It’s Been A While… Life Update.

Hi everyone!

It’s been over a year and a half since I’ve written a blog post on here and I am so embarrassed about it! I can’t quite believe it’s been that long, but hopefully I get back into the swing of things now that my degree is nearly over.

Yep, that’s right. I’m doing another degree. If you read my blog posts before, you’ll remember that I was writing about my final year experiences and couldn’t wait for it to be over. And yet here I am, almost finished with my masters!

I think the last blog post I wrote on here was about my resolutions for 2018. It’s funny to look back at as I didn’t continue with any of them! Typical me. However, that doesn’t mean I’m still the same old Hannah as I was back in early 2018. I’d like to think I’ve changed a hell of a lot! So let me update you all on some of the big moments that have happened in my life since we last spoke…

1. I completed CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy). It’s been so long since I actually finished all my sessions with my therapist, but I believe I ‘graduated’ from therapy back in February 2018. I’ve heard some people say that they didn’t get along with CBT, or that it didn’t really help them with their anxiety very much. For me, I found it amazing. So amazing that one day I would like to pursue a career in CBT. Luckily I had a lovely therapist that really listened to me and understood everything I said. She really helped me when I was struggling during my final year and without her I don’t think I would be who I am today (cheesy I know, sorry!).

2. I graduated from university with a 2.1 in Philosophy! This was such a great achievement for me as I really struggled during my three years at uni. Even though I probably won’t pick up a philosophy book ever again (so long Kant!), I did really enjoy studying the subject and I did learn a lot.

3. I started my masters at a brand new university. Now, this was a really big deal for me. As someone that suffers from social anxiety, deciding to go to a completely new university where I didn’t know anybody, to study a subject I’ve never studied before… AT MASTERS’ LEVEL!… it was absolutely terrifying. Needless to say, I have made some amazing friends that have helped me so much along the way. Without them, I really do think I would have dropped out after a month! I’ve also managed to get this far without failing anything so that’s something I guess! All I have left to do is my dissertation (which I’m clearly procrastinating from) and then I’m done!

4. My big sister got married! Now onto the really exciting stuff! In 2018, my sister got engaged and asked me to be her maid of honour. I was over the moon to be given this opportunity to help her with the wedding and hen dos (somehow we managed to organise two separate hens that went so well?!) The actual wedding itself was out of this world and, of course, my sister looked beautiful. I’m so happy for her and my new brother-in-law who have now moved to Hong Kong!! If you’re reading this guys, I miss you loads!

However, as you all know, I originally started this blog to write about my mental health issues so that I could potentially help anyone else out there that was also struggling. So it would be silly not to give you all an update on my mental health, right?

Regardless of all these amazing things that I’ve achieved or have happened over the past 1.5 years, my mental health hasn’t changed much. My anxiety is still very much up and down and I rarely leave my house by myself impromptu. I’ve come to realise that my anxiety isn’t something that is just going to go away overnight. It will probably always be with me, I just need to learn how to handle and control it. Obviously this is easier said than done and I find it almost impossible to control it at times!

I know that a lot of people in my life struggle to understand my anxiety and why I behave the way I do sometimes. Maybe my next blog post will be all about anxiety and how to help others handle their anxiety? But not just GAD, I will write about social anxiety as well, as so many people misunderstand what it is!

Apologies for the looong post! It’s clearly been a while!!

As always, if you have any questions then please don’t hesitate to contact me. Thank you for reading!

Hannah x