Liebster Award!

I’ve not been able to access my blog that much lately due to some internet issues and busy home life so I was so excited to log back in and see that I’d been nominated for the Liebster Award (not just once but twice!). Thank you to the lovely Angie over at the wonderful OCDinthefamily blog, she always takes the time to read and comment on my posts for which I am always grateful. My other thanks goes to the brilliant Ellen who writes over at Ellen’s OCD blog. Ellen inspires me so much, not only because she’s just 15 (I know!) but because she shares her recovery with others and writes about it so well. She’s also just made an amazing video to highlight that people with OCD are so much more than their illness. Please head over to both blogs and check them out 🙂 If I could I would nominate them both for the Liebster aware but as they’ve already been nominated I’ll just have to satisfy myself with saying a massive thank you 🙂

So without much further ado, here is my contribution to the Liebster Award. 

Before I go on too far, I have the responsibility to post the Liebster Award Unofficial Rules.

The Unofficial Rules For The Liebster Award

1.  Thank the person who nominated you and post a link to their blog.  As I’ve mentioned both Angie and Ellen have nominated me for this award and I’d like to thank them both 🙂 As they’ve both given me a list of questions to answer and people might be a bit tired of me if I answer them all, I’ll answer Angie’s as they were the first ones I received. 

2.  Display the award on your blog!  I’m going to create a separate award tab I think so this will be done shortly!

3.  Answer 11 questions about yourself, provided by the blogger who nominated you.  See below.

4.  Provide 11 random facts about yourself.  Again, see below.

5.  Nominate 11 blogs with less than 200 followers that you feel deserve the award. I’ll post a list below. 

6.  Create a new list of questions for your nominees.  OK, I’ve got my thinking cap on!

7.  Post these rules on your blog.  Done!

8.  Tag your nominees and let them know with a link to your post. I think I’ve done this, I hope so!

Answers to Angie’s questions

1.  What prompted you to start blogging? When my OCD and anxiety flared up and I deteriorated fairly rapidly I couldn’t make sense of what was happening (I’d never had a diagnosis of OCD up to this point even though I’d had it since I was 14). I spent a lot of time on the internet trying to find a solution to the way I was feeling and I came across lots of blogs. When I was on the internet it was the one time I didn’t feel overwhelmingly anxious (I guess because my brain was engaged in something else!) and so I decided I would do my own blog! It helped me feel less isolated, I never even really thought that people would read it but as time has gone on I hope now that other people find it helpful. 

2.  Do you have a favorite post you’ve written (and, if so, link us to it)? Ooh this is a difficult one. The post I’m proudest of is the I’m sooooo (paedophile) OCD post because it was the hardest one for me to write. I had a panic attack for the best part of that night and the following day after I’d published it but I pushed through, kept it up on the blog and now it’s the most read post (and most commented on!). 

3.  If there was one thing that you could change in your past, what would it be? Not sharing my OCD thoughts when I was a teenager. I kept them to myself because I truly thought they made me an awful person and as a result I ended up only starting treatment when I was 29. If one person reads this blog and shares their worries and gets treatment then it will have been totally worth it. 

4.  What is the one “takeaway” you’d like readers to get from reading your blog? That OCD and anxiety is treatable! 

5.  Share a funny moment. I was on the London underground and my skirt came undone, fell around my ankles leaving me standing there in fairly sheer tights! 

6.  Who, or what, inspires you? The OCD community that I’ve met through blogs and twitter inspire me on a daily basis. 

7.  If a movie were made about your blog, who would star in it? Oh wow that’s tough! Can I star in it, I’ve always fancied a go at acting! 

8.  Dark or milk chocolate? Dark chocolate on fruit, milk chocolate on biscuits 🙂

9.  If you spent a week in outer space, what would you take with you? My camera (copying Ellen’s answer!) but seriously that would be a dream come true and I’d want to take photos of it!

10.  What’s your favorite non-blogging hobby? I love playing my guitar, yoga/pilates, meditation and travelling!

11.  A long lost aunt leaves you a large sum of money.  What do you do with it? I would pay for myself to have some guitar lessons from a guitar legend so that I could become amazing on the guitar. I’d quit my job for a while and travel, maybe volunteer abroad. I’d give some money to my family too. 

Great questions Angie, thanks!

OK 11 random facts about me

* I’m left handed
* But apart from writing with my left hand I do most stuff with my right hand
* Including the UK I have lived in at least 4 different countries in the world
* I love Marmite
* My favourite word is “vicariously”
* When I was growing up we didn’t have a TV 
* I have never seen Monty Python (everyone seems to think this is v weird, though may be a UK thing!)
* I was once in an advert on TV (though you couldn’t tell it was me!)
* I get sunburnt easily
* I bought a car on Ebay once
* I’d like to write a novel one day. 

The blogs I’d like to nominate are:

 

OCDtalk – Janet writes a wonderful, informative blog about OCD. Her son has recovered from severe OCD and her blog is brilliant for providing useful posts with a personal touch. 

herlifewithanxiety – I found this blog in my early days of suffering from anxiety and it was eye opening to realise that someone else experienced some of my thoughts and feelings. Thank you for your words!

I don’t shake hands – I love Jenna’s writing, her capturing of the dark absurdity of OCD often has me laughing out loud, I just wish she’d write more regularly, as I’d definitely read them! 

Anxietyingeneral – Lisa writes about GAD something that I suffer from too and I’ve always found her posts so uplifting and heart warming. 

Obsessively Compulsively Yours – Lottie writes a great OCD blog which I’ve always really enjoyed (again another one I came across when I was initially doing all my internet hunting!). She was also kind enough to feature one of my posts. Go check her out! 

OK there are so many more blogs but it’s time consuming featuring them all so I’m going to leave you with this lovely bunch. 

My questions to my nominated bloggers are: 

1) What is the hardest thing you find about blogging?

2) If you could have a super power what would it be?

3) If you were stuck on a desert island who would you like to be with?

4) Name a talent that you have

5) Do people in your life know that you blog?

6) If you could do any career what would it be?

7) What cause/charity do you feel passionate about?

8) What is your pet peeve?

9) Do you remember your dreams?

10) If there was one thing you could change about yourself what would it be?

11) Do you have a favourite band or musician?