Category: Anxiety

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Mental Health Awareness Week 2019

May 13, 2019 By neilho27@sky.com

This week (Monday 13th to Sunday 19th May) marks this year’s Mental Health Awareness week.

I am conscious that I haven’t specifically written about mental health, either my own or in general for some time, other than referencing it in the music I write about. It makes sense then that I throw down a few thoughts to play a small part in raising awareness of this important week.

I do believe we have come a long way as a society in being able to confront social issues often thought of in the past as taboo subjects, including Mental Health, but we still have a long way to go.… Read the rest

Mental Health Awareness Week

Mental Health Awareness Week 2018

May 14, 2018 By neilho27@sky.com

Today marks the start of Mental Health Awareness week (14th – 20th May 2018), so I couldn’t let it pass without a blog.

You’ll know by now if you’ve read my blogs that I’m passionate about raising awareness of mental health, a passion that stems from my own experiences.

My own mental health and that of others has been fresh in my mind  in recent days and weeks.

From a personal perspective events have conspired to test my resolve. Events that in years gone would have seen me crumble, letting my negative thoughts in and letting them win. A time where I would have catastrophised every situation visualising the worst possible outcome, filtering out all potentially positive outcomes to paint a bleak picture of the future.… Read the rest

Ginger

Ginger Wildheart Interview

May 1, 2018 By neilho27@sky.com

Ginger – Ghost in the Tanglewood

Ginger Wildheart has recently released his latest solo album, Ghost in the Ghost in the TanglewoodTanglewood, recently reviewed on my blog. Personally, I found the album to be inspirational. I wanted to talk to Ginger about the background to this very personal album,  much of which focuses on his own battle with depression.

While people are more open about talking about Mental Health these days, there is still too much of a stigma around it. The more people like Ginger are willing to share their personal experiences, the further society can progress. It can only help in understanding and supporting those who do battle depression and other Mental Health issues.… Read the rest

Accept Yourself

Accept Yourself

April 15, 2018 By neilho27@sky.com
“When will you accept yourself?” (Morrissey, The Smiths, 1983)

Despite what the start of this blog looks like, this isn’t a music post. It doesn’t actually have anything to do with the Smiths or Morrissey per se, but everything to do with that lyric. It says a lot to me about my life.

I’ve had a number of conversations recently that has brought this to mind and I took that as an opportunity to post this blog.

 Talk about your Mental Health

At work I have recently joined a team of Mental Health and Wellbeing Champions with a remit of raising awareness of mental health in the workplace.… Read the rest

Price of Progress

The Price of Progress?

December 19, 2017 By neilho27@sky.com
The Price of Progress?

I was listening to a news story on the radio the other day about technology, specifically around the music industry.

Spotify logoIt was on the back of publication Spotify executive’s salaries and the way we access music in the 21st Century. The general gist of the story was that the Apple store will probably disappear in the next 5 years as people won’t own the music but stream only. It all smacks to me that the changes are for those high up in Apple and Spotify and less to do with the artists or giving the public what they “want”.… Read the rest

The Dark Side of Christmas

December 15, 2017 By neilho27@sky.com
The Dark Side of Christmas

At this time of year, we tend to get caught up in our own bubble. While Christmas is a time of joy and happiness for many, it is also a struggle in countless ways for too many others.

In recent weeks, I have seen a lot of posts on social media promoting things like “Sleep in the Park” and “Social Bite” to support rough sleepers and those without a permanent address. It is great that so many are supporting others. Where is the government?

Rough Sleepers

However, I have also seen some appalling & callous comments on Facebook from people who have no sympathy for rough sleepers: “I have no sympathy”, “give them a shovel” and “it is their choice”.… Read the rest

Writing as Therapy

October 10, 2017 By neilho27@sky.com
CBT (Cognitive behavioural Therapy)

I recently completed 12 weeks of CBT. Some of the sessions were exceedingly difficult. I would even go as far as to say the initial sessions made me feel worse. It was a number of sessions in before I started beginning to feel positive.

I know now this was to be expected as my counsellor spent time unearthing my core beliefs to enable me to work on the correct solutions. These solutions are what are ultimately allowing me to manage my anxiety and depression. It was not however an easy trip to get there and accepting my core beliefs wasn’t something I readily did.… Read the rest

“What have you got to be worried about?” and other unhelpful comments….

September 11, 2017 By neilho27@sky.com
Depression isn’t real!

Just recently this Twitter account has been brought to my attention.

I say Twitter account rather than using the associated name, you can see it for yourself, as I don’t want to humanise this entity in any way. The idiot appears to be devoid of any humanity whatsoever. This is just one of many tweets they have made on the subject.

Thankfully, I have never come across this nonentity before.… Read the rest

Meditation isn’t just for Hippies!

August 26, 2017 By neilho27@sky.com
Meditation? – It’ll never work for me!

If you’re anything like me, when someone first suggested meditating to help me deal with my anxiety & depression I laughed.

At the time my mental image of meditation was of someone sitting cross-legged on the floor, arms outstretched, middle fingers touching their thumbs and chanting “ohhhmm”. Nothing like stereotyping eh?

Of course, I was wrong. I know it won’t work for everyone and not all meditations work for me either. Everyone has different strategies to deal with their own mental health. Meditation is only one of the tools in my box too.

What works for me?
… Read the rest