As we come to the end of Lockdown III in the UK - I am using the opportuity to review this year and see if I can draw some lessons - some way of using this experience for good. And frankly I am not doing well. Where work and health is concerned I am surprised [...]
Author: anneryan21
I am a 50-something woman living in Manchester.
I am an activist working to live a fulfilled life.
Searching for mental, physical and spiritual health - healing myself and
helping to build a better world.
Vaccine Hope
25 January 2021 - Independence Day! This was the day I had my first vaccination - thank you Pfizer and thank you to the NHS. I am filled with hope, but also with guilt. I am categorised as a key frontline worker - although for the last 11 months that has meant being in my [...]
On Being Enough
If you believe social media (a big if) lockdown has been the perfect opportunity to learn a new language, write a novel, get fit and bake the perfect sourdough loaf. All of this while working from home, caring for family and preserving one's mental health. To those of us who are perfectionists everyday involves this [...]
A NEW LIFE IN LOCKDOWN
The sun is shining, the streets are empty and like the majority of the population I am indoors. The difference is this is not because of Covid-19 - I have to acknowledge that my isolation is nothing to do with the virus and everything to do with longstanding health issues. When I first heard about [...]
CELEBRATING MEDIOCRITY
Unfortunately recovery is not a question of waking up one morning to see a golden dawn knowing that you have won. There are no rainbows, no unicorns and there are days when you really don't want to continue to fight. You may relapse – that is part of recovery – sometimes you have to [...]
BETTER IS REALLY GOOD Overcoming perfectionism in recovery
I am not good enough – whatever I do, whatever I achieve I am not good enough. This is the constant soundtrack to my life – the voice that I can never silence. As a child I thought that academic success was the answer – that if I passed enough exams, if I was top [...]
Why are the best MPs on the backbenches and what are they doing there?
British politics at the moment is dominated by one issue – Brexit. A referendum supposedly fought to 'take back control' now sees the Prime Minister taking over negotiations as she can not rely on her Cabinet or her own Party. There is no majority in Parliament for any of the rumoured solutions – none of [...]
PEOPLE WHO HAVE EVERYTHING INCLUDING DEPRESSION
It has become a commonplace – every time a celebrity dies before their time I assume that the cause is suicide as the result of depression. Kate Spade, Anthony Bourdain, Lucy Birley, Ellie Soutter – a roll call of people who seemed to have it all – money, success, rewarding work, friends and family, but [...]
UK CULTURE WARS – DIVERSITY AND THE FUTURE OF POLITICS
. . . AND HOW THE RIGHT DIVIDES US I live in one of the hippest areas in the world – according to the San Francisco Chronicle - a district which saw the industrial revolution, then dereliction and now redevelopment. We have both a discount supermarket and a convenience store that stocks Bollinger. Where the [...]
Why I’m no longer listening to Germaine Greer
We live in febrile political times – rational polite debate is a thing of the past and the voices we hear are strident and allow for no compromise. Donald Trump transformed a reputation as a loud contrarian into a political career and his base continue to repeat his words, with little thought or evidence. Boris [...]
