Category: mental health
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Life Lessons: Measuring Success Beyond Society’s Standards
At some point during the last few years, I experienced a light bulb moment and finally realised who I want to be during this next stage. I realised when I looked back, that society had indoctinated me to seek its narrow definition of success – where, ultimately, materialism is the most popular measure, in the…
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When The Worst Happens: Embracing Acceptance
Control isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are valid reasons we put certain people in positions of control. However, as we’ve seen in recent stories of coercive control in relationships and the fears many of us felt about Trump’s win, it can be dangerous when it is abused. Relinquishing control is something some parents also…
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Anxiety and The Hidden Power of Uncertainty
The worst advice someone can give people like me is to stop worrying. Not only is that reductive, telling me to stop worrying makes me worry about why I worry so much. I am an Olympian in overthinking, and controlling my spiralling thoughts is just not that simple. It is also exhausting.
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11 Life Lessons My Dog Taught Me
Prior to our vet’s final visit to our home, I cradled our fifteen-year old dog Luna in my arms, sobbing uncontrollably. I thought I was prepared, but in that moment of our total vulnerability, it was all too much. It felt wrong to end her life this way, and when her body went limp, and…
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How to Support A Loved One Struggling with Mental Health Issues
With a decade of experience in this area, I feel an obligation to share with anyone in a similar situation the strategies that have helped us support our loved one and our own mental health along the way.
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Tragedy at Bondi Junction: Who’s really to blame?
None of the current conjecture matters to the victims of Bondi Junction. They won’t witness any hasty amendments the government implements to knife laws, mental health care, or mall security. They won’t see the wreaths of flowers left in their honour, the tears and lifelong sadness of their families, or their children grow up.
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Why Do Anti-depressants Still Get Such a Bad Rap?
I question the responsibility and wisdom of sensationalising the side effects of anti-depressants and potentially alienating the very people whose lives might be saved by them.
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The True Meaning of “Friends with Benefits”
If your friends don’t make the time to service their relationship with you, let them go to make room for the ones who invest A friend of mine who has an enviably wide circle of friends tells me she has an inner circle of only five special friends. Each represents a finger on her hand,…
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Do I Really Have To Give Up Drinking?
My choice to drink less has nothing to do with “seeing the light” in terms of my health, or because I’ve managed to avoid the dangerous lure of addiction that runs through my family tree. It is not even based on the advice of my doctor – although I’m sure she would back me wholeheartedly.…
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Mental Illness: Why Love and Acceptance Must Be the First Line of Treatment
With love and acceptance – what I believe should be the first-line of treatment for people with mental illness – people like my son feel less isolated, judged and ashamed. Though “tough love” may be the gold standard approach to care for some mental illnesses, it is a risky choice and one that doesn’t necessarily…
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Trusting the Journey: The Secret to Happiness in Middle Age
It is only now, in middle age, that I am finally accepting that I don’t possess the superpower (or indeed any superpower) to fix everything – no one does, not even those with the money to buy whatever they want or need. Money may be able to buy rockets, but it can’t buy you back…
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It’s Obvious To Me Why Women Are So Tired
COVID may have killed more men, but it is women it has hit the hardest. We are holding things together, but we are breaking as we carry the emotional and caring burden.
LOUISA SIMMONDS 