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The whole world is really going through something right now. Covid-19 is a scary illness and it’s no surprise that most of us are anxious about our health and our loved ones. The illness itself, of course, is only half the story. This pandemic comes with side effects for our economy and job security, for … Continue reading Coping with lockdown when you have an eating disorder

For a few years, living by myself, I was what you’d call a “proper” vegan. With the exception of trips home (my mum is a northerner, meat is essential at our table) and the occasional holiday (where it was hard to find vegan eats), I ate a plant-based diet. There were a number of reasons … Continue reading Why I’m no longer vegan

Somehow, today is the 30th December 2019. I don’t know where the year has gone, but honestly I’m glad it’s over. This has been a challenging year for so many of us in so many ways. 2019 rounds out 10 years of upheaval, both in a big political sense and a smaller, more personal one. … Continue reading 5 things I learned in 2019

I wrote this short story in response to this prompt: Draft a story in which a single impossible event happens in the everyday world. I love magical realism – stories where fantasy and real life collide. The interplay between the fantastic and the everyday is what inspires me as a writer. I hope you enjoy … Continue reading When the Snow Falls – a short story

Recently I fulfilled a long-held dream of mine: to travel alone. I’ve been lucky enough to do a lot of travelling in my time but never in the company of just me, myself and I. There are a number of reasons for this. The primary reason is straight up anxiety. I’m not a fearless explorer … Continue reading The Anxious Traveller’s Guide to: New York City

I spend a lot of time walking. It’s one of the ways I get my energy. After a 30 minute walk, my brain is recharged and I feel alight and focussed. Almost without exception I return from a walk with a new idea and a readiness to write. Though despite the benefits of walking in … Continue reading 5 podcasts to help you write

Contains spoilers – by this point you’ve probably read or seen or at least heard the plot of Twilight, but just in case you haven’t, beware this post will tell all TLDR: I have feelings about Life and Death. Not all of them are pleasant. I will say I enjoyed the premise of a teenage … Continue reading I read the gender-swapped Twilight and I have FEELINGS

I was once a notorious bookworm. Nothing could come between me and and my reading time: not sleep, not family get-togethers, not even the Lord’s day. I vividly remember hiding from the youth group leader behind the velveteen curtains of the theatre we hired for church services, risking and eventually bearing her wrath because I … Continue reading Top 5 reads of 2018

A few weeks ago, I made my usual journey back from work on the underground. We hit Canary Wharf at 5.30, which is peak going-home time for office workers. The train stops, the doors open, and in rushes a flood of suited, high-heeled commuters with steely eyes that look at no one and see nothing … Continue reading WELLBEING: Never alone, yet lonely

It’s 1999. I wait with my mum in the entrance of the church, wearing a sea-green leotard and matching scrunchy, watching the older girls finishing their isolations in the main hall. They are graceful, passionate, musical. They wear black leotards, because they’re all grown-up and they’ve earned their grade eight already. I feel excited and … Continue reading RECOVERY: Why I hung up my ballet shoes for good

Time to Talk Day is an annual mental health awareness day. Organised by Time to Change, the anti-stigma campaign by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, it aims to get people talking about mental health. This year, Mind arranged for employees to talk about their own experiences of mental ill health. Below you can find the … Continue reading RECOVERY: Time to Talk Day Speech

Content warning: detailed discussion of food/health/diet and eating disorders Click the purple links for external resources 🙂 Cleanliness is close to godliness, the Victorians used to say. It’s compelling logic: if the reward for having a bath was Zeus-worthy glory, I’d be pretty eager to stay squeaky-clean. No surprise that this kind of thinking has … Continue reading WELLBEING: What the hell is #CleanEating?

Sunkissed streets. Parisian-style pedestrian crossings. Bauhaus buildings on every corner, all curved lines and thermometer windows. Pride flags flying from rooftops and pasted onto shop windows. Walls decorated with multicoloured hearts and topless women. An anatomical diagram of the vulva tacked onto a tree. Bar after bar after bustling bar. Buskers on street corners. Hot … Continue reading ISRAEL / PALESTINE: the Good, the Bad, and the Holy

Fashion season is upon us. The first of the biannual fashion weeks to grace the streets of London this year, A/W 2017 has been fabulous, dahling. As usual, the big brands haven’t shied away from all things high-concept and artsy (see Molly Goddard’s tea party and Gareth Pugh’s gothic bunker for a taste of London Fashion Week extravagance). … Continue reading Modest Fashion Week 2017