Happy Girl Winter: How to Overcome Seasonal Depressive Disorder
‘I Felt Ashamed and Unworthy of Love’: My HPV Diagnosis and Overcoming Internalised Misogyny and STI Stigma
My gynaecologist was shocked: she had never experienced anyone so young developing cancer so quickly. I was also shocked. I felt like my womb had failed me. I felt incredibly disconnected from my body, in constant stress and fear of having to endure heavier procedures. I felt dirty, ashamed, and unworthy of love and happiness…
‘More Than Just Social Connections’: The Power of Female Friendships as a Source of Strength, Empowerment and Understanding
I’ve always considered myself a girls’ girl. It’s always been easy making friends with other females, but it wasn’t until I entered my thirties that I started to reflect on not only the friendships I was fostering in my life, but which ones truly fulfilled me and empowered me – all my girl friends came to mind. Female friendships are more than just social connections; they are a source of strength, empowerment and understanding…
‘Grief is Like Being in Pitch Darkness’: Navigating the Sudden Death of My Mum
In the days and weeks that followed, I noticed that a fundamental part of me had left with her. I felt a permanent shift at the core of who I was. Like countries that were once together that are now forever set apart. A seismic shift. If I only exist because of her, how can I exist without her? Everything I knew about death seemed so confusing…
‘Loneliness is the Ebb and Flow of an Unsettled Tide’: PTSD and its Repercussions on Relationships
Symptoms of the disorder include distressing dreams, flashbacks, hypervigilance, negative beliefs about oneself, reckless behaviour, persistent negative emotional state and dissociation, to name a few. See, my loneliness doesn’t relate to anyone in my social circle; that’s the challenging part to understand. It relates to my trauma. I can be surrounded by people that love me and still feel detached and misunderstood by every single one of them…
‘I Began to Question My Sanity’: Dealing with Abusive Relationships and the Aftermath of Trauma
My heart yearns to give, help, and fix. Often, it went unnoticed or unwanted. Patterns of unhealthy, unstable friendships and relationships emerged with the same lesson every time. Yet I still couldn’t grasp what I was doing wrong. It was like Einstein’s Theory of Insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. I was pouring from an empty cup, abusing myself by denying myself the simple things I needed…