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I know this post is a good 8 days late, but I'm okay with that. Thanks to the wise words of Vix at New Age Hipster, I'm taking the first 2 weeks of January to settle in to 2016: I really feel like for us heading into the new year it might put a little break on our plans. We wanna be all guns blazing with our new year goals and plans, but instead why don't we spend January just easing into it? Spend the whole month thinking about what you want from 2016. Finish some books and projects, reflect on the last year and most importantly spend some time just chillin'!  So here we go, here's my month by month account of 2015 and then overall themes at the end. (more…)

The naughty S word for me is 'should'.  (more…)

This is a guest post by Pace Smith. If you’d like to write a guest post for The Pillow Fort, you can find more details here. In the Belgariad, my favourite fantasy series as a teen, there's a god named UL who is the god of all the misfits. Monsters, freaks, and outcasts of all kinds come to UL's territory to find a safe haven. The twist (spoiler alert!) is that UL turns out to be the father of all the gods, and the most powerful by far. The misfits are the Chosen Ones. Something freakishly similar is happening in the real world. (more…)

If you don't yet know how much I love Gabby Bernstein, you're missing out. She's a little bit more on the woo-woo side, and if you don't vibe with that, that's cool. This blog post is sharing my experience of a really practical life tip that I learnt from her: Choose Again.  (more…)

Earlier this year, a good friend of mine came to me to ask how she could best support another mutual friend who's been unwell recently, and might be diagnosed with a chronic illness. I thought it might be helpful if I shared my advice here. (more…)

Last week, someone linked to the Pillow Fighters Club in order to criticise the group based on the out of context quote ‘fed up of online wallowy chronic illness communities?’ I have to defend the ‘positivity only’ rule of the Pillow Fighters Club on a fairly regular basis. (more…)

This is a guest post by Holly Ashby. If you’d like to write a guest post for The Pillow Fort, you can find more details here. The importance of self care has really come to the forefront in recent years, and what self care as a concept means to people can be very personal. For some, the best thing they can do to keep themselves happy is the indulgence of a massive bar of chocolate, duvet and all their favourite films, while for others it’s diligently picking the right foods and getting out for some therapeutic exercise. Often it can be a combination of approaches, and being able to identify what’s best for you at that moment is one of the key principles involved in looking after yourself. (more…)

The General Election, and politics in general can be confusing. Especially if you don't know where to start, don't really understand the gist of politics, or have really bad brain fog. (more…)

I’ve always been a headachey person. It was a running joke amongst my friends that everything gives me a headache. 7th March 2006 I remember standing in the kitchen and realising that I had a headache. For the most part, that headache never went away. Years later it was diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but the primary symptom, apart from the fatigue, was always a headache. Since childhood I’ve had migraines, so add them into the mix. And there we have it: I’m a self-confessed, reluctant headache expert. So with all these years of experience, I thought it time to share 21 of my tried and trusted ways to help a headache. (more…)

In November last year, I had the honour of being invited to speak at the Common Purpose Frontrunner for Disabled Students course - a 3 day leadership course. It was really special to be back, because I actually took the course myself in 2012 AND this was my first opportunity to meet some Pillow Fighters in real life! I was invited to speak at a session titled 'I Made A Difference', where people come in to share personal stories of leading in different situations, highlighting what made me want to change things and step up as a leader, and how I have gone about making things happen. I thought I was part of a panel debate session, but it turned out it was just me for 45 mins! I opened with the following prepared speech, and then went to a Q&A. It was such fun and I left on such a high. Loads of people came up to me afterwards, and it was really inspiring how many people connected to different parts of my story. (more…)