When things go repeatedly wrong we can get it into our heads that somehow the world is out to get us. We have needs and wants and we get angry, upset or down when they’re not met. It’s something I’ve had to face myself. In my own immaturity I once thought there was something wrong […]
The Social Anxiety of answering: Who are you and What do you do?
I have felt some social anxiety at describing myself to others. You know how it is, you meet a stranger, online or face to face. The first questions that will get asked are always the same. Who are you/ What do you do? You know it’s going to happen and our next struggle is to […]
Self esteem is the foundation for all happiness
I’ve suffered from low self-esteem all my life. Yet it’s only recently that I’ve really come to realise it’s important when it comes to everything else that I want. Self-esteem or self-worth is something of a controversial subject. We know its importance, we can see how anxiety and depression are linked to it. Yet we […]
Loneliness, and the problem of finding meaning in life
There’s an emptiness I often feel that makes it hard to find meaning in my life. A feeling of desolation. It’s not lack of energy, it can’t be. I have enough to eat. I want to do some work, I just don’t feel motivated to do anything. Also, I always seem to question and doubt […]
Loneliness, adoption fantasies and finding your tribe
When I watch TV programmes like Tribes on the BBC or read books such as Don’t Sleep There Are Snakes by linguist Daniel Everett about the Pirahã tribe in the Amazon jungle. There always a feeling of emptiness I get. These stories of researchers living among such closely knit communities makes me envious that I don’t […]
Psychobabble book review
I don’t believe that reading self-help books is a bad idea. Yet the reputation of the self-help industry and its ideas is tarnished and deservedly so. Some of what we believe about ourselves and how we function comes across as pseudoscience nonsense in a new age of woo. We fail to do the necessary due […]