Sometimes the Universe (and blogging community) is magical...

I mentioned in one of my last posts that I've been trying to write an e-course inspired by my experience in film photography... and this is something that I've recently started to work on again (hurray). However, I've never written an e-course before, which is a problem.

I've taken part in a couple and I've a vague idea of what I want to do, but honestly, I'm fumbling through. So I decided to start doing a bit of research into putting together an e-course... and some of the things I read, I did not like at all. Luckily, some things I did like and I've been making some good notes, but overall the internet hasn't been super helpful in helping me put together exactly what it is I'm trying to do.

And then, as if by magic... an email from Sas Petherick (you know of her right? If not, pop over after you've read this post, she is awesome!) pops up in my in-box, with not only exactly the information I want - but more than I could possibly imagine on a huge variety of topics that I'm currently interested in... e-courses, blogging, marketing for artists, how to say no (this one I'm pretty sure is just for me haha), yoga, love, business... and so much more. Possibly too much more... as I have no idea how long its going to take me to read it all but I am excited - so excited in fact, I'm sharing it with you too.

So what exactly am I trying to share with you? Well here it is - Multi-Passionate Must Haves!

A collection of 30 hand-picked products for multi-passionate people which was released today and is only available for 72 hours! And to make it even better - its only $97 (or £59.50 UK lovelies) - for 30 e-books worth a total of $2046.95 (or £1,215.24, wow!).

Here is the list of books included:

• 365 Writing and Blogging Prompts by April Bowles-Olin
• Bewitch: Cast your Spell to Get the Customers You Crave by Kris Oster
• Board of Your Life by Tanya Geisler
• Brilliant Boundaries by Kylie Bellard
• Business By Design by Megan Auman
• The Digital Launch Playbook by Joel Zaslofsky
• Easier Email by Cairene MacDonald
• An Effective Escape by Michelle Ward
• Energy Management 101 for Introverts by Tanja Gardner
• Facebook for Artists by Cory Huff
• The Fierce Love Course by Molly Mahar
• Find your very own GPS readings by Sas Petherick
• The Good to Know Project, Zines 1-5 by Amy Ng
• How to Build a Blog You Truly Love by Liv Lane
• How to Say No by Tiffany Han
• Journal Yo Feelings Out by Jenipher Lyn
• Journaling Your Awesome Future by Deb Cooperman
• Launch Your First Profitable E-Course by Halley Gray (universe magic right? It's good too!)
• Life is Messy Planners by Mayi Carles
• Marketing for Creatives by April Bowles Olin
• Playshop in a Box by Melissa Dinwiddle
• Playtime with your Inner Muse by Jennifer Lee
• Power Play by Amanda Genther
• The Purpose Paradigm by Laura Simms
• Sex, Love, Liberation by Ev’Yan Whitney
• The Soul Fire Code by Satya Colombo
• Supporting Multipotentialite Kids by Emilie Wapnick
• The Ultimate Virtual Retreat by Jen Louden
• World-Changing Writers Workshop by Pace Smith
• You Again Yoga by Caren Baginski

I went through the list and immediately 10 or so jumped out at me - including Sas's work, and I think even 10 for £59.50 would have been a bargain, so 30 seems a bit crazy to me. What do you think? Worth the money? I definitely think so - in fact I've already bought it and I've flicked through a lot of it too (some things you get complete and others you have to sign up for or download from a different link, but its all there!) and I can definitely recommend it. It's a little overwhelming to have so much information immediately at your fingertips, but awesome too.

So if you're anything like me and you have your fingers in too many pies (crochet, yoga, blogging, photography, ecourse, blurb books, free e-books... to name a few) or are multi-passionate (what a great phrase!) then this is definitely for you. CHECK IT OUT HERE!!

IMPORTANT NOTE. I got the email this morning and purchased a copy of this of my own before sharing as I wanted to make sure this was as awesome and bargainous as it looks - and I think it is. As part of buying this, Multi Passionate Must Haves also offers an affiliate program (which explains why you can buy so much for so cheap, imagine all the referrals each of these amazing contributors must be getting - very clever really) and because I was going to share this amazing deal anyway, I signed up to it and all of the links included in this post are affiliate links - meaning if you buy it, I get a percentage of money too - which would be amazing for me and definitely contribute to my E-course fund :) so its a win-win all round.

Thank you for reading and supporting my blog, and thank you a million times if you do buy this package through this blog, I've been at this a long time now and I wouldn't share anything on here that I wouldn't complete endorse or buy myself.

Hello...

So... I accidentally didn't blog for a week again. I was so excited to share my book with you last week and then we had a crazy busy long bank holiday weekend with two weddings, a lot of travelling and all I've wanted to do since is sleep... I could have a little nap right now if I'm honest.

Have you read my book? What did you think? I've had some positive feedback on Twitter which has been making my days so I'm hoping that all the people who downloaded felt the same way, its a little scary putting something different out there but I'm so glad that I did.

I'm hoping to get back to blogging more regularly this week so see you soon :)

No actually... how are you really?

It's been about a year since I took myself to the Doctors and waited for what seemed like forever to see someone who might be able to help me. I've been trying to write a post about that for a while. I tried various approaches - I tried positive and I tried helpful to others who are suffering from depression (which I'm still happy to do if people want to hear what I've been doing). But the words didn't come naturally.

I've been struggling with blogging this year - being constant, wanting to do it, wanting to read other blogs. And don't get me wrong, I read some great blogs - happy blogs, encouraging blogs, supportive blogs, yoga blogs, healthy eating blogs, creative blogs - all the blogs of people who I want to be like I guess.

But, even after 5 years of blogging - I fell into the allure of the 'happy blog' trap. The believe that I had to do more to feel better, be more like someone else, eat better, do more exercise and blog happy, to be happy.

I've always known that blogging was a choice of presentation rather than an accurate reflection but sometimes we forget and the unreal seems real for a little while.

Then this morning I came upon a blog called Edenland - and I read what I actually really needed to read rather than what I thought I needed, an honest blog. A brutally honest blog, with swearing, depression and general struggling with life with no distractions, no selective omissions, no pretty pictures - just words sharing how life was for that person, as it comes, swearing, depression, truly crappy situations and all.

And I felt relieved that there was someone else out there struggling with their own patch of the world yet sharing it so honestly and unapologetically - it could be done. And that was when the words started to come. The honest words of my own... and the fear of not seeming happy, creative, perfect, sunny (all the blog buzz words you know) ... fell away and was replaced by a desire to be real, to be honest, to stop hiding behind the photos, to stop not coming here because I didn't want to show the real me.

So how am I, really?

Well, after all that - I'm mostly pretty good right now compared to where I was a year ago. Which doesn't sound that bad does it? But its still pretty rough going over here. I'm mostly operating on 'one day at a time' (as my bestie always reminds me). I'm choosing to get out of bed every morning (something that hasn't really gotten easier, even with the pills and CBT, urgh), I'm following a pretty steady routine and I'm working hard on keeping my thoughts in check. But these to me are still all the hard options - the really hard options - you have to be vigilant, constantly aware and determined. And most mornings I don't wake up feeling any of those things - mostly I just feel tired.

I've been going to cognitive therapy for the last 3 months and that has helped me so much, more than anything else in fact. To look at my own thought cycles and realise how they were actually working and the impact they were having on my behaviour, emotions and physicality was a huge eye opener for me.

My CBT counsellor also shared a great resource with me - which I'll share here - a website called Get Self Help - all the sheets I used are here. They are available and free - all you need to do is open the website and start looking - and that isn't too hard or scary. If you've been struggling and you don't know where to turn or you're too scared to approach a real person (I was too scared. I got given a lot of phone numbers that I never rang...) then please have a look here and if you have no idea where to start still - I would recommend the problems page or the introduction page.

Even sharing that resource - It feels so hard to sit here and write about how I've been coping whilst trying to help others -  because I know that everyone's experience with depression or any other mental health problem is totally different, what works for me might work for you too - or it might not. The one thing I have learnt in the past year that I'll share though is that I don't need to do more to be happy, I need to do less. 

I  need to stop the negative reinforcing behaviour, I  need to stop eating foods that make me feel worse, I  need to stop giving the negative thoughts that niggle away validity, I  need to stop hiding away and distancing myself from people and I  definitely need to stop believing in the unreal - because that will always be unreal, even if I (and enough people) believe the opposite.

So, now is the time for me to ask... how are you really?  Leave a comment (or send me an email) and let's be honest for a bit  - I promise its not as scary as you might think...

(Though it is still pretty scary haha, all I actually need to do now is hit that publish button and I've reread this about a hundred times and stared at that button for at least ten minutes... if you're reading this then I actually did it. Eep)

p.s. If anyone has any other honest, gutsy, heart wrenching blogs that they'd love to share with me - I'd really appreciate it.

Frocktober

If you were reading my blog a couple of years ago, you may remember that to support my dear blog friend Anna from Much Love, Anna, I took part in Frocktober during October 2011. In Australia, Frocktober is officially associated with the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation and for every day in October Anna wore a dress to raise funds and awareness for the Foundation. 

Although I didn't manage the whole month like Anna did, I did manage 21 days out 31, which I was really pleased with. This year, Anna is again taking part in Frocktober and as well as wearing a dress every day, Anna is also sharing a film photo of a dress on her Frocktober Tumblr page - Frocks on Film

I love this idea, its been so fun to check Anna's Tumblr every day and see her new photo and I'm particularly taken with the idea of a specific theme photo project as well. Anna captures the dresses so beautifully with great compositions and a sensitive approach to the light which I think gives a lovely result.

You can find Anna's tumblr page here and if you want to support Anna and donate, then you can do that here. 

{All photos taken by Anna and used with her permission. Please do not share them.}