World Health Day is an international day, taking place on the 7th of April and has done so on the same day since 1995. The day has a different theme each year, focusing on the different aspects of mental and physical health - they have covered topics ranging from motherhood, to road safety, to diabetes. The 2017 theme is dealing with depression.
This year’s aim is to encourage people to speak up about their depression before it reaches the worst point. This is particularly important for teenagers, given that around twenty percent of the world’s teenage population deal with symptoms of depression - that’s roughly 160000000 teenagers, according to my calculations. With that said, World Health Day this year does not just focus on teenagers, but on all people all of ages who may be dealing with depression, and also their families, friends and people around them who are also affected as a result of the disorder. Over fifty percent of people who have taken their own life deal with depression, and that statistic alone is plenty enough to shock anyone into realising how truly devastating the results of dealing with it can be. On top of encouraging people to speak up, this year’s aim is to also change how the world views the disorder - people who don’t deal with depression can easily blame someone’s condition on tiredness, laziness or hormones. If more people are made aware of the true consequences and symptoms of the disorder, it could make it easier for others to speak up. So what can you do to support and spread the message about World Health Day this year?
a) www.childline.org.uk - 0800 1111 - the number and website address for a support hotline in the UK b) http://www.suicide.org/international-suicide-hotlines.html - a list of websites for different countries and their suicide hotlines 3. Change the stigma - it’s easy for someone to call another with depression lazy or ‘just sad’. Chances are, it’s probably because they have no damned clue what it’s like, and maybe never will. Educating them on dealing with depression and how it truly feels is the first step to changing people’s warped views on it. Bear in mind that awareness for depression needs to be spread all the time and not just on International Health Day, but it’s a day in which people will be purposefully aware, and therefore a good place to start.
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The twenty first century has had many wonderful advances for same sex couples - marriage equality was achieved in June of 2015 and more and more lesbian, gay and bisexual celebrities are coming forward and being public with their same sex significant others.
But, with that being said, I was completely oblivious to the idea of same sex couples as a kid. I grew up watching superhero films where the hero finds his heroine, or saves a woman in an epic love story - just good ol' heterosexual storylines. I was eleven years old when I first started questioning my straightness, for lack of a better term. I thought I was weird because I had a crush on a female superhero, and I can only blame my confusion and ignorance to same-gender attraction on the fact that people assumed that I was straight - because that’s the normal thing to do, right? No, not in the slightest. It appears as though society has taken the legal system’s rule of ‘innocent until proven guilty’, but only changed it to ‘straight until proven otherwise.’ People act as though being gay or bisexual happens overnight, or that it’s a choice. Quite often when I speak openly about my bisexuality, I get comments such as ‘when did that happen?’ or ‘since when?’ And the answer is that I have always been this way. The ‘admiration’ I had for the Pink Power Ranger as a kid? That wasn’t admiration or idolisation, that was a crush. Not a girl crush or a I-want-to-be-her crush, it was a crush, the same type of crush that I had on Harry Styles. But at the time, I didn’t know that - because nobody ever told me that liking girls was a completely normal thing. I didn’t know that there was a whole community of people who had that one thing in common. And personally, I believe that the whole discovery of my sexuality and the entire process of understanding and coming to terms with being okay with it might have been a lot easier if I had been introduced to the idea at a much younger age - telling younger kids about same sex marriages and how it’s completely natural and okay might be the beginning of creating a more accepting and comfortable society in the future. If I could give my eleven or twelve year old self a word of advice now? Embrace it and learn about it. Rather than shying away from the idea and flat out denying it because it seemed so strange, I’d tell myself to get educated on the subject, thus beginning a process of realisation; the realisation that same sex attraction is the same damned thing as opposite sex attraction. And that’s my word of advice, whether you’re the one that’s questioning your sexuality or the one who might not know much about the subject - learn about it, become more familiar with it and embrace the fact that people love who they choose to love. Modelling is a huge industry nowadays, with it being worth almost $920m dollars. It might seem like every model you see is perfect and thin, but that’s far from what it is. The perfect models you see walking down runways and posing for billboard photos didn’t wake up like that. They have professional makeup artists and photoshoppers who help them look that way. Models who walk in huge shows such as the Victoria’s Secret one stick to strict diets and workouts in the days leading up so that their body looks the way it does.
That’s not me trying to say that these models aren’t beautiful, because they certainly are. Cara Delevigne is still beautiful when she has bags under her eyes and Beyoncé still looks amazing when she’s not in a magazine, having been photoshopped all over. What I am trying to say is that you don’t have to conform to the media standards in order to be beautiful. Every human is different and no one person is the same, not even identical twins. Being beautiful isn’t looking like whatever model everyone is raving about in the moment, it’s about looking like you. It doesn’t matter if you get little rolls of fats when you sit down, or if you stomach sticks out a bit. If you are healthy and like the way you look, does it matter if someone thinks differently? I remember a few weeks ago when my friend tried on a prom dress and said she felt great, and I heard her sister make a comment about how she’s no Kendall Jenner. But that’s the entire point. Being an individual who wears what they want and acts and does as they please is beautiful. Whether you enjoy going to the gym or dancing, or eating pizza or watching TV. It’s the little details and quirks that makes us individuals that are beautiful. Being confident in yourself starts by not comparing yourself. You can stand in front of the mirror for hours and think about how you don’t look like a celebrity, or you can tell yourself that you look beautiful because you love a part of your body or the way your outfit looks. You should stop focusing on the things you don’t like and start looking at the things you do like. For example, I can’t stand my eyebrows. Years of hair pulling disorder and tirelessly plucking them has made them look far from the best, but I do really like my eyes. They’re blue and quite big and I can focus on them in a way more positive way than I can on my eyebrows. I’m also not a huge fan on the way my stomach squishes up and sticks out when I sit down. But that’s human - I know some really fit and in shape people who are athletes who sit down and get the same thing. The difference between that and pictures you see in the media is that the models have had their stomachs photoshopped to be flat. The point in question is that the only person's opinion on your appearance that matters is your own. So what if your friend said that shirt doesn’t suit you? If you like it, then wear it. The people you see in the media with flat stomachs and thigh gaps can be beautiful, but so can a person without hair, or someone who may be overweight. Someone’s skin colour or eye colour don’t depict what makes them beautiful, it’s your individuality that does. - Jazz Valentine’s Day is meant to be the international day of love - how lovely, right? But there is also the social convention in which you must buy your significant other flowers and chocolates and expensive items to show that. In my opinion, I don’t believe that’s right. Maybe it’s me talking from the POV of someone who spends Valentine's Day with their dogs, but do you really need to spend a butt ton of money just to express your love for someone?
Here are a few alternate ideas that are very cheap, or even free, but still say a lot.
I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day with your S/O - remember that is a day where you should enjoy the presence of one another, and it’s not about spending large amounts of money on things. At the end of the day, it is a day of love and not a day of money. I am no stranger to meeting many of my friends through social media - in the twenty first century, it is so easy to find people who have stuff in common with you and build a friendship as a result of it. You can talk to them over many platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat etc and also video call on Skype and Ooovoo.
But there will come a time where you may be able to meet. I’ve met one of my internet friends at a concert and it was amazing, but I was also really careful. When we’re kids, we’re told all about internet safety and how we shouldn’t share too much information - but is it different as a teenager? If you’re meeting an internet friend, it’s always good to video call them first. This means you can see them sort of in person, and you’ll know if they’re using a fake profile picture, or lying about their age. You also shouldn’t go alone - this might seem like something you’d be told in primary school, but it’s actually a really serious thing. If you’re meeting somewhere and you’re alone, only to find out the person is in fact not who they say they are, then it could be a potentially dangerous situation. You also be careful about where you meet - if they suggest a secluded place such as a park near their house, there’s a chance it could be empty. Building on the last thing I said about being alone and discovering the person has been lying could be a threatening situation. If you live near a shopping center or even have the ability to go to the nearest city center, then that is the much safer alternative. Lastly - make you sure know what they look like! The video call is always a very good way to do this, but if you’re planning on meeting somebody who’s only profile pictures are avatars, it might be worth asking for a selfie just so you know who you’re looking for. This is not me implying that meeting internet friends is a dangerous idea, because I have met one of mine before and it was wonderful, and I very much wish I could meet all of them. But there are always going to be cases where someone is being catfished, lied to or mislead when it comes to people over the internet and it’s important to take measures that ensure you are not one of the few who has to deal with being hurt over the internet. I’ve had the fair share of arguments in my lifetime. Some were seemingly pathetic and mediocre ones in primary school, leading up to much bigger and more serious ones in senior school. Half the friends I had in year seven I don’t even speak to anymore.
And I’ve learnt that falling out with people is one of the hardest things you’ll deal with in senior school. It can be over anything from relationships to crushes to spreading rumours – It’s all stressful and not a great experience, but it can be sorted. The first thing you need to remember is that you shouldn’t make the argument or the fall out the focus of everything – I let it overtake my life on one occasion and I forgot about my true friends and my schoolwork. In fact, when you focus more on other things, you won’t spend as much time overthinking the issue. Another thing to remember is that it doesn’t mean your friendship is over. Arguments will happen all the time in life, whether it be with friends or family or a partner. It does happen and it does suck, but it’s natural. Don’t assume you’ll never be friends again – Take some time and cool off, think about it and chances are, you might begin to miss each other and start over. But if it’s a case where they’ve mistreated you or hurt you and you have no intention of reinitiating your friendship, I learnt the best way is to just do it. It’s like ripping off a band aid – It’ll hurt, but at the end of the day, it might be worth it. If the person has truly hurt you, moving on is the best way forward. Don’t make a big thing of it, because it doesn’t have to be. Someone who I thought was my best friend began bullying me, but they disguised it behind friendship. We eventually fell out and rather than trying to make things up with them, I just left it. It hurt for a while, but the pain of moving on is much less than the pain of staying with a friend who mistreats you. I also found that it’s best not to get any other people involved. This can blow things out of proportion and get more people involved and start more arguments than necessary. If it’s between you and one other, try to keep it that way. This means less people get angry and it will be dealt with sooner rather than later. You must also try and see from their point of view – They might have a reason for arguing with you, and sometimes you need to stop for a second and think about why they’ve acted the way they have. It’s in human nature to defend yourself, whether your point is valid or not. So, before you get angry or begin to get upset, remember that they’re human and probably feel the same way that you do. Stay calm and rational and see it from both sides. Also, try and carry on as normal. If they’re in your classes or the same group as you at school, don’t make it obvious that you’ve fallen out. If you need to talk to them because of a lesson, do so in a polite way and treat them as an acquaintance or a stranger rather than someone you’re feeling negatively about. This way, you can avoid starting any further conflict. Lastly – give it time and agree to disagree. It might be that week’s pass and you forget why you’re mad, or the thing you fell out over may begin to seem stupid as you miss them. Sometimes the best thing to do is to forgive and forget, because you can’t always come to an agreement on everything. The thing you’re arguing about isn’t always worth as much as your friendship. The prospect of being labelled with a disorder can seem terrifying. Before I was told I had anything, I thought I was perfectly fine. That was until I realised I wasn’t. And it was so, so scary. I can’t really describe the feeling of being twelve years old and, as a doctor tried to explain to me what all these letters stood for, I just cried.
I wasn’t given a proper name or label for my first trip to the doctors. I’d been bullied for two years straight and it had affected me so much that ever when it had stopped, I kept imagining a bully behind me, calling me names, but there was nothing there. I told my mum after a terrible parents evening and she was probably as freaked out at as myself. A week or so later, the doctor told me I was experiencing symptoms of PTSD but, I wasn’t bad enough or old enough for them to actually tell me I had it. Next came OCD, hair-pulling disorder and anxiety. I didn’t go to a doctor for that, I went to a private counsellor who gently explained what they meant, where I could get help, etc. I was fourteen by this point but I had a much wider understanding of how mental disorders worked, because I knew people very close to me who had different forms of them. Even now, aged nearly sixteen, I’ve recently discovered I’m possibly dealing with Attention Deficit Disorder, and I have another doctors appointment for it. It smacks you hard, and it can be very hard to understand how it works. If you’re quite young, it might feel like the end of the world. I remember feeling like I would never fit in and would be considered strange. But honestly, if I kept it to myself, they wouldn’t have even noticed. A lot of mental disorders have no physical symptoms. So many people are surprised to find out I deal with some of the stuff I do. I promise you, it is not as obvious to other people as it is to you. I spent the first month or so after being diagnosed in a panicky state, and whenever someone said something like ‘I’m a bit OCD about how I arrange my pencils!’ I would turn around in fear. The key to coming to terms with it is taking it slow, only telling the people you think should know and also speak to others who have experience with whatever you may be dealing with. Each person reacts to each thing differently, so it’s hard to summarize it all in one article, but I swear that talking to others with the disorder can help. I don’t want to say other sufferers, because that makes it seem drab and dreary, which in truth, it probably is. But it’s not the end of the world, despite it feeling like that, and hearing others journeys can be more inspiring than you think. The one key thing someone said to me was ‘you were this way before you got diagnosed, you just know what’s up now,’ and that is still very significant. In retrospective, you’re still you. Nothing has changed. Before you were diagnosed, you may have thought everything was fine, and you would have adapted to dealing with the undiagnosed disorder. And in a way, that’s beneficial because you already knew how to deal with it. Getting diagnosed won’t suddenly increase the severity of your disorder. You might feel like ‘oh my god, I’ve got something wrong with me, what do I do?’ but try and be more ‘Okay, I found out I have this disorder. It’s scary, but I’d still have it even I wasn’t told about it.’ So, to summarize it - stay calm, stay focused, stay positive and stay strong. Stay yourself, and stay with the people you love. Being diagnosed is not the end of it. It’s the beginning of a new journey - one you’ve already started - and the journey may be long and hard, but you can never know. Take each day at a time, and you will the find the strength within you to fight. School can be stressful. With deadlines, studying and exams all being thrown at you, it's hard to stay focused on the important things, whilst still having time to see friends, family and also time to relax.
I'm in my last year of school myself, I'm about a month in and I've already heard the word 'GCSE' more times than I can possibly count. I struggle with maths and it's one of the compulsory GCSE's I need, and if I don't, I won't be able to go to college. It's a very scary thought and there's a lot of pressure, but suprisingly, I have so far managed to hand my work in on time and still revise. I thought it through, and here is a list of ways to help you stay organised and up to date; 1) Time-tabling This might seem really dreary, because schools have strict time tables too. But it's not all that bad - it's as simple as writing it down when you're gonna do something, how long you're gonna do it for and how long it will take to get done. For example, I have a whiteboard where I write it all down. It's helped me split my time evenly (more on that further down) and still have time to relax and do what I enjoy. 2) Spacing out your time Don't do everything at once. Metaphorically, go up the mountain a little bit at the time, and don't try and leap to the top. Most teachers are reasonable enough to give you homework/revision quite a lot of time in advance, and use it wisely. Don't leave all your homework to the night before, maybe do ten minutes per night every week until you're finished. This also works for revision. This will also leave you time to relax, and do whatever you enjoy (for me, it's watching Netflix.) 3) Stay neat This is probably just vital for me because I have OCD, but keeping your school/work bag, desk and books tidy helps me stay much more focused. Folders, dividers and binders are very helpful here, and you can get them very cheap from Poundland (or the Dollar Store) and that you can stay organised and still look damn good while doing it. 4) Turn off electronics I am an addict when it comes to the internet. Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook - I probably spend at least twenty minutes to an hour a day on each of those. When I'm trying to stay focused on my homework or studying, I turn off my phone and tablet and only have my laptop on. There's also websites where you can temporarily block other websites so you can't access them until a certain time. This is useful when I am meant to be revising but am also itching to watch the next episode of Stranger Things. I'll try to go onto Netfix, but it'll be blocked till 7. So what should I do until then? Maybe revise? 5) Remember the outcome When I'm *this* close to giving in on learning the formula for the volume of a shape, I'll take a minute to remind myself of what will happen if I give in on tiny things like that, and that I NEED my maths GCSE to get into the college and have the future I want. Be careful, though, because there's been occasions where I have thought myself into a panic, where I spend more time worrying about passing the exam than I actually do revising for it. I really hope these can help you, and good luck! When you’re not feeling great mentally, your physical health might be the last thing you worry about. Quite often your mind is far too busy worrying about other things to even consider it, and I can relate to that on a very high level.
I don’t mean your physical image - whether it’s size or shape or amount of muscle you have - because in the grand scheme of things, that doesn’t really matter. I mean healthy as in eating well, getting out, and not realising you’re ill physically. When my OCD and hair-pulling was at it’s worst last year, it took me nearly a fortnight to realise I had a very bad case of tonsillitis, and it ended up getting worse because of the amount of stress I’d been putting on myself because of my OCD. I won’t go into too much detail, but I ended up needing much more time off school than if I’d just taken a second to ask myself, is my body feeling okay? My head was too filled with anxieties, worries and emotions to even suss up the thought that my physical well being might not be on the good side of things. In all honesty, I had an awful diet, even worse sleeping schedule and the word ‘exercise’ was nowhere near to being in my vocabulary. I’m not trying to make out as if I’m a vegan body-builder right now, because I am far from that, but I have changed a few things to make my lifestyle better and I have been getting less ill less often. The first and most important thing to focus on is your diet. That’s not to say you should cut out absolutely everything unhealthy in it, because I am no stranger to the feeling of happiness that only chocolate and nothing else can give me. However, I changed a few minor things - ie, I started having veg with my dinner instead of chips/fries, I exchanged coke for diet coke and where possible to something entirely differently like smoothies. Retrospectively, it’s minor changes but I started getting more of my five a day and more vitamins and minerals. My skin also cleared up a lot which boosted my self confidence. Secondly, it’s good to get plenty of sleep. This seems a bit hypocritical while I’m writing this because it is 12:03am, but on a school day, I try to be asleep by 11. I usually wake up between 6:30 and 7AM, which gives me about seven hours a sleep a night, but according to Google, teenagers actually need nine hours. This probably seems impossible, because between school, homework and free-time, there just isn’t enough hours on the clock. With that aside though, it’s still vital to get as much sleep as you can. Rather than sacrificing your sleep for the next episode of Supernatural, remind yourself how much better you’ll feel in the morning when you wake up feeling more refreshed and ready to face the day, whether it includes a double-period of science or a maths exam. Lastly, try to get out more. I have never been a very active person. I enjoyed swimming as a kid, but now my main source of exercise are my weekly PE lessons at school and some nights when I walk home. However, I do try to walk to places where I can, such as the local shops or joining my family when they walk the dogs. Yoga is also pretty good for clearing your mind, or even switching on an upbeat song and going crazy for a couple minutes as you try to dance (and maybe succeed). It’s not about how it’ll change you physically, but it will really make you feel better, more productive and it gets your energy flowing. If you can apply minor changes to your life, it’ll have a major impact. It can include feeling more refreshed, waking up on the right side of bed and having a much healthier lifestyle. I’ve also found that there’s been little effects such as less spots, shinier hair and a slight change (a positive one) in the shape of my body. Little things can help much more than you realise. - Jazz I’ve been writing stories since I was about nine or ten. I started on Wattpad and my pieces have ranged from horrifyingly terrible fiction ones when I was nine or ten, then I wrote goodness knows how much fanfiction, and now I’m onto writing articles for TWE and I also work on ideas I would like to get published one day.
I don’t just write because I enjoy the idea of it, I write because there’s so much it can do for you. You can reflect your emotions through characters, create your own universes and change it at your will. You can tell if I was dealing with stuff, just by reading my stories. For example, the things I was writing this time last year were all very dark stories with sad endings, whilst my writing now is (or, so I hope) much happier and less twisted and morbid. Even if you’re not very good at English, or you struggle to write and read, it doesn’t mean you can’t do it. If you can open a word document (or even hand write it with a pad and pen) and let your imagination run free, you can produce things that will surprise you. I have entire universes in my head that I’ve created through writing, and if I’m ever walking home from school alone, or I can’t sleep, I can decide in my mind what’s going to happen next, or develop and create characters. It’s something there that’s in your head to distract you from falling into that place of over thinking and questioning, and when you’re actually writing it, you’ll be surprised by how quickly time goes, and how much you can produce without realising. You can channel your emotions through your characters - If you’re feeling down, you could create a character who deals with depression. If you’re feeling happy, you can create a character with a more positive outlook. It’s a way of getting things out your system and coming to terms with it, and these characters you’ve created can make you feel slightly less alone. I, for example, was going through a very, very rough patch about a year ago. I created a character in one of my stories who dealt with the same things as me, but I wrote the storyline so that she defeated it, recovered and got on the road to being happy. And from that day on, I’ve thought to myself, ‘If I can make my character do it, I can do it too.’ Another major example is JK Rowling - She was dealing with a lot of stuff (a divorce, depression and much more) and she turrned everything around when she wrote Harry Potter. Seven books, eight films and a lot of hard work later, she’s created one of the biggest franchises in modern history. Her writing has inspired and helped hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people around the world, including myself. For me, writing is sort of an escape. I’m in an okay place right now, but no one can go without bad days. And when I am having a rough day, I write. Heck, when I’m having a good day, I write. I do it all the time, and I can see myself doing more of it in the future. I’d like to be a writer, maybe a journalist or an author, when I’m older. So, simply pick up a pad and a pen. You can write down your feelings, about your day or simply anything, because the benefits are endless. Never tell yourself you can’t do it, because not unlike drawing, singing and dancing, writing gets better as you do it more. Just give it a try. |
JazzI really hope this helped, message me if you need further advice and have a good day! Categories
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