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People who don’t respect you, your needs or your boundaries can be detrimental to your mental health
19/10/2018 13:27 BST
I speak from experience. I am a great magnet for stress-related illness. So in order to make sure my ageing body doesn't crumble into a pile of jittering nerve endings I try to look after myself in a very lazy, non-committal way. So here are some things busy people forget to do, which might make you feel less shitty.
03/10/2017 11:30 BST
If you're wondering, I still don't have a plan. Everyday is still fraught with some navel-gazing existential crisis. I still think about moving to the sea and getting a dog. I'm sure I'll finish that novel and change the world. But if I do those things, it won't be so other people can perceive me as successful. It'll be so I can find some modicum of unspoilt happiness, and in quiet moments of reflection, I can say "Gee. I'm really something."
09/03/2017 16:15 GMT
If you can't tell your manager or you're not sure you want to talk to your HR team just yet, talk to someone independent like the CAB or your union. I know this can be a tall order when you're not feeling brave, or you're afraid of repercussions. But we need to support each other to shout louder, to say no. Because if we don't tackle it, who will?
12/08/2016 16:41 BST
The idea that people are now feeling empowered by this vote to scream at people like me in the face, telling me to go home when this is the only home I know, is too much to process. Until now, I've never thought I needed to be afraid.
28/06/2016 10:20 BST
There is life after alcohol: I've always been a strong believer in 'in vino veritas' but not drinking has allowed me to know my true self sober. I haven't had a drink since 2015. Spoiler alert: it's not the alcohol making the poor choices. It's you.
08/06/2016 10:31 BST
When I was 17 years old a man pulled over an articulated lorry on a busy road to hit on me. I can't be sure, but I think that's when a lifetime of being hit on constantly began. Now wait - before you think "ugh, what is this woman complaining about now?" I'm here to explain why women need to stop thinking other women are bragging when they tell these stories.
11/04/2016 15:32 BST
The problem is, when we start telling ourselves we're totally rad, we tend to stop moving forward and we stop improving as people. We start to blame other people when things go wrong. We blame our employer, the system or the world because "I'm doing everything right so it must be someone else's fault".
02/04/2016 01:03 BST
I've had all the notifications turned off on my phone for about a year now. Nobody would ever know, though. I never miss a thing. Because the damn phone is always in my hand. I'm never not looking at it. On the rare occasions I'm not looking at it, I'm thinking about the fact that I'm not looking at it. I'm in an unhealthy relationship with my phone and we need to break up.
18/03/2016 17:37 GMT
I'm what waiters, dinner party hosts and anyone who can't mind their own business might call a dietetic pain in the ass. In the last few years, I've become a prolific giver-upper of things, which can sort of make me difficult to cater for. It does not however, make me difficult to be around.
07/03/2016 09:55 GMT
Looking over what I'm saying, it makes it sound like I am just deeply selfish and unwilling to compromise. I can give you a few testimonials from people who love me that will tell you the opposite (hi mum!). I just feel that being alone should be everybody's default position and that needing company, at most, should be our secondary state of being.
01/03/2016 11:58 GMT
