Self Development:

How to Show Yourself Some Love

Because we all need a reminder now and then. Showing yourself some love may be obvious stuff, but it's a hard thing to do.

Defined by rape

If the life achievements of a rape victim are seen as a succesful battle with their past, they are still being defined by what someone else has done to them. Mild TW, no graphic content.

Changing Skins... Different Shades of Perception

Skin colour is beautiful and varied. Yes. Moving from Malaysia to Oz highlighted varying perceptions to colour for one Mook.

Gaslighting and Not Letting People Bring You Down

Gaslighting is an emotional warfare technique whereby someone tries to make you feel worthless by talking your successes into failures. Stand up to it.

4 Student Cliches Smart Mooks Will Avoid

A lot of balls is talked about the student lifestyle, especially in the first year of college or university. Avoid falling into any of these cliche traps.

How to get out of a rut

Everyone has had periods where they feel dispirited, unhappy with themselves and lacking motivation. These simple ideas may help you climb out of a rut.

Top 5 High School Crush Stereotypes

There is only one time in your life where reading Cosmo Magazine is a given, and that is in the oestregen filled years when you are most likely to succumb to the delicious horror of the High School Crush.

How to Argue Like an Adult

10 Commandments on how to argue like an adult - and ANOTHER 10 Commandments on how NOT to. If you're brought up to expect insanity as the norm, you may think conflicts are best handled by hour-long yelling contests. They're not.

If You Are Angry, Own It

Controlling your anger need not mean swallowing it down. Not everyone can be the Dalai Lama. Can that righteous anger be channelled instead?

Dealing with Life After. Advice for UK violent assault victims

Sometimes things happen. One courageous woman reinforces the message that UK police procedure is changing to make it less of a nightmare to give evidence, and that it's OK to get counselling. TW Assault.

Trying Something New

Many men and women from lower income families have been the first to go to college and university and have had to put off a lot of things for a long time. What things have you felt a need to do? Could you make time to do them?

How to Justify Not Growing Out of It...

If your teenage years were anything like mine, you'll have often heard "I wouldn’t worry, it’s just a phase" during conversations about your pink hair / activism / penchant for corsetry / statement of choice. Then suddenly, wonderfully, everyone accepts it. Then you reach the end of your period of grace...

Dark English Rose

"I have always felt myself an oddity. Not quite British, not quite Indian. It was more than just skin colour; I went through adolescence liking anime and adoring Jane Austen. Surely the idea of the English Rose was not completely inaccessible to us darker skinned ladies?"

Keeping your identity... as a professional

"A few weeks ago, I looked at myself in a mirror and I realised - I have lost something of myself". Is it possible to retain one's alternative outlook and outward appearance in the professional world? Can self-expression and voluntary adherence to work structure exist?

WHAT IS BRAVE? A working mother's truth

Bravery. Is it base-jumping? Running with bulls? Standing up for your beliefs and waving a placard? Being a working mother and sole carer of an artistic, intelligent family with various mental health problems? Yeah, bravery. It comes in many forms.

Calling friends out on their oppressive views

“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends” - Albus Dumbledore. Facing oppression is already a difficult experience when it comes from society at large, but when it comes from your closest friends it can be an even more painful experience.