I'm not sure if the time is right for me to post this here as this is something I am still dealing with, but I feel like I am making a recovery right now and I am in a better place than I have been in for a while. I want to talk about anxiety & depression, something I have been dealing with for some time now, a little on my own but now I am seeking help and I have the support of my family and my loving boyfriend.
The statistics for mental health in the UK alone are staggering, 1 in 4 people in the UK will suffer with a mental illness over the course of a year. That's a lot of people, and I would hate to think that anyone would suffer alone, but people do. And if I can help one person by just talking about this on such an open forum then I would feel that I had made an impact.
I want to stress how important it is to speak to someone, anyone. My recovery has been slow but effective and it's thanks to speaking to someone. The first person I really spoke to was Ian and wanting to plan our future together I was really inspired to sort my head out. I was sick of feeling down ...something that was really hard for me to come out and say.
I spoke to my GP and I was referred to a councillor, who has been nothing but wonderful for me. And I have nothing but good things to say about the NHS, my referral was super quick and my GP and therapist have been fantastic to speak to. I can't comment on anyone in any other part of the world, but I know the NHS have been wonderful. I have also been prescribed anti-depressants which the jury is still out on.
I suffer with serious anxiety and I have panic attacks over what would seem to be small things. I struggle to go anywhere busy (or not busy for that matter). But I have made a promise to myself that I will get better.
One thing I hate more than anything is the serious lack of understanding for mental health issues, what if we were to treat physical illnesses the same way mental illness is treated? It wouldn't be acceptable! Mental illnesses can be just as debilitating as some physical illnesses. Mental illness shouldn't be, and isn't something to be ashamed of. I know it's not easy to speak about it openly, and certainly something that I'm sure nobody would want to broadcast to the whole world, but people should feel comfortable to speak about these things openly where appropriate to them.
I am in no way a mental health expert, nor am I a doctor or a therapist, this is just me talking about my own experiences. Please, if you are worried about your own mental health or someone else's, talk to someone. If you feel like you have nobody to talk to, please feel free to email me or comment on this post, go to your doctor, talk to family or friends. Someone, anyone. I promise you are not alone.
Elizabeth x
Monday 7 January 2013
Things Kids Don't Get Taught & Definitely Should!
I've been thinking, as a newly fully fledged adult, that kids don't get taught some pretty important life lessons, either in school or by their parents, friends & families. If you have any others that you think of leave them in the comments, I'd love to spark and interesting discussion about this!
First off, being fat isn't important, being thin isn't important. Being happy and healthy is important. As mentioned in my previous post (stop slut shaming), society and the media have a very strong idea of what makes a woman beautiful. Fuck that, everyone is beautiful in their own skin, confidence is sexy, happiness is beautiful.
Kids are taught that homosexuality is okay, and so they should be, homosexuality is wonderful and should be more widely accepted. But let's teach kids that bisexuality & pansexuality is okay too, so is asexuality. You don't need to want to have a sexual relationship with anyone.
Kids, and girls especially are taught about how to 'look good', by removing body hair. Legs, armpits, bikini line etc. If you don't want to do that, you don't have to! If you want to...cool, but make the decision based on your own preferences, not anyone else's preferences. I shave my armpits because I think they smell worse when I don't (phew!), but I very rarely shave my legs, because I don't always want to. See how simple that is?
Something that has always confused me is how kids are never taught real 'life' skills in schools. They should be taught about taxes and mortgages and finding a job and a career and paying bills. We live in a time that is experiencing serious financial problems, and I can't help but wonder if we were educated better maybe this situation wouldn't be so terrible?
If you don't identify with your own gender, that is totally fine. If you're born a man, and you see yourself as a woman...good for you, you go be a woman if you want. Nobody should be able to stop you from doing that. It's your body and your brain and that's okay.
Hate is something that people are born with, it's something that is taught. So let's change it...let's teach kids to be accepting, well rounded individuals.
Elizabeth x
First off, being fat isn't important, being thin isn't important. Being happy and healthy is important. As mentioned in my previous post (stop slut shaming), society and the media have a very strong idea of what makes a woman beautiful. Fuck that, everyone is beautiful in their own skin, confidence is sexy, happiness is beautiful.
Kids are taught that homosexuality is okay, and so they should be, homosexuality is wonderful and should be more widely accepted. But let's teach kids that bisexuality & pansexuality is okay too, so is asexuality. You don't need to want to have a sexual relationship with anyone.
Kids, and girls especially are taught about how to 'look good', by removing body hair. Legs, armpits, bikini line etc. If you don't want to do that, you don't have to! If you want to...cool, but make the decision based on your own preferences, not anyone else's preferences. I shave my armpits because I think they smell worse when I don't (phew!), but I very rarely shave my legs, because I don't always want to. See how simple that is?
Something that has always confused me is how kids are never taught real 'life' skills in schools. They should be taught about taxes and mortgages and finding a job and a career and paying bills. We live in a time that is experiencing serious financial problems, and I can't help but wonder if we were educated better maybe this situation wouldn't be so terrible?
If you don't identify with your own gender, that is totally fine. If you're born a man, and you see yourself as a woman...good for you, you go be a woman if you want. Nobody should be able to stop you from doing that. It's your body and your brain and that's okay.
Hate is something that people are born with, it's something that is taught. So let's change it...let's teach kids to be accepting, well rounded individuals.
Elizabeth x
Stop Slut Shaming!
Today I went on my FaceBook and saw a girl I know post that her school was full of 'sluts', and mentioned wearing skirts and girls who look like sluts as a result. This sparked my desire to write about this again, and I know there has been a lot of posts and vlogs about this recently, some of which I agree with and some of which I disagree with, I'll post some video links below. Women, as a gender have a really rough time of things, in the media and with social perceptions of 'perfect', and I really don't think we need to make things harder for each other by hating on other girls!
Ladies, I want you to think about a time when you've seen another girl, in public, on TV, in a magazine...wherever, and you've thought to yourself "she looks like a slut" or something similar, if you've made comments on her looks, her hair, her clothes or her makeup, judging her solely on these features. Now I want you to look at yourself and think what other girls might say about you, and I want you to think how unfounded their comments would be...you're a nice person, right? You have a wonderful personality and people just need to get to know you, right? Bam.
Not one female in this world is totally secure with themselves, some people more secure than others...sure. But everyone has hangups about something, and trust me you are your own worst critic. But honestly, the last thing anyone needs is hating on for something as trivial as appearance or promiscuity, especially not from other girls...we all need to support each other, we all know what we're going through more than anyone else ever could, so why are we hating on each other so much?
Also, if a girl wants to be with more than one sexual partner or a lot of sexual partners, that is totally fine, as long, of course she is being safe. It is not one persons place to judge someone else's sex life. Your body, your choice! It is not important how many people someone has slept with in their life.
So basically what I'm saying is stop the girl hate, it's not cool. And I'm not saying I'm innocent of judging another girl or saying horrible things about her before knowing anything about her, but it's my new years resolution to be more aware of what I'm saying about someone. Let's look after each other ladies, yeah?
Elizabeth x
Laci Green puts what I'm saying in a more wonderful way here:
http://youtu.be/1t0UvvYs3AE
And Jenna Marbles (disappointingly) showcases exactly what we shouldn't be doing.
http://youtu.be/EU20JnsYiXc
Ladies, I want you to think about a time when you've seen another girl, in public, on TV, in a magazine...wherever, and you've thought to yourself "she looks like a slut" or something similar, if you've made comments on her looks, her hair, her clothes or her makeup, judging her solely on these features. Now I want you to look at yourself and think what other girls might say about you, and I want you to think how unfounded their comments would be...you're a nice person, right? You have a wonderful personality and people just need to get to know you, right? Bam.
Not one female in this world is totally secure with themselves, some people more secure than others...sure. But everyone has hangups about something, and trust me you are your own worst critic. But honestly, the last thing anyone needs is hating on for something as trivial as appearance or promiscuity, especially not from other girls...we all need to support each other, we all know what we're going through more than anyone else ever could, so why are we hating on each other so much?
Also, if a girl wants to be with more than one sexual partner or a lot of sexual partners, that is totally fine, as long, of course she is being safe. It is not one persons place to judge someone else's sex life. Your body, your choice! It is not important how many people someone has slept with in their life.
So basically what I'm saying is stop the girl hate, it's not cool. And I'm not saying I'm innocent of judging another girl or saying horrible things about her before knowing anything about her, but it's my new years resolution to be more aware of what I'm saying about someone. Let's look after each other ladies, yeah?
Elizabeth x
Laci Green puts what I'm saying in a more wonderful way here:
http://youtu.be/1t0UvvYs3AE
And Jenna Marbles (disappointingly) showcases exactly what we shouldn't be doing.
http://youtu.be/EU20JnsYiXc
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