Positive Tuesdays: The One When I Went To Ireland.

Hiiiiiii guys, it's Tuesday it's time to be positive about the previous week. I've had a great one but also a very, very tough one in my little brain. It's a strange feeling when you're stuck in your recovery, when you also feel so lonely but you have amazing people around you...you just need those extra ones to show they care. OKAY NO, this is not the name of the game, if I want to be a negative Nelly then I will make a whole new post.

Anyway, this week was full of fun! To be fair I missed the previous week because I was in Dublin last week, so I'm literally going to do the last 7 or so days.

On Monday last week I set up the house all cute for Ryans 21st as we were going to be away on his actual birthday. I wanted to make him feel a little spesh for the day and give him his presents. I got him a Funko Pop, of which he has 15,583 (approx.) a tattoo voucher, Fallout Monopoly, a really cool wooden carving of Jason from Friday the 13th and the trip to the Guinness Factory. He was happy, I was happy, we were all happy. We then had his parents round for dinner and that was sweet, it's nice having my family and then being accepted into another.

On Tuesday we went to Dublin! Something we've been stoked about for months, I love seeing different places with him. We can speak for hours on end, explore new cities and learn about new things so sharing that with someone is so sweet and I couldn't wish for anyone better. 

Sweet pub through to Dinner with a Guinness.

The next day was officially Ryans 21st birthday! We got up and strolled around Dublin, went to a Church and then off to the Guinness Storehouse which I think was like Ry's idea of heaven/Willy Wonkas Chocolate Factory. It was actually so cool and I would seriously recommend it to anyone going to Dublin. I hate Guinness, Guinness is not for a girl like me. In the evening I booked us to go to Beef & Lobster in Temple Bar in Dublin. It was GREAT, Lobster? Do I like Lobster? Not sure. The process was fun but perhaps just the once, it was a really sweet restaurant though so again I would recommend that 100%, I followed up the meal with a Prosecco ice lolly and man, I was super about that life.

The next day we went to the Zoo and okay I know not everyone agrees with Zoos, I am super in the middle. I love seeing the animals, I also wish they were out in the wild but I also know they are looked after in their little homes at the Zoo. I don't know man, this post isn't a place for a debate with myself. But my god, Dublin Zoo is incredible. The enclosures were huge, the animals seemed to be so free! The Orangutang's could swing from one enclosure to the other and they went right over you, no net or anything, it was a real 'you had to be there moment'. The Wolves were all howling together, a sound I've never heard in my life, insane. The baby elephants were all playing in their water together, it was adorable and it was one of the best days I've ever had with Ryan. 

Then the last couple of days were spent just looking around, enjoying the city and each others company. As per usual. 

I haven't done much since, we had an intense game of Monopoly last night and I won (yes, you know I did)  and it's little things like that which make me content and happy. Being around good people with good vibes.

How was your week? Tell me all the good things, I would love to hear. 

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Positive Tuesdays, they're back!

Oh my god HI. I'm bringing back Positive Tuesdays, if you were about in my Uni days you'll know all about these. Have a look here, there's loads!

I enjoyed doing this, let me fill you in on the dealio with these. Every Tuesday I will look back on the week I've had and pick out all the good things, it's a day of positive reflection. A moment to focus on the good and forget any of the bad and document it to look back on when I need to! I loved doing it back when I was struggling at university.

It did help, it helped slightly then however I feel now as I am well into my recovery and getting better that these will help me so much more! Please join in, use the hashtag #PositiveTuesdays on Twitter and label your posts with it, I'd love to read what's been happening with your week and all the good stuff that's made you happy! I love to reflect on all the funny, weird things that have happened to and believe me on planet Shannon there's a lot.

I hope this sounds like a good idea to other people? I know I'm so stoked to be bringing it back! Shannon 1 - 0 Mental Health.

Anyway, MY WEEK. What's been happening?! Well, we've gone into our second week of living in our brand new lovely house ahhhhh - my first homeware haul was put up last week so check that out if you'd like!

The Great British Bake Off started again and me and Ry were stoked so we made banana bread - or attempted to - with the left over bananas in the house. We had no scales, Ryan aka Paul Hollywood thought oh no it's fine we'll just measure FLOUR WITH A SPOON. We only used two table spoons, the banana bread came out sludgey and looked like a slab of pork. The more I think about it the more I want to gag and fall into a hole and live there forever but we tried. Our first baking experience in the house was not a great success but at least we enjoyed it? Haha.

Honestly, not a lot has happened this week, I've hung out with my family and my puppers a few times so that's been GREAT. Look at them, they're adorable! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

Well, that's it my return to Positive Tuesdays, let me know if you join in I'd love to see some more posts! 

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Positive Tuesdays: Week Ten. UPDATES.

Hiiiiii, been a while hasn't it (almost a month)…my bad.

I didn't want to do these posts when in fact I haven't felt positive at all, I'm not going to put on a front I've never been that kind of person. If I'm unhappy, I'm unhappy and I won't pretend to be okay and lie to everyone and tell you all to be happy and positive if I'm not myself. I've had a crappy few weeks, unsure of what I'm doing, my life is a big mess. I don't really know where I'm going or what I'm doing so if anyone has any advice on the struggles of university I'd super appreciate your input! I could go on and on, but it's all I ever seem to talk about to anyone and it's quite tedious.

I feel like I've turned this whole segment into an update on what I've done but I like that, I like looking back on things and realising that everything isn't that bad - you should do the same!

Anyway, some decent stuff has happened the past few weeks, this is going to be a post just updating you on my life because you all clearly want to know, OBVZ.

Well when I left you last I went away for the weekend but before that I melted my retainer like a super bellend but then I went home and spent some time with my family and that was lovely. I really, really love time back at home it's the best. Then I returned to university on the Sunday (might've had a little cry when my mum and dad went back to Ipswich) but the following week I did some cool stuff.

I went to look at the ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, they were super nice and it's just quite breathtaking. They represented so many fallen soldiers it was just a lovely part of history that I'm glad I got to witness.

Then it was time to get on with Halloween festivities, we went to Ministry of Sound which I have been extremely reluctant to doing since we got here because it's not really my scene and I mean I would tell you if it was my scene but I can't remember much at all - DON'T DRINK KIDS, ONCE AGAIN. I do however remember getting separated from my friends and asking the bouncer like a lost puppy to help me find my friends, what a twat. That was on the Tuesday, on actual Halloween I spent the morning looking at the Christmas windows and the christmas store at Selfridges (logical), I wanted to get into the Christmas spirit it was the day before November aka the day it's okay to do christmassy things. The windows were cool but involved a lot of gold and a lot of woodland stuff…I didn't really get it and I didn't feel overly christmassy at all, humph. 

Oh and when we were out for Halloween I got pushed over in front of a lot of people and it was hilarious, it was the second time I've fallen over in front of people in London; this confirms why I'm a very tragic 19 year old. 

The next week came and I had found out where One Direction were rehearsing, you know me and One Direction we have a big love/hate relationship so I thought I would finally take the time to go and meet them. I've never been in the perfect position to meet them even when I was 16 and it was my life dream, so I thought I would make 16 year old me happy. I arrived at the studio where I found lots of girls beaming, I HAD MISSED HARRY STYLES BY A GOOD 2 MINUTES. I WAS DONE, I WAS OVER IT. To cheer me up from failing once again to meet them I purchased my first christmas present and I keep looking at it because I'm absolutely stoked for christmas YEAH, that made me so very happy. 

Me and my 7 best pals booked a trip to Scotland too! We're going next year in the Easter holidays and it's going to be full of mountains and madness. I took a trip to my friend India's university where actually there was going to be a surprise party for her and Damian's engagement and they had no idea - I had to keep it a secret that all of our best friends were coming from all over the country on the Saturday and it was so hard when we'd planned to watch The Hunger Games but really we were going to get really messy. It was so lovely to see everyone, I probably nearly cried I can't remember. It was honestly the happiest I've been in so long, I find I'm always my happiest when I'm surrounded by the group and I love them with all of my heart. 

After that Corinna came to stay for a couple of days down in London, we went for a walk down the South Bank and that was really nice, it was the first time I've seen the sun set in London and I've really missed seeing that (I'm a lame ass) the next day we went to the Natural History Museum and dinosaurs are cool. 

And finally at the weekend I spent the day with all of my 5 Seconds of Summer pals, we went for a Starbucks as per and went to Regent Streets Christmas light switch on, it was really cute and I've missed those girls a lot. I haven't seen them since 5SOS were last here which was in July! Speaking of 5SOS it's been a year this month since I met them/saw them live every weekend, madness! 

That's about all that has happened the past few weeks, they've been pretty good and plenty to be happy about! Oh, someone sneezed on me too what a pleasant place London is.

In all seriousness I might not do these as often anymore, I have a lot going on physically and mentally but I'm happy that I could hopefully make people think about good times with the posts I've done in the past! They'll be back consistently soon, I'm not sure when but they will be! 

How have you been? Anything good been happening that you'd like to share because I'd love to hear! 

Stay cool 

x

Positive Tuesdays: Week Nine.

Busy, busy week full of cool things and lots to be positive about despite my ongoing sadness and general feeling of being bummed out that is currently happening…I feel a blog post is necessary about all of this because I feel like I'm doing these Positive Tuesdays for no reason personally just lately, I've had a hard time. But no, I must definitely recognise the good things so I shall continue with these posts and hope that I can influence anyone who reads it! I want to show that even in the darkest of times there are things to be happy about and there are good things that happen even when it feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Let's begin…

So on Tuesday I went to see one of my favourite bands - The Vamps! You can read about it here! Such a good evening, truly felt good that night and I mean who wouldn't feel good if Brad Simpson was thrusting on stage…come on. And I also saw my parents that day and that was lovely, I'm going home this weekend too so it's just always great to see them I miss them a lot more than I did in the first couple of weeks (sorry mum and dad, I was busy eating doritos and stuff) but now there is a massive mum and dad shaped hole in my heart that needs filling daily, so I'm missing them crazy amounts.

The Vamps - Hammersmith.

I finally watched The Breakfast Club last week too, that was cool. I have decided to appreciate the little things in life like cool TV shows and movies, yeah sure, don't waste your life watching television and stuff like that, but I LIKE to watch TV shows if they're good and they're going to make me happy, and I like to spend hours of my life watching movies if they are also going to make me happy so screw you society I'll go outside and run and shit when I feel like it. 

Friday arrived and so did Libby, YAS SHIBBY. She came bearing 5SOS related gifts and it was all very sweet and made me feel comforted and happy for the first time in a while, you truly need your friends sometimes and this weekend was one of those times. 

That night Libby, our friend Georgia and I got tickets to go and watch the filming of Stand Up To Cancer which was on Channel 4, it was a super cool night there was loads of celebrities but more importantly we saw stories of amazing people who are unfortunately suffering from cancer. It was heartbreaking. But it also made me see life in a different way, things like that always do and it was inspirational.

Saturday arrived and Libby and I were knackered and bummed around London, didn't achieve much at all. Then I weirdly met Nick Jonas, literally I did NOT feel welcome to Disney Channel but whatever it was an experience haha. 

Finally, the last decent thing from the last week was the Teen Awards on Sunday. Yep, I'm 2 years over the age limit but I DON'T FOLLOW THE RULES. It kinda sucked, 5SOS cancelled and I had to watch the likes of Ella Henderson and Ariana Grande before I could actually get to the band I was there for who of course was The Vamps, they smashed it as per. Brad was beauts and I was sweaty.

A very interesting and busy week, my mind has been busy as well as my physical self. Ah, life. 

How was your week? Please let me know, I'd love to hear! 

x 

Positive Tuesdays: Week Eight.

Hiiii!

Once again, I've not been in the best state of mind ever but I'm taking steps to make it better - working on CBT skills I once learnt and just generally looking after (or trying) myself. I'll get there eventually, I must keep that mentality up!

The past week has held some good times mind you and of course, it's Positive Tuesday I'm going to share all of those things with you!

You know, happiness is all about the little things isn't it? Well, my flat mate and I ordered our first university Dominos and it was absolutely beautiful. Things like that are truly the most wonderful moments, anything that involve pizza is wonderful of course.

I also met up with my friends Georgia and Libby and it was the first time I've seen Libby in MONTHS. So that was super nice as together we are #Shibby, get to know that. I always love seeing friends who I haven't seen in a while and the friendships where you don't see each other all the time but when you do it's like you've never been away, those are the best friendships! 

Friday came and it was World Mental Health day so I went on a super long walk which involved Starbucks, pretty trees and cute puppies… you can read about that here. Oh, but a gypsy lady tried to sell me some of those little flowery things and I swiftly said no but now I think she might have cursed me, but never mind. 

Saturday was one day I probably don't think is worthy of positivity but then again it was quite nice, I aimed to meet Ansel Elgort… you know the giant (literal giant, he's 6'3 -ultimate swoon-) dream boat from The Fault In Our Stars. Well, that totally failed but I had mozzarella sticks and spent the day with one of my favourite friends Vanessa and made a few news friends too! So that was really lovely despite  being cold for 9 hours, the lack of food and the hurt bum bone the next day. 

(As I write this I'm realising what a good week I had and all the negativity is seeming really horrible and irrelevant and I really should learn how to focus on these positive things, wow.) 

On Sunday we had a spontaneous flat dinner which consisted of Chinese and potato wedges, but I was reminded how much I hate Chinese food so no thank you chicken balls, you will not be entering my mouth any time soon. Then we all joined together in my bedroom to watch 'The House Bunny' and we've decided that Sundays are now dinner and movie flat nights, isn't that just the cutest?! 

And finally, yesterday was cool! (despite all my crappy ongoing anxieties, but nope we won't talk about that). I was meant to be going to a gig in Camden but I wasn't feeling it so I splurged out on a ticket for Ed Sheeran at the O2 and it was AMAZING. He is honestly so talented, he never fails at putting on a good show and it's literally just him up there…how does he do it, he's amazing. It was kind of cool, I had to go to an event for my university work and then write up a report (you can read that here, it's my university website, oh I'm so official now) and it was cool to watch a boy from Suffolk sing a sold out show to 20,000 people, see him live his dream while I was doing something to contribute to my dream - I was writing notes through the show for my report, what have I become. 

This post really has got me thinking about how thankful and happy I should be, oh silly mind. This has been a good week, full of positivity.

How has yours been? I would LOVE to know so leave a comment below! 

x

Positive Tuesdays: Week Seven.

Hello! Yep, I missed another week didn't I so let's start a fresh, let's not focus on the weeks I missed. This is now week 7 okay, but it's probably 7 and 8 I don't know…I'M CONFUSED, JUST IGNORE ALL OF THAT. 

The past couple of weeks haven't been my best mentally, I'll be honest. I won't lie and say I've been a radiant ball of positivity because I really haven't. I've been having a tough time, questioning a lot of things but I'm figuring it out or at least trying. I'll get back on my feet, I always manage to even when it seems impossible. If I've done it before I can do it again and that's what I'm aiming to do. 

So my good little things that have happened are that I went home last weekend and that was really lovely, I loved seeing my mum, dad, brother and his fiancé. We went out for dinner and stuff, my dad treated me to a few bits (which was unnecessary but it was really lovely of him, I think he'd missed me…I missed him too!) Although when I was at home I kinda couldn't wait to return to university, I think I went home a little too early although my inner home sickness wanted to go home in reality I should've probably left it a little longer. But I'm seeing my mum and dad next week here in London so that'll be nice! 

When I returned back to London I had a couple of clueless nights out, you know those ones where you wake up the next day and it's like you were in a bubble all night and you remember nothing - AWFUL, DON'T DRINK KIDS IT'S BAD, SO BAD. And I also went on Barclays bikes at 2am and it was cool as hell.

I also have plans to see my favourite Aussies, 5 Seconds of Summer this month too aaaah yeah, the happiness returns. 

OHHHH and Autumn has returned, October is here (but I'm going to be making a post about that soon so…) but that's made me super, super happy holy moly. 

So yeah, I've got things to be happy about, do you?! How has your week been? Please let me know below in the comments, I'd really love to hear! 

x 

Positive Tuesdays: (Not on a Tuesday) Weeks Five and Six.

Hiiiiiii! Yes, I understand it's actually Friday and I haven't done one of these in 2 weeks now but hey, I'm now a student and I have things to do, people to see, Doritos to eat.

It's been a mad couple of weeks, I've been finally settling in after week four of 'Positive Tuesdays'  and it now kinda feels like home here in my little bedroom in London with my flatmates who already feel like family. We can just talk about anything and everything, I love it.

Okay so here are all the good things that have been happening... last week my best friends India and Damian got engaged!!! We've literally all waited for this moment for years, they are the glue to our group and this was just an absolutely lovely thing to have happened. I nearly cried when we got told in the morning and I'm honestly so happy for them, all the congratulations in the world to them!

Last week I partied a bit, ate many Doritos, done some stuff…you know, the normal student stuff.

This week I actually started University and it's so overwhelming and scary, I'm trying to be as positive as I can and think of all the good things that are to come but deep down I'm like nope, I cannot do this and I think I'm just totally scaring myself to the point where I feel turning into a tortoise and hibernating would be the better option - BUT I'M NOT HERE TO BE NEGATIVE SO IGNORE THAT.

It's been a very hectic, scary but fun couple of weeks and it's given me a taster of what's to come for the next 3 years, being a fresher is cool, cooking my own dinner is cool, washing my own clothes is also pretty cool. I keep forgetting I'm in my most favourite city in the whole world, so I think I should definitely stop taking that for granted as of this moment.

How has your week been?! Let me know, I'd really love to hear!

Until next Tuesday (I promise I'll get back on track) ((Actually, don't hold me to that))

x x

Positive Tuesdays: Week Four - UNIVERSITY.

Helllooooo!

As you can see in the title this one is about the thing I've been going on about for months and months, my good thing for the week is that I am finally at University!

I moved on Saturday, I actually did it. On Friday I had the biggest wobble of all, even contemplating not moving at all and just giving up before I'd given it a chance and I stayed in bed all day when I had jobs to do before leaving but I couldn't face doing anything because that meant everything was real and it was actually happening, very scary. But I did it, my dad packed the car up and him and my mum took me down to London and here I am, 4 days later and it's like I've been here for ages.

I've met so many lovely people, my flat mates are ace and it's all just been super natural! I never thought I'd start conversations, I was super nervous about going out drinking but I did it and it's been hilarious and just so fun. With all my anxieties still here I'm working through them because I just have to.

My room is huge, I feel like I need to buy furniture to fill it up and make it more like home but I don't know where to start and I should probably prioritise buying food instead of furniture…

My cute little bed. 

I still feel like I need to make it more homely, but my pin board is looking pretty cute so far! 

So yeah, it's been quite hard in some respects but all in all, rather fun! 

How has your week been?! Let me know I'd love to hear! 

x 

Positive Tuesdays: Week Three.

Hiiiiiii everyone! How are you doing? It's quite a miracle that I have actually committed to doing this 'Positive Tuesdays' for a 3rd week running, well done me, I deserve a pat on the back for doing such a simple task, gosh!

It's been quite a week for me if I'm honest, anxieties and such were all over the place but all quite valid if I'm honest - I leave for London on Saturday! And with that my mum wasn't well, neither was I at the beginning of last week so it's all been a little bit crap but why would I possibly dwell on the negatives on a post like this?! Ignore all of that I'm about to talk about my good thing for the week!

I GOT MY BRACES OFF. Yes, that's right, 18 months of getting forbidden foods like hard sweets stuck in my braces has paid off and I am here with a good set of teeth. Lookin' pretty fresh if I do say so myself! I can't even get used to the fact that I can actually bite into foods without pulling it all apart first, it's going to take time to get used to that. I never thought my teeth were bad before hand, I just had a slight over bite and a tooth out of place but looking at pictures from before and looking at my teeth now, they look SO good! I'd post a photo but I must try to perfect my photo smile before I do so, you feel me?!

I've now got a few days left before I leave for University so if I don't post next week, you'll know why!

Have you had a good week? What's the nicest thing that's happened?! Let me know in the comments, I'd love to know!

Until next time

x

Positive Tuesdays: Week Two.

Helllloooo!

I haven't posted since this time last week and I do apologise, maybe you haven't even noticed my short absence but I've been at Reading Festival! That's all I've done the past week and I really wanted to make a whole separate post for that tomorrow or something so you'll just have to wait for that and it'll be my 'good thing for the week'.

So this whole new thing is about me being positive and to hopefully get any of you to think positively too, but isn't it a bit hypocritical of me to try to enforce positivity when I'm still having a hard time mentally? I think this whole thing is a little time out of my negative thoughts to just stop and think that it's okay for a little while.

I want to beat the bad thoughts and that's what I'm trying to do but you all know it's not as easy as that, but it will happen eventually.

The past week I had a sick time at Reading but the little demons in my head still stuck around, telling me it wasn't okay to do certain things, but now I'm home I'm saying to myself that actually, yes, it was okay. It IS okay. That's what I want to say to you too, if you're out somewhere and you really want to have a good time but there's voices in your head telling you that you're not worthy then I'm here to tell you that you are and that it's okay to let go for a few days. WELL, not even a few days, it's okay to let go forever, to just have fun and not let the shit get in the way of anything you want to do.

From this post just remember one thing: it's okay.

Have you had a good week? Has anything really nice happened that has made you feel good this week? Let me know in the comments, I'd love for you to get involved in this weekly post!

x x

Positive Tuesdays: Week One.

Hello! Yup, here I am with a new weekly 'segment' if you will. I just want to bring positivity to my life and yours, I wish I had that power… I don't. But I hope I can just simply contribute to your journey to happiness as I would like to go upwards on mine!

The point of this is for me to talk about something good (or multiple things) that has happened in the past week, since last Tuesday. Even if it was the tiniest thing, something super simple, if it makes me feel good then I will write about it and I want you to do the same, you can comment below or just simply think about it and smile.

I feel like a super cheese ball doing something like this but screw it, I like to be happy and I like it when others are happy so let's do this, let's make this a 'thing'.

So, I haven't done a lot the past week but I did bump into an old best pal of mine. I've known her since primary school and haven't properly seen her since we left school, oblivious to what each other had been doing in the past 3 years we bumped into each other in town and it genuinely made me happy for the whole day! It brought back so many funny memories for me, in high school we'd always have such a laugh, even in primary school but that was a pretty long time ago! There was a time in high school when we had an obsession with Daim bars, we'd eat like 3 a day and if we didn't then that day absolutely sucked. One lunch time she lost one and she was convinced I'd stolen it, this little tiff went on all lunch time and I was adamant I didn't steal the damn Daim bar, it was a true conspiracy. We walked up to a lesson and she found it in her pocket the little poop and our whole lunch was tense because of one little Daim bar but you had to be there. Regardless, this made my whole week! Just seeing an old friend can make you so happy, it's so nice to see people you care about doing well!

I also went out with my friend Corinna in town and we partied hard and felt it the next day so that was fun too.

What's been good for you this week? Anything made you smile a lot? Let me know in the comments and let's spread the positivity, let's get on a road to happiness and not slip off from this moment onwards!

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK x