Blog
Mental Health And Me
Mar 25, 2022
I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in 2019.
I wanted to share my experiences and I am hoping it will be educational and break down the stigma of mental health issues. Mental health issues were something that I grew up around with my mum suffering quite a bit from depression and anxiety. My sister also had some mental health problems growing up and at the time I could never really understand it. I thought there was an element of attention seeking and I couldn’t understand why they couldn't just pull themselves together?
What was the issue?
What was going on?
Why couldn't they just sort themselves out?
The truth is I really just did not understand it at all.
My first real experience of mental health issues was after the birth of my twin sons and I started to experience postnatal depression. After having my sons, every couple of years I would spiral. Anxiety would pretty much be with me all the time on a slightly different scale,...
Sleep
Mar 18, 2022
How can improving our sleep help us be even more successful and how can we ensure that by having more sleep, we can create these guilt free boundaries and prevent burnout?
We know that life, circumstances and different stages of life can all impact our sleep, whether it's partying too much in our teens, whether it's illnesses, mental health issues, anxiety, depression, menopause, perhaps your monthly cycle impacts your sleep, babies, caring responsibilities, parenting; all of these things can impact our sleep.
Since the pandemic a lot of women are stopping work, picking up more responsibilities in the house, doing what needs to be done at home, and then getting work done later in the evening. They are going to bed later and getting up earlier to get more things done. So their sleep window has been deleted.
You may have heard me talk about mental health before or if you've completed my masterclass called Mindset: What Got You Here, you'll know how...
Stop Trying To Manage Time
Feb 25, 2022
How many of you have tried varying different time management techniques? Over the years I have tried diary blocking, time blocking and I've tried varying different colour coding ways of blocking out my diary. In 2020 I trained with Paul Holbrook (check out his book) to become a diary detox practitioner, which I found very helpful. Certainly in terms of looking at where I spend my time, making sure that I'm not wasting it and giving as much value as I possibly can to myself and to my clients. I have also tried Pomodoro techniques and varying different egg timer techniques. I've tried everything!
I think a lot of my family and friends are always amazed at how much I can actually get done in a day. One of my friends is amazed at just how many Netflix series I can get through and still manage to get so much done throughout my day. But I've recognised that for me, it's not so much about managing my time, it's actually about managing my energy.
We all have 24...
Permission Slips
Feb 17, 2022
Permission slips.
Self kindness, self love and self compassion are not selfish, they are necessary.
I hear so many women talking about how they know they need more self care and that they need to be kinder to themselves when it comes to their self-talk. And yet, they're still not creating the time to make it happen.
They're still not changing their thought patterns, their behaviours and they’re still not setting boundaries.
They’re not doing this because they think that by putting themselves first, or even just putting themselves on their own list of priorities, that this is in some way, selfish. Because what they feel they will be doing is taking that time away from others and giving it to themselves.
How could this be reframed in a way that more women get it! Reframed in a way that more women understand it! Reframed in a way so that more women make the changes that they need to make for themselves!
“Taking...
Blocked Drains and Breakthroughs
Feb 08, 2022
My weekly lives have started again over on LinkedIn and Youtube on Tuesday afternoon's at 4pm UK time. I'll be sharing with you the videos from the lives for you to watch at your leisure.
This week's LinkedIn Live is about Blocked Drains and Breakthroughs, enjoy!
Kelly
Women Are Doing More To Fight Burnout: And It's Burning Us Out
Feb 04, 2022
Why is it that so many women are doing more to fight burnout and yet, it's this that is contributing to us burning out?
From my experience, and from lots of work I've done with my clients, I think the key to this is the word, doing. We keep doing and we keep doing more, assuming that what we are doing is right for us. But by doing and doing and doing, we are adding more stress and more pressure to ourselves.
When I burnt out in 2013, as part of my recovery I wanted to understand what had gotten me to that point of burnout in the first place. And so I kept doing! I did so much stuff.
I learnt about burnout, I did my therapy qualification, I did my psychotherapy qualification and I was doing research. My daily tasks became overwhelming.
I had this massive list of things to do from journaling, to yoga, to meditation, to ensuring that I was getting outside everyday, to eating a healthy diet, to making sure I was getting enough sleep. I was...
Too...
Jan 21, 2022
Have you ever been told that you are too…?
I’m sure that many of us, I know I have, have been told that we are too something at one point in our life and career.
Too…
tall
short
fat
thin
old
young
experienced
inexperienced
confident
good
bold
colourful
brave
self-confident
emotional.
All of these times that we've been told that we are way too much.
Too…
fierce
strong
masculine
feminine
loud
quiet
talkative
bossy.
All of these things that we've been told over the years I was for more years and then I care to remember really. If I think back to childhood and the times that I was told by my mum that I was too bossy. And then I was too shy, then I was too fat. I was too ambitious. I was too driven. I was trying to do too much. I was too much. I was too nosey, too curious. I was told by colleagues that I was too successful. That I was working too hard. That...
Wellbeing For Core-Led Women
Jan 07, 2022
This week I want to focus on wellbeing.
As we know the last couple of years have been somewhat challenging in lots and lots of different ways. I know through the clients that I've spoken to I know from some of my own personal experience that the last couple of years have maybe added a few COVID curves to us all and that our health may not be at its optimal.
I know that for some of us the last couple of years have given us an opportunity to really think about the work that we want to do, to think about setting new boundaries and to really dig deep and in some ways to ask ourselves is this it?
Is this it is this what I want out of life is this the work that I want to be doing?
And in answering some of those questions, we've really started to think about who am I?
Who am I?
What do I want?
Who do I want to be where do I want to go?
What direction am I heading in?
And I suppose...
There Are No Rules
Nov 01, 2021
Its Monday, it’s the 1st of November, and already my social media is filled with posts about how with only two months left of the year we should all be smashing our goals and people asking if it’s too early for Christmas songs yet.
Let’s get the Christmas songs out of the way first, I love them! Play them as much as you want, do what makes you happy. If getting in the festive spirit is what you need right now, do it. If other people don’t like it, they can scroll on past or walk away. We have this ever year don’t we? Asking other people’s permission to do things that make us feel good. Why? Because we don’t want the criticism or the negativity of others. So we wait, we ask permission and when it feels like it’s acceptable to others for us to do something, then we go ahead.
What if there were no rules? What if you want to listen to your favourite Christmas song in September, or April? If it makes you feel good do...
Burnout | Recovery vs Healing
Oct 15, 2021
Earlier this week I had a bit of a wobble and found myself in a place of doubt and fear. I’ve got some big plans for the next 12 months and over the last couple of weeks I’ve been getting everything planned, sharing everything with my team and ensuring that everything will happen when it needs to happen. And honestly, these plans are pushing me outside of my comfort zone. But as I’ve always believed, it’s on the other side of our comfort zone where the real growth occurs.
After weeks of planning and creating and delegating and feeling the excitement build, earlier this week I read a blog that sent me spiralling into fear and doubt.
The blog was by someone in my network and it listed a long list of things that they were hoping to achieve, before their coach told them not to do it as it was all too much, all for the wrong reasons and would likely take them off track and into burnout again and away from their real purpose. And as I read...
