When I was diagnosed with Depression and Generalised Anxiety Disorder I thought I was a fruit loop and didn't really understand what it meant. One of the areas I struggle with the most is self-care. In my opinion I am worthless and unaccomplished. This trait is common with the perfectionistic and those with unrelenting standards - which I'm learning can kill your soul from the inside out.

We live in a world where photos of my breasts
will bring more attention than words of empowerment and motivation
Where young girls objectify themselves,
yet become surprised when immersed in sentiments of fake adoration.

I'm writing this during a long weekend. While writing shouldn't be considered "work", I sometimes feel that I always need to be working towards something. Yet even during a 4 day weekend, I cannot sit still and relax. It's such a problem that I require professional help to assist me with relaxing, slowing down and listening to my body.

Is that you too? Do you not know how to relax? 

I've been lucky enough to share my adventures with many people and it's fairly safe to say that I only surround myself with the best of friends. You'll never see me rolling with a huge posse, or inviting people to my birthday that I've only met once - I choose quality over quantity.

Throughout my journey I've learned a lot about energy, where it comes from and how we spend it. I've realised that I have wasted a lot of time on "friends" that added nothing to my life, and if anything, brought me down. My dad once told me that you've lived a good life if you can count your true friends on one hand.

At 28 years of age learning how to walk is definitely not on the list of things to do. But that wasn't going to stop me from doing City 2 Surf!

You would think that learning to walk again as an adult would be a piece of cake. That you could get up after brain surgery and 4 weeks of being bed ridden and just remember how to put one foot in front of the other.

Unrelenting standards: The underlying belief that one must strive to meet very high internalised standards of behaviour and performance... Typically results in feelings of pressure or difficulty slowing down; and in hyper-criticalness toward oneself...

There are so many ways to fake happiness. Inspirational Facebook status updates, perfectly filtered Instagram photos, amazing snapchats, pretty clothes and happy text replies - would prove that you (or I) are always living the dream.

I saw this fantastic piano while travelling last week and it really struck a chord (pun intended!)  

From a young age we're taught to be polite, speak when you're spoken to, silence is golden... and while it is - I think making noise is golden too! 

2016 what a year you have been. The last 12 months have held many milestones for me - getting married, purchasing my 3rd property, learning more about myself and realising that it's ok to go against the grain. I'm still learning and growing, and I hope that never stops. But as we sit and reflect on the year that was, here are a few things I've learnt along the way.