The Life Chronicles of Lauren

Grief is a funny thing. When we think of grief, we automatically think of grieving the death of a loved one. However grief is a multi-faceted thing, and we can grieve so much more than just death. I learned this in recent months. I grieved the life I lived in Canada when I returned to the UK, I grieved the friendships that had deteriorated, I grieved the happiness I once felt when I was going through depression, and so so much more in the last 18 months. So much of this was unexpected, and it is only now I realize and accept that this was grief. In the midst of my depression I didn’t understand these feelings, I just felt suffocated by sadness. Now I understand what this was, I can recognize that one of the reasons I struggled to get through this phase is because I didn’t sit in it and process it.  It’s funny, because grief is such a heavy emotion which we all want to escape and avoid, and yet the only way to be free of it is to go through it. And that shit is HARD. Especially when...

Long time no see... My last post on here was not the most positive I’ll be honest, and since I made that post it has been HARD to settle back into life in the UK and find myself amongst the chaos. The later months of last year were amongst the hardest of my life, and by far it was the lowest I have ever felt. It’s hard to explain but I like to try and be honest with people about mental health, because it’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, that’s what I tell anyone who confides in me that they are struggling, and if I was to keep quiet and not tell people then that would make me a hypocrite. So as a result, I post a lot on my Instagram stories about my own experiences with mental health and how I’m feeling, and I figured it would be useful to also post it here in a more permanent format, in the hope that it will help someone going through the same thing, or at the very least of it doesn’t do that then it’s a great reminder to myself that I am stronger than I think. Around September ...