaboration, I had the idea to create this more fun and happy post of a little list of items on amazon.co.uk that I think my new bunny (Luna) would want me to recommend...

Wooden Rabbit Hutch: £129.99

This is honestly my dream hutch for Luna! I like that it has the covered area on the top floor because since Luna jumped from my arms and injured her back, she’s become a bit nervous and really likes to spend time somewhere sheltered and private. I also love that it has wheels because half of it would go in the space where my undercounter fridge used to be so to clean it out, it’d be easy to just roll it forwards. Since this is fairly expensive (though I think it’s a good price for the size of it!), I’d definitely recommend checking out all the measurements because the space for Luna’s hutch just isn’t big enough for this – it’s literally the only thing stopping me from getting it! I definitely think it’s worth the price tag though because rabbits can live fairly long (something which first time owners aren’t always aware of), so it’d last a good while.

ADVENT CALENDARS FOR LITERALLY EVERYONE!! | IN COLLABORATION WITH AMAZON | AD

So, I thought I had decided that I wanted a particular branded beauty Advent Calendar this year, but I found that my budget wasn’t going to stretch that far. So, I began searching for alternatives and ended up teaming up with Amazon to show you their massive variety of Advent Calendars for 2021…

Five TV & Film Advent Calendars: 

1.     Harry Potter Advent Calendar: £22.99

2.     Star Wars Advent Calendar: £17.99

3.     Lego Marvel The Avengers: £24.99

4.     Dr Who: £109.99

5.     National Geographic: £39.99

BLOGMAS 2020 WITH I’M NOT DISORDERED | RECOMMENDATION NINTEEEN: BOOKS | IN COLLABORATION WITH WATERSTONES | AD

Hello and welcome to recommendation nineteen of Blogmas 2020 with I’m NOT Disordered!

Today, I’ll be talking about the importance of books and reading for your mental health, as well as recommending a few of my absolute favourite books, with the help of Waterstones!

So, I’ve picked six books which I think illustrate six of the benefits reading can have on your mental health (these are in no particular order):

 

1.  Escape

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Screenplay by J K Rowling: £6.99

“I’ve chosen my side.” 

I think that all of the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts books and films have hugely had this component to them and that a lot of people who have read and watched the series have also felt that doing so, provided them with a huge opportunity to escape their reality.

Something I especially love about this series is that everything around magic is written in a believable, trustworthy way. Like, it had me thinking ‘that could actually happen!’ It’s a brilliant way to encourage the reader to let their imagination really run wild and to envision a whole alternate world. And doing that, means your head isn’t in this world and experiencing the difficulties and hardship you might be going through.

In Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) you’re taught to use distraction and mindfulness as a method to cope when you’re struggling with your mental health. The distraction part is pretty obvious, but mindfulness in regard to distraction is all about putting all your energy and focus into doing this one alternative activity. And it’s about bringing your mind back to the activity if it starts to ‘wander.’ You will most likely use these skills in reading in general, but I think it’s especially easy to use them in reading this book in particular.

BLOGMAS 2020 WITH I’M NOT DISORDERED | RECOMMENDATION FIFTEEN: CHRISTMAS WITH ASOS | IN COLLABORATION WITH ASOS | AD

Hello and welcome to recommendation number fifteen of Blogmas 2020 with I’m NOT Disordered!

Today, I’ve chosen some of my favourite Winter/Christmas bits from ASOS and put them into a little unboxing vlog as well as linked them all here for you to look at and maybe even purchase! Oh! And I picked out some extra bits and pieces because ASOS is just full of amazing Christmassy items!

Products mentioned:

Typo Knitted Stocking Christmas Decoration: £5.00

Typo Gingerbread House: £3.00

Brave Soul Gingerbread Christmas Jumper: £15.00

Fizz Selfie Lens Kit: £3.55

Typo Eye Mask & Luggage Tag: £5.40

ASOS Fairisle Knitted Jumper (Mens): £30.00

Chelsea Peers Christmas Pyjamas Set: £22.00

Skinny Dip Christmas Sweater: £25.00

Skinny Dip Christmas T-Shirt: £15.00

3-in-1 Charger: £9.99

Revolution Beauty Advent Calendar: £40.00

 

BLOGMAS 2020 WITH I’M NOT DISORDERED | RECOMMENDATION FOURTEEN: CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Hello and welcome to recommendation number fourteen in Blogmas 2020 with I’m NOT Disordered!

Today I’ll be recommending some Christmassy movies that you should be watching to brighten your day and get you in the festive spirit!

Watching movies was one of the many, simple things I missed out on when I was an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital for two and a half years. We were allowed TVs, DVD players, and Freeview boxes in our rooms but we couldn’t watch anything until the evening when we had finished our therapeutic groups (there was a timetable and everything!). And what we did watch was regulated by the staff who banned films like Girl Interrupted because they believed it to be triggering and inspirational (in a bad way, obviously).

However, one of my favourite memories from being in that hospital (there were some good times too!) was lying in bed with one of the girls I’d come to be closest to on Boxing Day, and watching the Disney film; Tangled! I think it was especially nice that it was Boxing Day because it made the movie even more of a distraction and a brilliant method of escape! Being in a psychiatric hospital at Christmastime is so sad because so many traditional things are missed out on – not just visiting Christmas Markets or going to a carol service, but also not being able to have things like tinsel (ligature risk) and fairy lights (breakable glass to self-harm with)!