When I Grow Up I Want To Be Kind

When I grow up, I want to be successful.

When I grow up, I want to be famous.

When I grow up, I want to be rich.

When I grow up, I want to be powerful.

Being asked what you want to be when you grow up is not an uncommon question for children to be asked. These innocent minds have yet to experience how cruel the world can be so naively answered with doctor, nurse, superstar or astronaut. Yet if these children knew they may be caring for innocent young people's lives whose worlds have come crashing down because of a cowardly attack in the name of religion, would they still want the job?

From the day we are born, success, fame, money and power are engrained within our minds as the foundations for a happy and fulfilling life. As if nothing else matters. But let me ask you one question...

Who do you remember in your life fondly with the most undefinable feelings of warmth? The people who were kindest to you I bet. 

Mental Health Diagnosis: One Year On

A year ago today I was formally diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, although I knew that I was suffering from the illness long before that. It was also the day that Britain found out they were leaving the E.U so a pretty awful day for most of us in the U.K. actually? I remember the day vividly. I had an 8:30 am appointment which is just as well really because I had a three-week wait before then and it was the longest three weeks of my life.

I got up, found out we were leaving the EU and then made my way over to the doctors. I was a nervous wreck, but I knew I couldn't carry on the way I was. I needed help. And help I got. A prescription of 25mg of fluoxetine was put in my hands, and I was told to make an appointment with a counsellor at the surgery. 15 minutes later I was on my way home, partly relieved that he didn't dismiss my condition but also scared. 

I knew I couldn't keep it a secret from you guys. So I sat down and wrote a blog post about my experience. It's incredibly raw and honest. You can read that blog post here. I can't remember the rest of that day to be honest. It's all a bit of a blur. I remember being frightened that I was going to be taken away and locked up for admitting I had something wrong with my mental health. Of course, that wasn't the case. 

10 Problems Only People Who Dye Their Hair Bright Colours Will Understand

It's been a while since I wrote about anything other than mental health. I know that's what I'm kind of known for now, but I had this post idea come to my mind one day, probs when I was in the shower, and I was like yes, this is quality content, I need to whack out this post. 

Mental health awareness is so important don't get me wrong, but I'm not just a noisy, angry mental health campaigner all the time, I do have other interests. Dying my hair is one of them. Don't threat I'm not going back to my cringey beauty blogging days #RIPthriftyvintagefashion but ya know I thought it's good to break up the seriousness of my blog from time to time with a bit of light hearted fun.

I've been dying my hair for around four years now. I've been golden blonde, dark brown, black, auburn, bleached blonde, an amalgamation of those whose colours in one. I have also dip dyed my hair green and purple. It's safe to say I have my fair share of hair dying experience, however, it wasn't till I decided I wanted to experiment with unnatural colours that I unveiled a whole can of worms which come with dying your bright hair colours, I naively had no idea about. 

Fashion To Die For

On the 24th April 2013, 1,129 people died, and 2,500 were injured when a building called Rana Plaza collapsed in Bangladesh. This eight-floor building collapsed despite numerous safety concerns about appearing cracks in the walls from the workers. Their worries were ignored, and they were sent back into the building to carry on working.

The top three floors were added without permission. This extra pressure upon the already unstable foundations contributed to collapse during the morning rush hour. 5,000 people mainly women were employed in this factory. These women were not just women they were wife's, daughters and mothers. They slaved away for an unprecedented amount of hours, in unsafe working conditions for minimum pay just so they could make your clothes and feed their families. The clothes you buy from the likes of Primark, Matalan and Mango. 

On a tragic day in 2013, hundreds of kids were made orphans. Hundreds of women suffered life-changing injuries, and all the workers lost their job. Their only source of income that was paying for the food they give their children. That £5 Primark dress doesn't sound so appealing now does it? 

My Favourite Films Which Accurately Represent Mental Illness

I love watching films. It's definitely one of my few methods of 'self-care' I use to make myself feel better when I'm having a rubbish day. I like all genres of film really. I love horror and thrillers to distract me and give me that artificial anxiety, if you like, which I like because it's controlled compared to real anxiety I experience in panic attacks, which I have little control over. I love comedy's and Disney films to make me laugh, and I also love films about mental illness. 

When done right, films about mental illness can be fantastic. Mental health is such an important topic, which we all need to be talking about. However, sometimes you need to implement it within mass media to get people's attention. I mentioned this in my post all about TV and mental health, which you can read here. It's the same with film. To get people's attention and get meaningful conversations started you need to target what people know already. Far fewer people will watch a documentary about mental health than the number of individuals who will see a blockbuster movie, with a lead actor which focuses on mental health in some kind as a theme throughout.

There are a lot of films out there which really don't do mental health justice. They inaccurately display mental illness in some way which subsequently adds to the stigma. However, there are some films which do an excellent job. These films need more recognition and acknowledgement, which is why I'm sharing three of my favourites with you today. I hope you enjoy.