Wednesday 31 August 2016

A Stressful Day

So this is a random post and it has took me a while to think of how to write it but here it is.

I had a weekend of shifts, i'm guessing now around 12 till 10 o' clock as I work at a stadium it was an event day. Now for some reason I was just not looking forward to it and was in such a bad mood. However even though I felt like this I still tried to stay positive and sure that my day hopefully could get only better.

I was based outside the stadium at the 'here to help' sign, helping people who didn't know where their entrance were or where the nearest place was to get food. As the atmosphere was 'buzzing' due to the event being a concert it helped me become a little happier than I was at the beginning of the day.

As the concert started we were allowed to go on break where I had my sandwich and crisps. I couldn't help but feel stressed knowing I had to do the same tomorrow. When the concert was almost at an end we all got into our positions. This is when we help assist people in wheelchairs out of the stadium or even to their cars.

Trying to move the wheelchair around the crowd full of people was stressful as some people just don't feel the need to move out the way. I had finally reached the entrance of the stadium and taken the family to their car when the woman I was taking in the wheelchair handed me a £5 note.

After insisting that I can't take her money she told me I had to take it, so eventually I did. I had never got a tip before so I was almost in shock at someones kindness. After the day I had and the way I was feeling I couldn't believe it.

To get home I had to take two stops on the tube, but with everyone leaving the stadium and police stopping and starting the crowds to avoid any problems. It took about 30 minutes just to walk the 5 minute walk to the train station. You can probably guess by now I just wanted to be home as soon as possible and sleep knowing I have to do it all again tomorrow.

Now the point of my story is this, like always when it was late a woman sits outside the train station at the other end of my journey. She would sit there and ask for any spare change and every single time I'd say "no sorry" as I never had any on me. Tonight was different, I had the £5 note.

Some people would say I was stupid to give her that money... she could spend it on anything like drugs or alcohol. But for every time I walked past her this past year and said "no sorry" like everybody else, £5 wasn't probably even enough.

Sometimes it's the little things that matter more to someone that you can ever imagine.



Tuesday 30 August 2016

Bank Holiday Monday

I hope you are all having a fantastic summer and enjoying the weather. Yesterday for bank holiday Monday I went with my sister and dad to Littlehampton. It was a fantastic day but I wish the weather would have been a tad better but that's England for you! 




As it was a traditional beach trip for my family we went for a walk on the sand. This is the beach as children me and my sister would go with our nan on weekends when we would visit her in the summer. 



With stomachs full of ice cream we went into the town, 5 minutes from the beach, as my sister wanted to get money out to buy food. We then saw a pet shop which had reptiles and amphibians, which naturally we had to go in and have a look. So in a nut shell we now have a new addition to the family!

Welcome to the family!
As it's my dads birthday tomorrow my sister and me brought him a tortoise. He always has wanted another one so we took the opportunity. I was unable to get a better picture because I didn't want to unsettle her. She is almost a year old and doesn't have a name yet but I will keep you up to date in my page Pet Antics (click here), if you have any name ideas comment below.

So that was my bank holiday Monday, we went to the beach and ended up getting a new family member! 

I also along with the tortoise have a dog and 3 cats, let me know if you have any pets in the comments below. I'd love to hear about them.

As always you can contact me on twitter @girlwithablog16

Sam x 

Wednesday 24 August 2016

Tips for Creating a Blog

Before I started my blog I looked up a lot of different things to ensure I was doing the best thing possible to make my blog the best it can be. Now this doesn't mean this is a guide to having a perfect blog and you'll get millions of views, it's just a few things I found when it comes to creating and writing your blog. 

So I will begin with the first thing I looked up when I started taking my blog more seriously. I found a news article 'Want to become a star blogger?' and of course they included a picture of Zoella (Zoe Sugg) who is absolutely incredible and amazing! But that's enough fangirling from me... 



Growing an audience

  • It's important to tailor social media platforms to your audience. It makes it easier by identifying which platform your readers are using to be able to connect and communicate with them.
  • Use a platform that you feel suits your needs as a blogger like Blogger or Wordpress.
  • Engage with other blogs by commenting on blogs you admire, this way you might receive more yourself.
  • Growing your views isn't easy but it can be rewarding spending time updating social platforms and creating new content you enjoy writing. 
  • To grow audience I found many websites that say ideally upload 3 times a week.

There are two reasons why people create blogs:
  1. Personal Project: Writing about whatever you can, this way people who can relate to your posts will maybe comment and share their own experiences with you.
  2. Career: Focusing on one topic like fashion for example and hoping readers are interested in that and will want to follow. 
This isn't to say these are strict rules and you MUST do these, it's just want I've found but I wouldn't say I have a theme, I just write about random topics. You could if you enjoy two topic try and connect them or even have two separate blogs for each but you wouldn't want to neglect one blog more than the other.

Start as a hobby was the most important advice I found as most bloggers don't earn a full time living. Just see where you end up, blog witting can give you many other skills towards a job you probably never even realised like digital communication or editorial journalism. 


Post ideas

  • Write what you love - Make sure it's 'you'. 
  • Be different - Try and set yourself apart.
  • Write like you talk - your personality can shine through, again just be 'you'. 
  • Good content is key - write content that you as a reader would want to read.
  • Photography skills - the more professional your pictures look, the more professional your blog seems. This is something I struggle with but I'd love to get a really good camera one day to improve my photography skills which is why for now I use getty images to avoid any copyright issues.
  • Research - make your blog bigger by studying others. Don't copy, pick your favourite things from different blogs, come up with new ideas and learn new things. Remember blogging isn't a competition but a fun way to express yourself. 
  • Do good - promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.
  • Friends - Most importantly when it comes to your blog posts don't forget to reply to comments and engage with your readers. 

I could go on and on about what I found when researching about blog creating but these points mentioned I feel are the most important and helpful. I also went and looked at the blogs that I love to read for inspiration for my own blog. Once again be careful not to copy but sometimes just by looking at a blog by someone who inspires you can give you the motivation you need to carry on. 

I hope you find this post helpful.

Like always you can contact me on Twitter @girlwithablog16 or via email agirlwithablog16@gmail.com

Sam x 

Thursday 18 August 2016

Living with Joint Hypermobility

The amount of times I have had people say to me there is nothing wrong, there is no such thing as Joint Hypermobility Syndrome. Now I'm not saying this is something that everybody says but it is something I regularly hear. Now there is already a post about disabilities  I have written which includes facts and statistics regarding disabilities and how 52% of people in England believe disabilities are physical.

Like I've said before just because you can't see a disability, doesn't mean it's not there.

Towards the end of 2012 I started getting pain in my hands, which I regularly went to the doctors for until they finally sent me to a Rheumatologist at my local hospital. I was studying my A-Level's it became very painful, studying Art and Sociology was especially difficult as I struggled holding a pencil or pen for more than 10 minute due to the pain. My thumb is the tricky one. When I write unfortunately it doesn't really know what it's doing and bends too much! So in February 2013 I had my first appointment for the pain in my hand joints like my fingers and wrists.

So I learnt in my first appointment that Joint Hypermobility is based on the Beighton score as you can see by the image below.
Taken from the Hypermobility website

It is a point for each of these that you can do left and right, meaning the Beighton score is out of 9. I am 9 out of 9 on this scale which means I am hyper-mobile in every joint. I still always say I am lucky so far that my joints haven't begun to dislocate yet, but unfortunately will in the future. I don't see any point worrying about something that hasn't happened yet.

Some symptoms for Joint Hypermobility includes pain and stiffness in muscles, clicking joints, back and neck pain, fatigue (tiredness), lack of coordination and reoccurring injuries like dislocations or sprains.

Over the last four years I have had many other appointments with different hospital departments that have gone from a 6 month basis to now yearly. During the first year of my first appointment I also had sessions with a occupational therapist. They created hyper-extension blocks which are for my fingers when typing and writing. I especially found the thumb block helpful which stopped my thumb extending when I was writing. I was advised to think about and purchase basic lycra garments to support my joints, which I have done and can wear underneath normal clothes.

During the first year also I had to have physiotherapy sessions, as my shoulder is the joint that causes me the most pain on a daily basis. I have also had a ultrasound scan on my shoulders and also a MRI scan but thankfully everything for now is intact and normal. So all the pain I am experiencing is because of my Joint Hypermobility. Now in 2016, I recently had my yearly Rheumatologist appointment and will be having physio again on the same shoulder.

So this is it really, I would say I am one of the lucky ones as I haven't dislocated yet and all my pain at the moment is because of 'disability'. But I wouldn't say there are many times it has held me back, but here are a few,


  • Jobs - When I was taking my A-Level's I wanted to go to university and become a paramedic. Unfortunately after me and my teacher did some research on the job having Hypermobility meant I couldn't have this career. 
  • Work - I work at a stadium where I have to sometimes push people in wheelchairs to their seats and this is something I have realised I don't feel comfortable doing. With my lack of coordination and the pain in my right shoulder I had to tell my area supervisor I don't feel comfortable doing this.
  • Food - Something as simple as peeling a potato really hurts my thumb.. Really random. Does this happen to anyone else? 
  • University - University is something I thought I would really struggle with, especially with the new workload. Thankfully DSA (Disability Students Allowance) has really supported me so far at university providing me with brilliant equipment such a printer, scanner and laptop to support me during my studies. 

If you have any questions about Joint Hypermobility please feel free to comment and I'll answer the best I can. Also as always you can contact me on agirlwithablog16@gmail.com or on twitter @girlwithablog16.

Thank you so much for reading!

Sam x

Thursday 4 August 2016

Dating Someone With Anxiety

After my post about social anxiety it seems only right to write this post. As I struggle in every social situation possible I can't help but think want it would be like for someone to date me. So I've found an article (click here) which explains the 20 struggles you go through when dating someone with anxiety. It makes you think of everything they struggle with and how this might affect your partner once you are dating.

So I've gone through and looked at some of the main points made in the article. So firstly is understanding that someone with anxiety needs a list of every day activities that must be completed. The only way to reach peace is if and when everything is completed on the list. Which connects to another point made in the article about relaxing. Relaxing feels like a waste of time, when you know you can do something more important and productive. There is no such thing as relaxing which is why a plan of the day is so important.



The article also explains that you need to be able to read your partner, to understand when they are freaking out and to whether you need to either leave them alone or if they need to be comforted. Feelings will vary but it's good to understand when you are needed and when you aren't.

Another point explains that even the smallest things are the end of the world. Someone with anxiety will struggle with even the smallest things like even a simple work project and getting it done on time. To them it's the end of the world and will make their heart race. When you may think it's silly, understand to them it's important and is stressing them out.


You will always have a drinking buddy. For someone with anxiety alcohol can provoke it or you may enjoy the night out but the next morning feel sick with worry. For me, it's the over thinking if I said something (which I know I haven't) but then over analysing everything that happened to what people thought of me or what I said.

You also may find your partner overwhelming. When they become very anxious they can talk too fast and have scattered thoughts. It's important to listen the best you can and remain the calm one in the difficult situations in order to support them the best you can.

It has taken me about three days to write this post because I didn't know what to write at the end. But I guess you could read through this post find it helpful or maybe you won't, but I guess the main thing to take from dating someone with anxiety is, it is important to stay patient with your partner. He or she doesn't do it intentionally.

If you want to contact me you can via email agirlwithablog@gmail.com or on Twitter.

Thanks so much for reading!

Sam x