My Mental Health Journey: The Beginning

There's no reason behind this image choice other than I like it..

So cards on the table.. I'm nervous about writing this and even more so about actually clicking the button to publish it, so deep breath and let's go.

You may have noticed I've been on a bit of a "radio silence" for a few weeks, if you did then I'm really sorry! After working so hard to revamp the site at the beginning of the year I wasn't planning on disappearing on you guys.

So where was I? In the black hole where motivation, enthusiasm and self-worth go to die. Ok, that's a bit melodramatic, but I wasn't in a good place.

A lot of different circumstances and outside issues collided to make a pretty difficult period, I was struggling in almost every aspect of my life and while I wouldn't class myself as depressed during that time, I know from previous experience that I was pretty damn close.

At that time I was having issues with my physical health after an ankle injury meant I couldn't exercise properly, I was (and still am) caring for a disable relative and on top of that there's the boring old work stuff. It was a lot of things all piling on top of me.

It took a friend to sit me down and point out some of my warning signs (biting my thumb is a major one for me; it usually means I'm stressed as hell) for me to realise that I really wasn't coping as well as I thought I was and that the couple of days of not really wanting to do anything had turned into weeks.

So I listened to the people around me, I listened to my body and my mind and I decided to make some changes in my life. One of which means getting back to blogging.

That might not sound like a big deal, but writing and maintaining a blog is a lot of work, and it was definitely a source of anxiety for me. I don't try to emulate other writers, I don't pretend to have a perfect life or post hugely staged photos on instagram, nor do I go to those meetups or blogger events. There's nothing wrong with any of that, I admire the people who are able to do all of it, but it's not for me and it never will be. But despite that I still feel the pressure of wondering if not doing that devalues my work or makes me less likely to be taken seriously. So even not trying to keep up brings its own stresses.

Which brings me back to now, because I promised myself this wouldn't be a long post. My hope and intention is to get back into the swing of things and back into writing and sharing with you guys. I'm not going to commit to a timetable; I've never been good at saying "I'll post every Thursday" because my lifestyle just doesn't accomodate that, but I will write as often as I can and I will hopefully get back onto social media more because I love talking to people and seeing their lives through twitter and instagram.

One reason I want to get back into blogging is to share some of the things that have helped me start to fix the issues I was having; so products, foods, workouts, etc that just bring happiness and better mental state, as well as hopefully introducing both myself and you to some more.

The name of this blog is Life Appears, which comes from a quote from my favourite book of all time Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Charlotte also wrote in Jane Eyre that "I am no bird and no net ensnares me, I am a free human being with an independent will."

Seems a pretty good place to start the next stage of this journey don't you think?

I've linked up with: