What to do when life throws you a curveball. Ducking, and diving, riding the wave, roll with the punches, taking it one day at a time. Whatever you like to call life’s curveballs, sometimes an almighty tidal wave swallows you whole, and you just have to deal with it the best way you can. The last year has been hard. Pandemic anyone? But then on top of that, we’ve all had our own personal stories to deal with. As the…
What are Boundaries? If you look up boundary in the dictionary, you’ll find several definitions. Boundary: A real or imagined line that marks the edge or limit of something. The limit of a subject or principle. The limit of what someone considers to be acceptable behaviour. Until I started training to become a counsellor, I hadn’t given much thought to boundaries. But I soon learnt they’re an important part of the counselling process. Within a therapeutic relationship, boundaries are set…
Training to become a counsellor isn’t easy. Getting out of my comfort zone, learning to be vulnerable, and becoming self-aware are the things that have pushed me to my limits. In order to deal with the last two, I’ve had to push through the first one – repeatedly. When I was on level 2, a level 3 student came to talk to our class, and he described the training as being turned inside out and back again. Someone else described…
In 2019, I took on one of the biggest challenges of my life. I went back to college and started training to become a counsellor. I’ve heard people say that being a counsellor is a second career. Something else has already come before it, and somewhere in your 30s or 40s, you realise it’s time for a change. Depending on how long you count as a career, in my case, it’s probably my third or fourth! CAD Technician, self-employed photographer…
The positive health benefits of getting outside are huge, and now more than ever we need to think about our mental and physical health. The last year has been difficult for everyone, and if I had to describe it in 3-words, I’d choose, challenging, overwhelming, and emotional. Not only have we had the pandemic to contend with, but we’ve also had the other curveballs that life likes to throw at us. Some people are dealing with loss and grief, while…
Follow my blog with Bloglovin What does Self-Care Mean to You? was first published in December 2018 and updated in February 2021. Self-care. It’s such a broad term – but what is it? Definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary include: The practice of taking action to preserve or improve one’s own health and the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s own well-being and happiness, in particular during periods of stress. What is Self-Care? Although the act of self-care may look…
Today is Time to Talk Day. The aim being, to get people to open up and talk about mental health, helping to break down barriers and myths. Mental health problems can affect anyone, regardless of age, race, religion, or background, and throughout the year, 1 in 4 of us will experience some kind of mental health issue. Unfortunately, there are still some stigmas around mental health, and Time to Talk Day is about encouraging people to start conversations, helping to…
Goodbye 2020. Hello 2021. Well, it’s that time of year again. Every January, I like to take a look in my rear-view mirror and reflect on the last 12-months, and crikey – what a year it’s been. I, like many others, thought that COVID-19 would never reach the UK. But when it did, I thought it would soon blow over. As it quickly started spreading throughout the country, I realised it wasn’t that simple and the seriousness of the pandemic…
Follow my blog with Bloglovin Here’s a post from my trip to Austria back in 2018, when we did a 10-mile circular hike from Strobl to Rotwandl. With the current global pandemic, I have no plans to travel anytime soon, so I’ve decided to go back through my old trips and publish stories I never got around to. After hitting the snooze button 3 times, my alarm finally fell silent and I fell back to sleep. At 7am I woke…
