Lately I have a constant headache. I don’t know if I’m getting ill, if I’m tired (which seems unlikely given how long I slept for today), or if I’m just run down.

The fact that I’m medicating with pear drops may not be helping.

I have a good track record with illness. I had chicken pox when I was 6 or 7, which I managed to bounce my way through though I quite effectively while making my mum and brother ill. I got glandular fever while I lived in Spain and didn’t even actually notice (though I did feel pretty under the weather for a weekend or so).

Unsurprisingly, I’ve no idea where this post is really going, because my head hurts.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Dido lately, after rediscovering her album in my CD case (which is full of gems which I bought in the early 2000s, and a lot of Christian rock/pop because that was my chosen rebellion). I’m not suggesting that Dido is giving me a headache, but it has matched up very closely in timing.

*insert sensible ending to post here*

It’s easy, in times like these when everyone is a first-hand witness to the atrocities of the world via real-time coverage and social media, to feel the need to share your commentary on every event.

But actually, you don’t have to.

Terrible things are happening every day. Terrible people are making a lot of them happen. Those people feed on attention, they are greedy for it, and they depend on it. No, ignoring the problem will not make it go away. But you can be a helper without discussion of the acts, the motivation, and the reactions.

Good places to help right now are:

• For Syria: https://hihfad.org/
• For the fight against malaria: https://www.againstmalaria.com/
• For our local homeless: http://simononthestreets.co.uk/
• For anyone struggling: https://www.samaritans.org/
• For those in extreme poverty: https://www.givedirectly.org/
• For hurricane relief: http://www.redcross.org/about-us/our-work/disaster-relief/hurricane-relief
• For Yemen: https://www.islamic-relief.org.uk/current-appeals/yemen-emergency-appeal/

Only give to charities and organisations whose work supports your personal beliefs, and be aware that there are organisations in the world who may not use your funds as you might like – a little research will normally turn up most problems, or you can use resources like aliveandgiving to check a charity’s credentials.

Name: Sally
Age: Some
Gender: is a social construct

Skills: General administration
Good phone manner
Diary management for others
Complete inability to manage personal diary
Will apologise for literally anything (profusely)
Creative, but only in very specific ways
Good cook
Bad teenage skin (note: not a teenager)
Can lose glasses almost immediately
Personable
Strong ability to preempt the needs of others
Strong ability to incorrectly try to serve those needs
Flattery
Loves buying presents (presents are often terrible)
Can coexist with cats
Likely to say all of the wrong things at all of the wrong times

When I was about 13 I picked up one of the most fascinating books I’ve ever read. It was called “Fire and Hemlock”, by Dianna Wynne Jones, and though I’ve read it a lot of times since, I’m still not totally sure I can tell you what the story is.

It interweaves the story of a young girl with the folk tales of Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer, and you spend the whole book not really knowing if you are coming or going. In particular, a set of vases are featured which depending on how they are positioned read any of “Now Here”, “Where now”, “Nowhere” or “Here now”. I loved the idea of these, and the idea that even if you feel like you don’t know where you are, it only takes a change of perspective to flip that on it’s head.

At this moment I’m somewhere between nowhere and where now? I’m beginning to take the first steps towards the first thoughts which will eventually lead me to now here.

Then the question will just be, where next?

Home isn’t  a place, home is people.

This isn’t my first statement as an online lifestyle guru (though obviously that’s what I am). It’s an observation from the last few weeks, in which I’ve moved out of what I would have called my home, and learnt that Leeds is full of places which feel like home to me thanks to all of the fantastic people here.

Life is full of change, and full of things which don’t come through. My relationship with my boyfriend was longer than my relationship with this blog, but long doesn’t mean right, and so in the end moving on was the right decision for us both.

I’m not over it yet. 8 years is a long time. But I know that in time, I will be, and while I work through this I am so lucky to have the best people in the world creating my home for me. I’ll never be able to say thank you enough times to the people who’ve let me cry on them, text them when I’m sad, leave my things with them, move in with them (a particularly big thank-you here).

So. If you need my new address then please get in touch (if I know you. Don’t post me things if I don’t know you. I’m not famous. That’s just weird). If you fancy catching up, I’m all ears and also time.

Thank you for being my home.

(Also maybe this is the start of me blogging more again, but also maybe not, please don’t get your hopes up)

I am very bad at “self-care”, which the internet defines as;

“…the actions that an individual might take in order to reach optimal physical and mental health”

The thing about it is, I’m mostly wired to focus on doing things to make the people around me happy (brag brag brag, I’m such a great person), and so doing things exclusively for myself feels like a bit of a waste of time and energy.

That being said, you have to collect the things that make you happy and know what they are, so you can call on them when you need them.

You also shouldn’t ever feel bad about what makes you happy (unless it’s murder. Don’t do murder guys). We are societally pretty great at deciding how to define other people based on their choice of activities, and quite often those definitions are derogatory. Which is rubbish of society. If you love something and it makes you happy, do the thing (except MURDER. GUYS).

So, here are a few of the things which make me happy.

• Facemasks – guys. You can get so much done while also wearing a facemask, and then afterwards your skin is all BLAM I’M BRAND NEW BABY. It’s great.
• Coffee – I’m not a coffee snob, it really all mostly tastes the same to me. But I love sitting down to a cup of coffee.
• Twitter – I’ve explained this one before.
• Working out – I have  a total love-hate relationship with exercise, but I get a huge buzz after doing a workout. Especially now I have one I can do at home, because I’m much less comfortable around other people.
• Nail art – I got a gel lamp from Boyfriend for Christmas, and it’s the best thing. Also see my instagram for occasional nail adventures.
• Food – It’s ok to like eating. Food is one of the greatest creations of the human race, there is so much magic and variety in food. Both cooking and eating.
• Skyrim – My name is Sally, and I’ve played over 500 hours of Skyrim, a video game about being an adventurer in medieval world with dragons. It’s a wonderful  escapism, it is helping me to refine my motor skills (I don’t have great hand-eye coordination) and I find it very satisfying to complete quests.
• Reading – I don’t read a lot of books, I’ve yet to get back the habit after losing it through university. But I get a weekly magazine which I love, and I read a lot of articles online.
• Crafts – Doesn’t matter what it is, I love  making.
• Good music – I have great taste in music (totally objective statement), and like with a facemask, you can do so much while listening to good music. Also included in this category are podcasts and radio plays.