Time for something a little different. I'm editing this now in June as in all honesty I had forgotten that I had written it: Prior to 2017 I just believed myself to have a very strained case of generalised anxiety disorder with a light sprinkling of OCD and PTSD. Since 2017 it has become obvious that all along I may have just always had different wiring: Before I became pregnant with my daughter I saw a psychiatrist for a mental health review. She in no uncertain terms told

Every snow day without fail my mother would enter my bedroom and rip open the curtains and exclaim 'IT'S SNOWING!' or 'SNOW'S BEEN!' Snow for me signified something magical akin to Santa visiting overnight. You would close your eyes and open them to a completely different world. My Year 1 teacher used to keep us kids in check using the same kind of magic. It takes a special type of person to have such an invention as a magical sweet jar that keeps growing sweets in the cupboa

Sometimes things happen in our lives that profoundly change who we are. Though they are all fragments of a reality that exists only in our memories and the stories that we regurgitate to our friends, they create a patchwork quilt of our collective pasts and the legacy that we leave for others. I've been struggling somewhat since last year to found subject matter to talk about. With my life being a whirlwind of change everything that I wrote was attached to the emotions that I

Online you can find multiple lists of things that you are advised to do whilst going through the pain of a break up. Many people going through this process, especially after a long term relationship, may go out and make the same mistakes. As I am newly going through this process myself I am going to give you a list of 5 things I will NOT be doing after mine: 1. Maintaining animosity The first reaction when someone you love breaks up with you is to be bitter and argue. This i

People always have a lot to say about mental illness. Whether they are a sufferer or not there are endless posts about coping stategies and lists that empathise with the reader showing them how the author suffers too and that the struggle that they feel every day is not in vain. I have contemplated over the past week as whether to write a post that is in the same vein, but instead I have decided to write my own story of what living with a mental illness means. This may not re

1. You still use Twitter The type of social media you use could clearly help determine whether you are an 'old' millennial or not. On a recent trip to Amsterdam I met a 22 year old dutch guy who was stunned that I still used Twitter. He said that they no longer used it there and that Snapchat and Instagram were the young twenty-somethings social platforms of choice. To be honest this guy doesn't have a Facebook and therefore I severely judge most of what he says - it is toda

Taken from my blog thecoffeeshopdiaries A four hour drive north of Johannesburg nestled deep in a town called Sabie, you will come across some of the most beautiful landmarks you have ever seen. An abundance of waterfalls, canyons and potholes that date back to the colonial gold-mining age that the area is so well known for. Those who know where to look also know of another secret that this town holds; Sabie Valley Coffee. Owners Tim and Kim Buckland run Sabie Valley Coffee

(Taken from my Wordpress blog) Do you remember the feeling of coming downstairs on Christmas morning and the overwhelming sensation that something magical had just occurred? Your five year old self retracing the footsteps of an overweight man who had just been down your parent’s chimney to leave you gifts? Being an adult, this is admittedly now an odd concept. Seeing and understanding the darker sides of life is something that kills the magic in our lives. No longer is Santa