Release shame and express your sexuality. Even just writing those words fills me with a sense of, well, shame.

There is an embarrassment that comes when you begin to contemplate who you are and what you want, both in and out of the bedroom. We seem conditioned to pull away from anything more than standard, vanilla, socially acceptable expressions of the self.

There is a narrative, born of tradition, education, religion, and media, that seems to suggest it is okay to like and do and be one set of things, but not others…

What does friendship as an adult look like, or more specifically, what does friendship as an adult look like when you have a mental illness?

Answer: not like the movies, not like you learnt in high-school, and it isn’t easy for either party.

A study of patience, practice & perseverance.

Borderline Personality Disorder makes maintaining relationships extremely difficult. If you or your partner have BPD you know exactly what I am talking about.

Rage. Blame. Confusion. Jealousy. Emotionality.

By the end of this post you will know what has helped me to navigate these kinds of relationships successfully and continually.

"Typically, we don’t leave a relationship until it becomes so bad that the truth of the situation is truly undeniable.

However, by then, we have been beaten down and are broken by the relationship’s turn for the worse. Our confidence levels are shattered and we may have the symptoms of a plethora of mental afflictions – we are anxious about the future and depressed about ourselves. Our self-worth drops so low that we feel like staying is the right option because ‘they are the best someone like me could get’ or ‘at least I am lucky enough to have someone’..."

"People often excuse a behaviour if there are extenuating circumstances.

We tend to forgive, downplay or simply ignore it, because we realise that the person doing the behaviour is going through something significant and therefore are ‘not themselves’ at the moment..."