Green Mermaid Cottage

( Trigger warning: this post discusses mental health issues, including suicidal ideation.)  Throughout my life I have had episodes of severe depression, anxiety and panic attacks. I   strongly suspect that I am neurodivergent as I struggle on a daily basic with noise, busy and crowded environments and using public transport. I regularly feel like I am the odd one out in social and work situations and struggle with relationships.  I am lucky to have a very supportive GP who helped me when I was at my lowest and who gave me access to counselling sessions and the appropriate medication. But I have also accepted that to stay well I needed to make several long term changes in my daily life and constantly work at maintaining my mental health.  Below are some of the activities that have helped me.  MY MENTAL HEALTH ROUTINE  Guided Meditation and  Mindfulness This is something that I started doing during the Covid lockdowns. I discovered YouTube guided medi...

THE 'GREEN TAX'  I decided to start making my own beauty and cleaning products because I simply could not afford to buy the type of products that I wanted in shops.  As an animal lover I only want to use plant-based products that are not tested on animals and preferably organic. I noticed that those type of products are always more expensive and therefore out of my reach.  DROWNING IN PLASTIC In addition I was increasingly bothered by the amount of packaging I was left to dispose of every time I used shop-bought products. I liked the idea of recycling these plastic bottles and glass jars as containers for my own products.  BAD HAIR AND SKIN DAY: ITCHY AND SCRATCHY... I hoped that making my own products would also help me calm my sensitive skin and scalp, made worse by the high levels of stress and anxiety I was experiencing. I even had to see my GP when I woke up covered with red, inflamed, incredibly itchy spots all over my belly, chest and parts of my back. After...

In August 2023 I finally managed to move out of London and realise my dream of buying my first house on my own, by the sea. But within the first month in my new little house in a pretty Kent seaside town everything went wrong and I ended up facing the biggest health and financial crisis of my life.  THE HOUSE OF HORRORS... I had been so glad of my escape to the sea and so eager to start a new, healthier life. I craved change and peace of mind after some tough years marred by physical and mental health issues, increasing anxiety, stress and panic attacks.  I soon realised the survey on the house had missed many urgent issues. It needed a full rewire, a new boiler (found to be faulty on the day I got the keys), some new guttering, removal of a gas fire (described as a 'death trap' by the gas engineer) and a kitchen drain gulley replaced.  Then, just as the work was starting on the above, there was a bathroom leak that sent water cascading on the ceiling and wall below. The ...