What a time to be alive
What a time to be alive

All we need is love. It’s a silent language, it can bring us together and pull us apart, but ultimately it is the one force that can change lives forever, even if it’s super hard to love ourselves. It is the one thing that hits us right in the heart when unexpected adversity strikes us and makes us grateful. I’m entering the new year with no resolutions, more with this mantra: “Find yourself, be yourself, love yourself.”. I hope that people may have the courage to just be themselves and to do whatever makes them happy.  

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ResilienceClairenew year, gratitude, kindness, self-love, love, mental health, anxiety, resolutions
Good enough is good enough
Good enough is good enough

Aspirations like these don’t make you complete. They don’t make you worthy, they don’t make you enough. They don’t make you you. If we keep seeking for something so hard, do we ever have a chance of getting near it? In the words of Salvador Dali “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.” So I’m going to try my best to be an imperfect perfectionist. 

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Emotions and feelingsClairemental health, imperfection, perfectionism, anxiety, self-love, kindness, desire, love
This is for me and you.
This is for me and you.

A couple of my friends labelled themselves as “broken” when I was chatting with them recently about how they feel mentally or physically. Not only did this prompt me to think of what I could say to them to make them feel even a little bit better, but it made me reflect on all of the harsh self talk I bombard myself with and how I could fight back. Here’s what I came up with…this is for me and you.

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GratitudeClairequotes, kindness, self-care, broken, anxiety, mental health, compassion, gratitude, overwhelm, work-life
Time to take stress seriously (notes to a stressed self)
Time to take stress seriously (notes to a stressed self)

Many of us are tired, deflated, and stressed. Life isn’t simple anymore. We all want to slow down but quickly. Our attention spans are severely compromised by multi tasking on an epic scale...not just at work but in our leisure time too. We’re stuck in fast forward mode where we want things (money, cars, muscles, better jobs to name but a few) quickly. We want happiness but make ourselves unhappy by pushing ourselves to find it. What if we were to just slow down? 

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StressClairestress, anxiety, mental health, self-care, depression, angst, breathe, mindfulness, workplace, sleep, eating, alcohol
How it vegan
How it vegan

See the brain is a funny thing. I had such strong conditioned beliefs built up over many years, that I filtered out or reinterpreted all fact-based evidence challenging them. I’ve always been against animal cruelty and would actually admit to feeling more connected to animals than humans. I knew the “organic” labels on my dairy and eggs meant nothing and this all came from an “industry”, but I kept on eating them (the technical term for this is cognitive dissonance). 

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LifestyleClaireLifestyle, vegan, meatfree, nutrition, health, fitness, compassion, diet, food, animals
Living with anxiety
Living with anxiety

So let’s carry on living even when our shoulders are heavy, and take these awareness weeks and days to tell the truth if we can. I’m posting this here in the hope that someone who needs to know it, will know they’re not alone. I’m waving from where I am to you - just know you are stronger than your anxiety, you can do this and it is absolutely ok if you are not feeling ok. 

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AnxietyDawnanxiety, mental health, stigma, depression, time to talk, kindness, compassion, self-love
Oversharers anonymous: The millennial viewpoint
Oversharers anonymous: The millennial viewpoint

So now, in 2018, how did we end up feeling the need to Instagram, Tweet and Facebook everything? To check in at each location (and casually advertise our empty houses and very disposable millennial-parent-sponge-because-the-mortgage-dream-is-slow-to-realise income) we go to and show off the shiny days of our lives?

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Social mediaDawnsocial media, facebook, instagram, twitter, snapchat, millennials, hobbies, addiction, mental health, smartphones, tablets
An open love letter to my body
An open love letter to my body

We live in a world where media and popular culture tells us that there is a body norm and that not sticking to it is harmful or unattractive. Indeed, it is how the dieting industry got so rich. Here is my letter to my body, apologising on their behalf as I try to shed the toxicity that has built up in my mind about it for years. I hope that you find something that strikes a chord in this. We were not built to hate ourselves. If you could cut everyone out of a mould, how boring would that be?!

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Self-loveDawnbody positivity, body neutrality, happiness, body image, eating disorders, disordered eating, mental health, media, popular culture, writing, nutrition, anti-dieting, excerise
Feeling the love from within on Valentine’s Day
Feeling the love from within on Valentine’s Day

We are in the short season where everything is pink, covered in heart-shaped confetti, Greggs are taking dinner bookings in some parts of the UK (and to be fair I would be up for that!), and Baileys just brought out a strawberry flavour. That is just the beginning of what is happening in your high street – I’m always curious to see the most extravagant thing! (show us what you find!). 

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LoveDawnlove, self care, self-love, kindness, finding love, rupaul, drag race, valentine's day, love from within
Time to talk...or time to write?
Time to talk...or time to write?

A smile, hug, or kind gesture have the potential to make a difference to someone's day, but getting back to basics, writing to someone can speak volumes. This doesn't have to be a long letter. We live in a world of text and email communication fed by busyness and stress and often a text is just the easiest way of "chatting". You may not receive an immediate response, but check in daily if you can -- there's nothing nicer than knowing someone is thinking of you.

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WritingClairemental health, anxiety, talking, writing, therapy, time to talk, listening
Talking for the first time
Talking for the first time

It wasn’t an easy choice to seek help, and for once it’s not something I’m finding easy to write about, but it’s time to talk. It’s just as normal as a blood test for your tiredness or a cast on a broken leg. To make it real, to help me process it, and so maybe I can add my voice to those helping pave an easier path to understanding about our mental health.

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TherapyDawnmental health, time to talk, anxiety, therapy, self-love, self-care, talkaboutit, listening
Mundane self-care!
Mundane self-care!

I advocate taking a deep breath. Giving yourself time. Do what you can and then congratulate yourself on that. Yeah, you might feel like a child for giving yourself a sticker for seeing a dentist, like a child, but guess what? We all have an inner child that needs looking after, too, and taking that time to acknowledge looking after yourself helps to fan that fog away, trust me.

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Self-loveDawnself care, self-love, mental health, anxiety, mindfulness, love, happiness, kindness, january, indulgence
New Year: Look after you
New Year: Look after you

Self-care is all too often overlooked, yet so important for our physical and mental wellbeing. Let’s face it, life’s challenges aren’t going to get any easier if we don’t take care of our minds and bodies. In a world fuelled by “busyness” and a self-reliance/winning through life culture, it can be difficult to justify taking the time to nurture ourselves. Self-care is not selfish: we all have needs and we all deserve to be loved. We are all enough. 

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Self-loveMindfizzJanuary, new year, mental health, self-love, mindfulness, anxiety, compassion, kindness, friendship, resilience
New year, same me!
New year, same me!

A new year also means resolutions and they always seem so… ‘New Year New Me’. Gyms will be congested with bright-eyed people for a fortnight. Slimming clubs will have queues out the door. People will liquidise green things and flavour them with tears of disappointment. And then, because we are human, we will revert back to the people we were before we pretended we were someone else.

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New YearDawnnew year, resolutions, mental health, anxiety, mindfulness, exercise, social media, self care, kindness
Christmas is...
Christmas is...

Yes, Christmas is about rejoicing with family and friends, but don’t forget to do what you want to do too. Or truly embrace what you need right now. The pressure may be on to fulfil commitments, but if you don’t want the added stress of preparing for a Christmas party or to drive 200 miles to visit relatives, it’s okay to think of yourself. You are totally enough.

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ChristmasClaireChristmas, mental health, mindfulness, anxiety, greed, glitter, consum, consumerism, alcohol