I think it's safe to say that March has brought with it a lot of change! We end this month in a completely different place to where we were just a few short weeks ago. Needless to say, emotions are running high, and everybody is feeling the effects of this. But it hasn't all been bad...
As someone who is chronically ill I spend a lot of time stuck indoors and socially isolated. These are my top tips and resources for surviving social isolation.
I've loved Tamora Pierce's books since I was a teen, and I continue to read them to this day. So I decided to write about the different series and give you the opportunity to win a series of your choice.
Every year for the past few years I have pulled together a post for International Women’s Day, trying to link in with that year’s theme as best I can. This year’s theme is #EachforEqual and focuses on the idea that a gender equal society is an enabled society, meaning that gender equality leads to a …
Welcome to Living With… a new series I have created to highlight the reality of living with a variety of disabilities and chronic illnesses. The idea behind the series is to provide a space for others to share what it is like for them on a day-to-day basis, as well as how their health issues …
February has been a challenging month, with ongoing vertigo. But I've made lots of changes energetically speaking this month.
*Please note: This post uses an Amazon affiliate link, marked with an asterisk (*) in line with my Privacy Policy. A few years ago I started reading You Can Heal Your Life* by Louise L Hay, and immediately fell in love with the idea of using affirmations in my daily life. At that time I …
Over the years I have written a fair amount about faith and spirituality here at The Patch, and yet I don’t think it’s always abundantly clear exactly what it is I believe, nor how I came to be in this place. Whilst talking to my friend yesterday, she said something which really struck home. She …
Disclaimer: please note that this post includes Amazon affiliate links, which are marked with an asterisk [*] wherever used. If you click on these links and then purchase the item, I will receive a small financial payment, as explained in my Disclosure Policy. I only use affiliate links for items that I have used and …
Every year I like to choose a focus word, something which will (hopefully) help me to grow and develop as the months progress. Some years I have great success with this, and 2015 is a perfect example of this. I chose the word “Surrender” that year, and I couldn’t have picked a more poignant word. …
Like many of you, today I feel utterly defeated. Despite fighting through the impact of nine years of Tory Austerity, and trying my hardest to use my voice to speak up for those whose lives have been deeply damaged by it, it wasn’t enough. The 2019 General Election was very clearly fought with Brexit first …
This is the second of two posts looking at the climate and ecological crisis and the UK policy response. Part one dealt with climate change and carbon emissions. This post will look at nature and biodiversity.
A few weeks ago, my friend Cheryl started posting lots of information on Facebook about the climate crisis, and I learnt so much from her. As much as I care about what is happening in our world, I feel overwhelmed by all the data, so it was super helpful to have someone condense it all …
Something I have come to understand over the past couple of years, thanks in large part to people like Kate from LesBeMums, is that we ALL have privilege and that we need to be doing more to face up to and tackle inequality.
[Ad/Gifted – The yarn used in this post was provided by Love Crafts. All thoughts are my own.] It’s no secret that I love a good homemade gift, both as the recipient and the giver of such gifts. But one thing I haven’t spoken about as much is how important it is to me that …
It’s World Mental Health Day today, and I wanted to take a moment to talk to you about the different ways in which our mental health can suffer. Because none of us are immune to this, no matter how much we may like to think we are. And so it’s important to remember that not …
Sometimes I wish I could care less about things. It would be much easier to accept the status quo. But we live in an increasingly polarised world, and we need people to care. A lot.
So often in life it is really easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the negatives, isn’t it? We see all the things that haven’t gone our way, all the things we don’t have, and all the things we can’t do. And it’s understandable, because life is hard. But changing your perception can have …
Oh my goodness, I can’t quite believe I am writing this post. Earlier this year I mentioned that I would appreciate nominations for the Inspire category in The Brilliance in Blogging (The BiBs) Awards this year, but knew it was a bit of a long shot. The BiBs, run by BritMums, celebrate the best Parent …
Today my herbalist and I talked about the effects of chronic stress and how the body can get stuck in fight or flight mode.
[AD – Gifted] Disclaimer: I was sent a free review copy of ‘Get Your Kids To Eat Anything’.
Goal-setting is something I have heard of a lot over the past few years. Working, as I did, in online media, it’s hard to miss all the posts aimed at helping you become the best version of yourself and live your dream. And I have nothing against it per se, but it can begin to …
Did you know that 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which happened in June 1969 and are generally considered a major turning point in the civil rights movement that the LGBTQ+ Community is still fighting today? I’ll admit that I didn’t realise this until I started researching this post, which shows just …
In my previous post I briefly touched upon all the unprocessed anger and grief related to my life as a Spoonie, and the ways in which being chronically ill has impacted my life and broken my dreams. But the one emotion I’ve never managed to squash down and avoid is guilt. Perhaps this is because …
As you may have guessed from my previous post, I’ve been feeling pretty down about things lately. In some ways this is a huge leap forward for me, as I have spent a lot of my life trying to avoid this kind of feeling. I haven’t wanted to become a victim of my life’s circumstances, …
