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As I did in 2016, I set myself another reading target for this year – 40 books this time and I just about made it! I’ve read so many great books in 2017 but here are some that stand out. The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck – Sarah Knight This is a book that I recommend to anyone who tells me that they are doing things they don’t even want to. The subtitle of this book is ‘How to stop…
Following on from my last post about what therapy taught me about relationships, here is what it taught me about managing emotions. (The treatment that I had was Mentalisation Based Therapy which you can read all about through this blog.) To start off I should explain what I mean when I talk about ‘managing’ or ‘regulating’ emotions. For me, it is about being able to identify my emotions, to…
I talk and write a lot about how beneficial therapy is/was for me. I wanted to give an overview of the changes that happened for me during my course of Mentalisation Based Therapy. This will act as a record for me of my progress and will hopefully allow others an insight into what can potentially be achieved through therapy. The focus of this post will be on what MBT taught me about…
It’s been a while since I’ve posted here so… hi again. I’ve kind of fallen out of love with writing and well, life has been more chaotic than ever. I thought I’d ease myself back into blogging with something a bit simple to write. So, I thought I’d share a few things about myself that readers of this blog might not already know. I studied History & Philosophy at university. I got a degree and I’m…
When I thought about my course of therapy, I worried about hating everyone in group. I was concerned about my individual therapist leaving due to historic occurrences. But I never really considered the end. As is the nature of NHS treatment and psychotherapy more generally, it wasn’t going to last forever. I knew it would be 18 months yet, I never really grasped how the ending might feel until it…
I’ve only just got a chance to sit down and write this – I’ve been moving house, working lots and having emotional breakdowns. But before all of that happened, I had a lovely trip to Prague with my best friend so I wanted to share photos and highlights with you.
The city is incredibly cheap if you go to the right places so a trip is something you can do for a very low cost if you plan well. Onto the fun stuff – here’s what I’d recommend doing/seeing/eating etc. when in Prague.
Eat: Trdelník
Trdelník is “made from rolled dough that is wrapped around a stick, then grilled and topped with sugar and walnut mix.” It’s pretty common to have vans scattered around selling them filled with ice cream. Honestly, it’s incredibly messy but so worth it. On our first evening, we decided to try these and ended up too full for dinner and on a bit of sugar high. Make sure you take a spoon, napkins and be careful if the whole in the bottom is big – this is my friendly advice as eating one on the last day ended in disaster. I looked like a child covered in ice cream and nutella all over my face.
Eat: Lokál U Bílé Kuželky
A traditional Czech restaurant in the Mala Strana area which is super cheap and a great place for lunch or dinner. Most places serve homemade beef goulash which I’d highly recommend (if you’re a meat eater), it’s really delicious and you can order it with potatoes or bread on the side. Ask at the place you’re staying for food suggestions, there are traditional places everywhere – the best tend to be down side streets outside of busy areas.
Drink: Popo Cafe Petl
There are so many cool bars in Prague, a lot of them are underground and allow smoking inside (that is until the end of this month when new laws come in.) We’d been recommended this place by our hostel and went on a hunt for it. The plan was to have a couple of drinks and then move onto another bar and get dinner. We got in there at 6pm and didn’t leave until 4am. The drinks were really cheap, the bar tender was hot and you could smoke inside. There was no reason to leave especially as dancing and music starts, you basically have a pub atmosphere with dancing in the same place which is great. Cocktails (which were pretty strong) only cost around £3 each and a pint was about £1.50. A lot of bars in Prague are underground and just really cool.
Views: Letná Park, Prague Castle etc.
On our last day, my darling best friend dragged me up to Letna Park whilst I complained about my feet killing me. It was worth it. There’s tonnes of gorgeous views in Prague, just walk up any hill and you’ll get to a point where there’s somewhere to sit and have a beer and enjoy the picturesque city.
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What to do: ‘Free’ Walking Tours
I’d suggest going with Sandeman’s, the tour guides are really engaging and full of information. We went on the general tour and the tour of Prague Castle. The castle tour is very history heavy so not the best when you’re hungover from cheap alcohol but still interesting. The castle is incredibly impressive, as are the gardens, whether you go on a guided tour or wonder around independently, it’s breathtakingly beautiful.
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What to do: Museum of Communism
It’s small but good. I only vaguely remembered the history of Prague from writing an essay about 1968 at university. I’m always keen to go to museums when I’m abroad, I love learning more about history. However, some museums make things super dry and dull. This wasn’t the case here. It only took us about an hour to read/see everything but it was a nice escape from a short downpour.
There you have it – some highlights of my trip to Prague earlier in the month. I really think that it’s the most beautiful city that I’ve visited. The local food is incredible, it’s cheap and the Czech people were super friendly. There was classical music playing everywhere – buskers with violins rather than guitars. It felt very romantic so would be a good place to visit with a partner. I loved Prague and am hoping to visit again in the future.
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Does anyone have suggestions for where I should go on holiday next? I’ve got too many options.
If you’ve visited Prague, what was your favourite thing about the city?
Finally had time to write about the recent Prague trip #travel #prague I've only just got a chance to sit down and write this - I've been moving house, working lots and having emotional breakdowns.
Now there will come a time when you start to thrive and live fully even while still experiencing symptoms of BPD. Mental health diagnoses can often feel like a death sentence when you first get one. It runs through your mind that you’ll never be able to manage life, you will always struggle and never be well again. But, this is not the case. There are steps you can take to building a life where…
Surviving – continue to live or exist, especially in spite of danger or hardship. This will serve as a bit of a guide to surviving with BPD… it’s really about finding what works for you and sticking with it. Remember, as I said in my previous post, that you are amazing regardless or whether you’re just surviving or managing to thrive and flourish. Show yourself kindness, you are not worthless…
Featured Image: Mental Health Foundation I was existing but not living. I was not experiencing life in the way that others were. Survival was the focus of each day, just fighting to stay alive for the next few hours. Years of my life passed by like this. It’s often said that humans have a survival instinct. We will avoid danger, fight to protect and preserve ourselves. I have not always felt like…
You’ve probably heard about or seen ’13 Reasons Why’ – this post will be full of spoilers. It’s a Netflix show about a girl called Hannah who commits suicide. She leaves tapes for people to listen to, they detail all the people who hurt her leading up to the suicide. There’s been a lot of mixed reactions to the show so I thought I’d get involved in the conversation. Firstly, there were things I…
I turned 24 years old yesterday so I thought I’d do something a bit different and share with you 24 life lessons that I have learnt so far. It does not matter what other people think of you. You cannot be liked by everyone. Good people do bad things. The friends you have will change constantly. And that’s actually pretty cool. Watching cute videos of animals on YouTube will always make you feel…
Been a while since I wrote one of these posts but I have read so many amazing books recently that I want to share my thoughts on. Remember, you can keep up to date with what I’m reading on GoodReads. So Sad Today – Melissa Broder Have you seen the @sosadtoday Twitter account? I hadn’t but this book is a collection of essays linked to that account. It is one of those books that I feel compelled to…
I went on a trip to Brussels at the end of March with my partner; I wanted to share some photos and things I’d recommend doing if you visit!
The city is beautiful, especially in the sunshine. If you want a lovely view of the city, head to Mont des Arts. There’s usually a waffle van there so it’s perfect to sit and eat waffles and admire the view.
I always say this in travel posts – go on a ‘free’ walking tour. I’d highly recommend Sandeman’s tour for Brussels. Our tour guide was great, really engaging and knowledgeable. The engaging part is important, sometimes they can be super dull. It was a good overview of the history of the city and we got food/drink recommendations as well as where to avoid!
Although we hadn’t planned on it, we signed up for the beer your with the same company because we loved the walking tour (and really love beer.) It wasn’t a typical pub crawl thing, it was really educational. We tried 4 very different, all wonderful, Belgian beers. We were told about the process of making beer and its history in Belgium.
Our final stop on that tour was Delirium Café. I can honestly say this quickly became one of my favourite bars I have ever visited. The selection of beer is astounding – they have a very large menu. The people we met on the beer tour were literally flicking through to random pages to select a beer, it was too much choice! The staff are helpful and happy to make recommendations so providing you know what you like/don’t like in a beer then they can help you to decide. Delirium Tremens has been one of my favourite beers for a long time so it was a perfect place for me. Be warned, if you’re not a big drinker, that Belgian beers are much stronger than most… I don’t think I had a single beer that was less than 8% so keep an eye out for that!
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My best friend grew up in Brussels so warned me about how underwhelming the famous ‘Mannequin Pis’ statue is. The history is interesting, as are stories about the statue itself. But, don’t be too concerned with making sure you see it. The ‘Jannequin Pis’ is worth seeing though; it’s the female version of the statue and can be found just outside of Delirium Café. It’s quite bizarre how the city loves the boy but the girl is hidden down a side street, I sense some internalised misogyny.
If you’re interested in artsy stuff then I recommend visiting the Comic Strip Centre. It’s fairly small but taught me a lot about all aspects of comics from writing to methods of printing. There’s obviously stuff about the Smurfs and Tin Tin as the most famous comics to originate in Belgium. It would be a good activity for a rainy day. We didn’t visit any other museums or galleries, we wanted to be outside more!
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We spent 4 days in Belgium so had the time to take a day trip to Bruges. It’s definitely a city that I have always wanted to see but was never sure about staying there because it’s so small. It takes just over an hour to get to Bruges from Brussels city centre so definitely go if you have the time. We went on a walking tour that was… well, dull as fuck. The information was interesting but the guide was so incredibly boring that it kind of ruined it. But, it was a chance to see all the best parts of Bruges. It is probably the most beautiful city that I’ve ever visited. If I were to visit again, I’d never go for more than 2 days unless you are the type of person who likes to switch off and enjoys peaceful holidays (I like being busy.) Everything also seemed a little more expensive in Bruges.
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I love visiting parks on holidays and just sitting on the grass with a book. Parc de Bruxelles was nice enough but I suspect it is much better during late spring/summer with trees and flowers blooming. It’s located near the royal palace which is quite impressive. The other park we visited was a bit outside of the centre, Parc du Cinquantenaire, we took the metro there and I’m glad we made the effort. I mean, just look at it:
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In terms of food, there’s some obvious things that you should try: waffles, chocolate, fries, beer. Waffles are way better from food vans, more fresh because they don’t have the capacity for storage. You’ll get given a plastic fork to eat your waffle with – throw it away, get extra napkins and go for it. Honestly, trying to eat waffles with a plastic fork is not worth the effort. ‘French’ fries (they’re not French, they came from Belgium) are served everywhere. You can ask for extra sauces – their ‘ketchup’ isn’t the Heinz stuff we have, it has this slight curry flavour to it and is delicious.
The city is full of chocolate shops but don’t go into the first one you see. Prices vary hugely so depending on your budget, look around. All of the chocolate is wonderful so don’t worry too much where you buy it from. I’d suggest ‘Leonidas’ if you don’t want to spend too much, you can get 500 grams for about 14 euros. ‘Nehaus’ is amazing, too but a little more pricey. Staff in the shops are really helpful and will make up ‘selection’ boxes for you based on your tastes.
Of course, I wrote more about food than anything else! My body was craving vegetables by the end, I’m sure you can get them in Belgium but I chose everything without them. Overall, I fell in love with Brussels. I was in awe of how pretty Bruges is. Belgian beer and chocolate are the best in the world, it’s true. So if you’re wondering where to go for a long weekend then put Brussels on the list, you won’t regret it!
My next trip is to Prague in May – if you have any suggestions for what to do/see/eat when there, leave them in the comments!
NEW BLOG POST: Trip to Brussels #travel #brussels #bruges I went on a trip to Brussels at the end of March with my partner; I wanted to share some photos and things I'd recommend doing if you visit!
It’s International Women’s Day – a chance to celebrate women and more importantly, to continue talking about the issues which women face every day. An important thing to do if you care about women’s experiences and improving them is to educate yourself. This is particularly the case for men but also women. This is because race, class, sexuality, disability and gender identity impact women’s lives…
Today marks the end of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. I haven’t really posted much about how I’m doing with my eating disorder over the past couple of years so felt like it was time to give a little update on where I am on my ‘recovery journey’. I first developed disordered eating at the age of 13… that seems crazy to me, I was a child and it saddens me that more and more children are…
A bunch of mental health campaigns at the moment are focusing on the need for people to check in with their friends, to ask them how they are and that’s really good. The necessity comes from the fact that we often get caught up with our own lives and do not always want to hear about other people. However, I want to stress that when living with a mental illness you often need much more from…
I’m pretty open about my sexuality and up until recently, I identified as bisexual. It fitted me for a long time there – being attracted to both men and women is the way I would use to describe my sexuality. However, recently I have learned more about myself and the label of ‘demisexual’ seems to fit better… “Demisexuality is a sexual orientation in which someone feels sexual attraction only to…
