Day 28, 29 & 30 - 30 day blog challenge.

So even though I should have finished the blog challenge ten days ago I never got around to it. To Finnish up I am going to write the last three post in one to save some time so I can move on and begin blogging about other things. The reason I am so behind is because after chasing Tinkerbell up the road because she decided to dart out of the door and go for an adventure, I had an asthma attack and had to be nebulised which is basically like an inhaler but stronger and gives you constant salbutamol for fifteen minutes to help your breathing get back to normal. That took a few days to recover from but also the next day my oldest fur baby Mango passed away and it really upset me and I didn't really do anything for a few days and I really didn't feel like writing at all.
So now I will start with finishing off my 30 day blog challenge.

Day 27 Hopes for my blog - 30 day blog challenge.

Hi,

This post is all about my hopes for my blog and to be honest I haven't really thought about it yet.

When I started my blog it was really just so I had something to do but I also enjoyed writing so I also really wanted to do it. I didn't know that after such little time so many of you would be reading my posts and that I would be reviewing products that companies had sent me. I hope that in the future I will have even more readers and be able to develop my blog further by hosting it myself so I have more freedom with the layout and style of the blog. I also hope to get more interactive with my readers, by being more active on social media so you can tell me what you think and ask me any questions.
Thats it really, I don't think I've though about it enough to write anymore and I don't want to get my hopes up thinking my blog will be bigger than its possible to get.
Thanks for reading,
Charlie x

Day 26 Favourite food - 30 day blog challenge.

I'm defiantly a foodie and will most likely eat anything but I do have some I really hate.

My favourite foods are - 

Any pasta dishes.

Salmon

Prawns

Pizza (without the cheese of course!)

Waffles

Scotch Pancakes

MILKYWAYS!! (even though I'm allergic to them)

McDonalds

Pretzels (the bread kind not the crisps kind)

Squid

Muscles 

Crab

Things I defiantly won't eat are -

Lamb

Beef Joints

Gravy

Peas

Carrots

White Fish

Thanks for checking in for day 26!

Charlie x

Day 25 If I won the lottery - 30 day blog challenge.

Hmmmmmmm..... What would I do if I won the lottery? Well its pretty vague as you could win like £5 or more than a million. 
I'm going o answer as If i had won like serious amount of money.
Firstly I would pay off my parents mortgage so they didn't have to worry and could start saving money for when they are older. 
I would probably then buy myself a house with a big fenced garden for Tinkerbell. I would have it completely modern with all white and gold fixtures and fittings! Im not sure where I would buy the house, maybe in my home town or possibly near London as I've always wanted to move there. I might consider a move to America, probably in California. I think Tinkerbell would love it there and America has a lot more pet friendly shops and business so we could go for mani pedi's and out for lunch together everyday! 
I would probably start a massive art collection too fill my new house! I would cover all the walls with painting from loads of big names and I would just host so many parties so I can show them all of to people! 
Next I would buy all the new Apple tech as I love Apple products so much and even though I have a really low income all my big purchases are on Apple products. I would literally buy everything they have ever invented and fill a wall size display case full of them. It would be like heaven and I would just spend everyday in that room! I know thats sounds pretty sad but its definitely an addiction. 
Next would be to donate money to a cancer charity. I would do this because they helped my nan a lot when she was diagnosed and I guess it would be a great way to say thank you. 
Finally I would pay someone to create me a fabulous blog website. Even though I can do it myself if I had the money I would just let someone else so it so I can spend all my time writing and testing new products to share with you!.
I'm not exactly sure what else I would do. 
I would save the money after I had done all of these things so I had something to fall back on in hard times. 

Thanks for reading this rather mad and different post.
Charlie x

Day 24 Relationship status - 30 day blog challenge.

This post is very short.

I'm single and happy. I don't want a boyfriend right now, I'm happy on my own with Tinkerbell.

I don't feel lonely at all, I don't feel the need to have someone else in my life either. It might be nice to have someone to share things with, I mean I don't really have that many friends since they have all gone to university and moved away. But apart from the depression and the anxiety I'm happy.

Thanks for reading!

Charlie x

Day 23 My biggest fears - 30 day blog challenge.

Todays post (well a few days ago, I haven't wrote in a while I haven't slept as Tinkerbell is in season and hasn't been sleeping) is all about my biggest fears.

I'm not actually sure what they are, apart from heights I'm not sure what I fear.
I fear for Tinkerbell incase she became ill or injured. My heart races so fast when she gets loose from the garden and I just imagine her getting hit by a car and that definitely is a massive fear of mine! Thats exactly why I take such good care of her and don't like leaving her in the care of other people. I defiantly am over protective of her. I mean unnecessarily weighting her because weight loss can be a big sign if your dog is ill. I always check her ears, keep her nails short so she cane hurt her tootsies and give her conditioning tablets to help if she gets ill and I literally carry her everywhere as I feel thats safer for her. I know a may be too over protective and that probably why she suffers from separation anxiety but I have nightmares of terrible things happening to her and I will do anything to prevent that. She is my world.

I guess another fear if having an uncertain future. I mean this time last year I had applied to universities and knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life an that all suddenly changed. Now I don't know what my future holds. I chose to study because I know getting a job is difficult these days and I figured by studying part time I can get a lot of experience with jobs and volunteering which will look good on my CV and it is what employers look for. I actually can't wait to start my course as I will feel like I have something thats mine and I will have something to do everyday!

Thanks for reading day 22's post,
Charlie x

Day 22 My favourite bands/singers - 30 day blog challenge.

This post is sort of connected to day 21's post as its about music again, specifically about my favourite artists. 

My first favourite band is The 1975. I have no idea why I love them I just really do. I never used to listen to music like theres before but when I stumbled across them, specifically their song Girls; I just couldn't get there songs out of my head. I have t-shirts of theirs, all their albums and even their logo tattooed on my wrist. I really can't wait to go to there uk tour in December, it will be the first one of theirs I will have been to because I couldn't get my hands of the tickets for their last one and because of my disabilities I can't really go to festivals and see them. 
My favourite songs of theirs at the moments are UGH!, Paris and Somebody Else. 
I just really really love them!
Leave me a comment below and let me know if you like The 1975 too.

My next favourite band is U2. I first heard them a very long times ago, I was a lot younger then I am now and I can't really remember how I discovered them really. The first song I heard from the was the song Vertigo. I know all the words to it and I never even read the lyrics I just sort of learnt them without realising. I don't know what drew me to U2. Bono is like my old man crush (even though he's not like really old but compared to me he is!)
I love their music videos, especially for the song Elevation and The Sweetest Thing. 
Check them out now I'm sure you will love them too.

Thanks for reading this quick post!
Charlie x

Day 21 Songs I currently love - 30 day blog challenge.

This is actually a very easy post!

My favourite song at the moment is Somebody Else by The 1975. I just love it and I'm not sure why! The video is a little strange but also makes sense and its the kind of song that gets stuck in your head. The video is about 8 mins long and its the kind of video you can watch over and over again. 

 Check it out below. 

Day 20 Why do you blog? - 30 day blog challenge.

Why do I blog? Thats actually a good question and it's one I've had to ask myself a few times when I'm stuck for something to write about. 
I started a blog because I needed a release for all the things I had stuck inside my head. I've tried using a diary but it doesn't really work. I think because its in written format and I am such a perfectionist I just started tripping out pages and that sort of defeated the point of it. I don't know why I enjoy blogging so much but I gives me something to do to be honest. Since I left university I have had nothing at all to pass the time and I also felt a little isolated but having this blog makes me feel like people are listening to what I have to say. Ive tried writing blogs before, two times I think but it really didn't go well. I always couldn't find a topic to write about or I wasn't really in to social media sharing so I didn't really have many readers. I feel this blog is a lot more successful and It makes me happy that so many of you read my posts. I didn't expect to get many people reading my blog as I didn't think I had anything to write that people would  be interested in what I had to write. 
The 30 day blog challenge has helped a lot as its given me the motivation to write and its made it a lot simpler because I have the blog titles already for me. I will defiantly do another blog challenge in the future and maybe the same one to give an update if anything has changed, I think that would be really interesting.

I hope you liked my post.
Thanks for reading,
Charlie x

Day 19 When are you happiest? - 30 day blog challenge.

This post, even though its four days late, was one I had no clue what I would wright about. 
I don't think I have one particular time I can think of thats my happiest, maybe when I'm at my favourite place or when Tinkerbell does something so cute it melts my heart a little I'm not really entirely sure. 

My favourite place is somerset. Brean, Western-Super-Mare, Burnham-On-Sea and Cheddar (go and also Clarks Village near Glastonbury). I just love that area. Ive been going there since before I can remember and Its like a second home. We used to go on holiday and stay in Brean either camping or we used to have our own caravan too. I was content just going to the beach, spending all my saving at the arcades and queuing for ages for the rides and the amusement park but we used to go on days out while there to Western and Burnham. My favourite place was clarks village. Despite the amazing discounts on shoes there is a Cadbury shop with cheaper chocolate and I would buy so much and eat it all before the end of the holiday. I just love that place so much. Brean Down Cove is really important to me because we scattered some of my uncles ashes there and I just feel close to him when I go to the place we scattered them. 

Another time when I am at my happiest is when Tinkerbell does something so adorable. It just makes me realise how much I love her and it reminds me that I am so lucky to have her. 

Just look how cute she is! I love her so much!

Thanks for reading,

Charlie x

Day 18 Where do I want visit and why? - 30 day blog challenge.

This post is all about the place I really want to visit.
Apart from Disney World, Florida; which I think every person in the world wants to visit, their are three other places I want to visit. 

First is Paris. Really to only see The Mona Lisa but also I think everyone has to experience the Eiffel Tower once in there life. I also want to try french food. I don't think there is anywhere near where I live the offers french cuisine which is a shame but I think I might enjoy it (maybe not the frogs legs though, but someone did tell me they taste like chicken?).

Next place I really want to go is to New York. I want to go in the winter time as it always looks super festive in photos and I want to see the ball drop on New Years Eve too!! I think I''ll be saving a long time for that trip though!

Finally the last place I want to go to is Germany. Specifically to go to Aushwitz. I love History and learning about Nazi-Germany was defiantly my favourite. I have read so much about it and watch every documentary I can find that all thats left is to go there myself. 

I hope you enjoyed this short post. 
Don't forget to check out my review of VetIQ Serene-Um Calming Tablets for cats and dogs on my blog.

Thanks for reading,
Charlie x

Day 17 A picture of me and my friends - 30 day blog challenge.

Today's post is sharing with you pictures of my friends. 

Thanks for checking in, 

Charlie x

VetIQ Serene-Um Calming Tablets Review.

I was sent some of the VetIQ Serene-Um Calming Tablets by the lovely people at Mark and Chappell for Tinkerbell to try. I have been having trouble trying to stop her separation anxiety as it was becoming a big problem and affecting our relationship and the vibe in the house. 

Serene-Um can be used to help cats and dogs with separation anxiety, noise phobias, indoor toileting, grumpiness, settling at night, excessive barking, chewing objects, tail chasing, spraying in cats, marking in dogs, grief, unruliness, car journeys, poor concentration, restlessness, over grooming, problem house cats and hyperactivity. I was super happy to find out that this product is a non-sedating formula, which is the main reason I have been finding it hard to find a supplement to help because I didn't want to sedate Tinkerbell as I feel thats not fair on the pet. 

Day 16 A photo of my family - 30 day blog challenge.

Day 16 is nice and short. I am just sharing with you a picture of my family.

This is the most recent picture of my family all together. This was taken at my sisters wedding in 2015.

From L-R is Kelly (my brothers girlfriend), Luke (my brother), Rory (my sisters boyfriend), Lucy (my sister), Steven (my brother in law), Millie (my little sister), Hannah (my eldest sister), Me, Mom, Grandad and Dad.

Thanks for reading.

Charlie x

Day 15 Everyday make up look - 30 day blog challenge.

Today's post is all about my everyday make up look. 
If I'm not leaving the house I tend not to really wear make up. I make sure I wash and moisturise my face though otherwise I tend to breakout really badly. 
All prices and where I got the products from can be found at the bottom of the post. All the brushes mentioned are from Real Techniques. 

I use Clean and Clear Daily Exfoliating Wash every morning and night. It has exfoliating micro beads that remove dirt from your pores. It also doesn't leave you with that tight skin feeling like when you wash your face with normal soap. I usually use a cotton pad to remove heavy eye makeup first so I don't end up looking like a panda. 

Day 14 Future goals - 30 day blog blog challenge

Day 14 is all about future goals and at the moment I am in the process of making a change to mine. I will let you know more about that now.

As you probably know I left University in December after a couple of months because I was unable to cope living away from home and with the amount of work the course entailed. I was planning on doing something art related in my future. I didn't want to be a teacher but I was thinking about working in a museum or even being self employed.
I recently applied for an Open degree with the Open University. This means I can choose what modules I want to complete from everything they offer. I am going down the route of art history and also europe's history around the time of the world wars. I chose this because what the course entails means it will be a lot of reading and writing and I also love studying history and I regret not doing it for A Level.
I have no idea what my future holds after university. Hopefully getting some use back in my left arm and moving out of my parent home (at some point, why would anyone leave a place they live rent free! haha) I know I want to travel to America and also to Paris but I'm not sure what else. I'll just focus on the present and hopefully things wont go too badly.

Thanks for reading,
Charlie x

Day 13 Favourite films - 30 day blog challenge.

I've been looking forward to writing this post since I started the 30 day blog challenge. I will give a brief description to some of the films but I am just going to write a list from most favourite to lesser favourite films.


Elf 

Im sure everyone know the film Elf, and if you don't where have you been? I must have watched it like 100 times and I'm not even joking I start watching it in September! It starts explaining the begging of Buddy's story (played by Will Ferrell), how he ended up in the north pole and the problems he had growing up with the other elves. You see him find out that he is actually human and then he begins his journey to New York to find his Father who works at a publishing company but buddy had found out his Father was on the naughty list and this upset him and he wanted to find out why. He defiantly does that as his father rejects him at first and but after a paternity test he takes buddy home to meet his step mom and brother.

Sorry for the terrible spelling!

Hi guys, 
This is just a short post to say if you notice spelling mistakes or that I've used the wrong kind of work, Its not that I am being lazy and not bothering to check my posts ( I actually read them about five times before pressing the publish button) Its because I have Dyslexia and I sometimes don't even realise I have made mistakes. 
I hope you can still make sense of what I am writing and if you can't just drop me a comment and I will change it so you can. 
Thanks for understanding!!!
Charlie x 

Day 12 My daily routine - 30 day blog challenge

Day 12 is all about my daily routine. It won't be very interesting but here we go!

I wake up around 9.30/10am (except a Thursday when I have hydrotherapy and have to get up at 7am) and the first thing I do is let Tinkerbell out for the toilet and then feed her. After I feed my guineapig  Mango his morning veggies and top up his hay. Then I can finally have some toast, which I have every morning, a cuppa and watch the TV for a while before I go to get dressed for the day. 

Some days I am really motivated or having a pain free day and I will write like a weeks worth of blog posts, clean my room, help Mom with the house work and walk Tinkerbell. 

Day 11 Favourite books - 30 day blog challenge

This probably sounds bad but I don't think I actually have ten books that I would class as my favourite but I'll have a go and this post anyway. I only read a book if I love it by the first paragraph as with my dyslexia it would be too much work to read a crap one.


Ten Things We Shouldn't Have Done

My first favourite book is from a couple of years ago and its called Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Mlynowski.  Its a great book for teen girls, I would probably say 16+ and I am really glad my friend brought this for me,  I've read it several times and it never gets boring. 
'2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house - parents = 10 things April and her friends did that they (definitely, maybe, probably) shouldn't have.'

Day 10 My current favourite TV series - 30 day blog challenge.

Todays post was hard to write, I couldn't think of TV series that is my favourite. At the moment I am watching The American Horror Story from the beginning and also The Big Bang Theory From series one. But there is one program I want to tell you about that I have just finished watching as I was apprehensive when I started it but I was so gripped by the end I really can't wait for the next series (and it didn't help they left it on such a big cliff hanger!)
The show I am talking about is called Spotless. 

Day 9 Worst memories of my life so far - 30 day blog challenge.

Todays post (which is technically yesterdays but I fell asleep early before I had a chance to post) is all about the worst memories of my life. I think I will keep it short as it's probably going to be quite a personal and negative post and I don't want to bore you with the details. I will start with the earliest bad memories I can think of and work up to the present day. 

The first worst memory I can remember is loosing my uncle and grandad in 2007. They died within six months of each other and that was such a hard time. This is when I had help from the charity Noah's Ark which I mentioned in my previous post.

Don't be shy, leave me a comment.

Hey guys,
Just a short post to let you know you can leave comments on my post if you click on the post title and scroll to the bottom of the screen the find the comment box. Feel free to ask me anything about what I have written about or if you don't want other people to read it send me a direct message using the contact box in the bar on the right side.
Thanks for reading my posts! Nearly 1000 page views, I am so grateful to anyone who reads my blog.
Thanks,
Charlie x

Day 8 Best memories of my life so far - 30 day blog challenge.

Day 8 is all about some of the best memories from my life so far. This is surprisingly something hard to write about, its like your mind goes blank when someone asks a question like this.
I think to make it easier I will start with the most recent things I can think about.

Day 7 Ten facts about me - 30 day about me.

Today's post (well yesterdays, I had hydrotherapy and was too tired to write) is about ten facts you might want to know about me.


1) I am Lactose intolerant which means I have to avoid food that have lactose and milk in but I'm okay eating milk protein.

2)I love animals, my family own over 50. My puppy is called Tinkerbell and you can find out all about her in one of my previous posts.

3)My favourite band is The 1975. I am defiantly a massive fan! I even have their logo tattooed on my wrist. 

My Tattoo

Day 6 What's in my bag? - 30 day blog challenge.

Day 6 is all about what is in my handbag. I don't usually carry a handbag as I only have to use of one arm and don't want to end up with no free hands if I have to carry a bag but if I do use one, this is what I take with me....

Day 5 Favorite YouTube channels - 30 day blog challenge.

Day 5 is all about my favorite YouTube channels, and there are a lot of them!
I will list a few with a brief paragraph about what the channels are about and give you the link to one of my favorite most recent videos. 
Here we go!

The Frugal Crafter - I mentioned Lindsay's YouTube channel in my previous post about my favorite blogs. Her channel includes how to videos and lessons on how to paint with certain materials. She has plenty of craft video that you can follow too! The video I watched of hers recently is called Stamp show Haul 2016! and is shows all the cool things she picked up while at the stamp show in the US. 

 

  

Day 4 – Favorite five blogs at the moment - 30 day blog challenge.

Firstly, I forgot to post this yesterday and I actually have no idea how! I blame my sister (like Hannah’s blog here) she usually Facetime’s me every night to ask if I have done it and she did not last night!

So Day 4 is all about my favorite blogs right now, and I actually only have four. I prefer to actually watch YouTube videos as my dyslexia makes it hard to read some blogs (all my posts are checked by my sister to make sure you would be able to read them!).

The Frugal Crafter

My first favorite blog is Lindsay Weirich’s The Frugal Crafter’s blog.

I actually found Lindsay’s YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/thefrugalcrafter) first and haven’t started reading her blog until recently. The two do go hand in hand. If you see a video on her channel there is sure to be a follow up on her blog. She focuses on art and crafty things. She does a lot of making and painting. Her blog post usually does follow up from videos she has posted on YouTube so I would suggest for you to check out her YouTube channel first and then hop on over to her blog. If you are in America (unfortunately I’m not) She has a bucket load of coupons on her blog for the items you see advertised, and she does a lot of collaborations with Paper Mart so you can find plenty of deals over there!

I love her posts because they are really relaxed and friendly and are easy reads, especially if you love being crafty!

Day 3 What pets do you own - 30 day blog challenge.

Day 3 - What pets do you own and why?

Today's theme is all about what pets I own. As you will know if you have read the all about me post that I have a lot of pets and you saw two of them in the picture that was included in my day 1 post. Personally I have 5 pets that are mine but as a family we own over 50.

Tinkerbell:

Tinkerbell is my Pomeranian X Jack Russell puppy who is 9 months old. She is the first dog I have owned that is all my responsibility. I got her at the end of November 2015. When I first got her she was the smallest ball of fluff I had ever seen. I have wanted a puppy for ages but have never had the money to be able to afford to pay for the things it would have needed so I had to wait until I was older. I got Tinkerbell to help me with my depression, and she definitely did. I'm not saying if you're depressed to go out and buy all the fluffy puppies you can find but having something I was responsible for gave me a purpose to try and beat the depression.

Day 2 The reason behind my blog name - 30 day blog challenge.

I actually spent ages thinking of a name for my blog. It was hard as I was not sure what I really wanted to blog about and I knew it would be a mixture of things so I could not just name it after one topic. I have had a blog before called charlie chats, it was just a general blog about random things I though people might be interested in. This was a while ago, I was maybe 15 and the name was a little childish. I knew I wanted the name to include my name, and I wanted to give advice; be it about my disabilities, my pets, art or anything else I find interesting. So that is basically what I called it, Advice by Charlie. This is my blog logo.

Day 1 Introduction - 30 day blog challenge.

Today is the first day of my 30 day blog challenge which I am partaking in at the same time as my sister is on her blog My Fibro a New Begining. Today's blog post is an introduction into why I want to complete the blog challenge and also to include a recent photo of me. This is going to be a short post because the reason I am doing the 30 day blog challenge is because I am really bad at thinking of things to write about so I feel this will give me some motivation to write as the topic has already been chosen for me. I also hope it will help me to write more often once the blog challenge has finished. 
Here is a recent photo of me as I promised. 

Family photo! Me, Mango the Guinea Pig and Tinkerbell the puppy <3

Thanks for reading, 
Charlie x

30 day blog challenge.

Tomorrow I will be starting a 30 day blog challenge that me and my sister (Find here blog here) have made together. We will both be blogging using this list of blog themes that you can find below. We wont be blogging about anything else for the next 30 days that isn't on the list. You are welcome to use this blog challenge on your blog but we ask that you don't remove our web addresses from the bottom and it would be much appreciated if you would mention where you got the image from. Thanks, Charlie x

30 day blog challenge

Fighting the hidden cause.

Since I started to become depressed I have lost all motivation to start drawing and making art again. It is seriously like fighting against something that you can't see, and that makes it ten times harder then fighting against something visible, like a broken arm for example. People who know me will notice how the depression has effected me. I spent four years studying art as a GCSE and A Level and not once did I loose my motivation or not have the urge to draw and create art. For the people I had just met at university I think they thought I was just lazy and couldn't be bothered. This defiantly was not what happened. At first I had no idea why I preferred to stay in bed and watch crap t.v than be at my desk and immerse myself into a sketch or painting. When I started to notice things had changed I simply googled everything that was wrong and nearly every result mentioned depression. 
I still trundled along for another three weeks before I did anything about it. When I went to the doctors to ask about some stomach pain I had been having, it all came flooding out. He told me straight away he thought I was depressed and then I knew I couldn't carry on the way I was. Art was not the cause of my depression, that was my disabilities fault, but art has defiantly taken the most of the damage. 

What is Functional Neurologica Disorder (FND)?

This is just a quick post as I thought I should explain what FND is as I have mentioned it a few times and not many people are aware of what it is unless you know someone who has it or they have it themselves. Functional Neurological Disorder is when someone experiences neurological symptoms such as weakness, movement disorders, sensory symptoms and blackout, all though it affects everyone in different ways. The brain of a patient with FND is structurally normal but functions correctly.

Getting motivated and finding a hobby.

Since leaving university in December I really have done nothing for the past 5 months. Partly because of my depression, which completely drains you of motivation and wanting to be productive. I know now that before I can continue with my studies, which I will explain in a future post, that I need to get back into work mode. At the moment I spend every day looking after my puppy, Tinkerbell, watching TV or playing Tomb Raider on the Xbox (which I think I am very addicted to). 

Tinkerbell

Also since December I have put on three stone in weight because being depressed made me want to eat almost non stop all day everyday and has left my body stretched and scarred. This does not help with the motivating me to get out the house and getting back to normal, but I will talk specifically about this very soon.

For this post I will be talking about things you can do when you have a disability and you spend a lot of time in the house. When this happens it can be really hard to deal with. If you where an actively social person and enjoyed spending time out of the house, coping with pain sometimes means resting on the sofa for a few days and recuperating.

To be or not to be.

So despite wanting to be more motivated I haven’t actually written in a long time. I think the first few posts are always the hardest. When I tried to start a blog before I managed about three posts before I had no idea what to write about.

Today's post is going to be about making choices.  In the past few months I have had a lot of choices to make, whether big or small. Despite this I am actually not very good at making decisions, I don’t think most people are. They like advice from other people and then (if your like me) won’t actually take it.

An introduction to me.

Hi, I have been wanting to start a blog for a long time, several years in fact. There has never really been a good time to start and I've always been too busy but I now find myself with plenty of time on my hands and the urge to write about my life and maybe give advice to people who are or have been experiencing some things I am going through.

This is me, I am 18 years old and live at home with my family in a small town in Worcestershire, England. I am a creative person and love to be hands on, this is why I was always good at art based subjects at school and sixth form. In September 2015 I started studying Fine Art at university but had to drop out because I couldn't cope living away from home and managing all the work with my disabilities. I have functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and fibromyalgia. I currently don't have the use of my left arm and also have no sensation in it either. This is the result of a fall four years ago, FND means that my brain is telling my arm that its damaged (even though its not anymore) and not sending the signals to my nerves  to tell my arm to move. This gives me constant pain in my shoulder, neck and back and also headaches that can leave me bed ridden for days. This is one of the reasons I dropped out of university. I get a lot of help from my parents at home and I had no help from anyone while living in halls and no one really understood how the FND affected me. The fibromyalgia causes pain in my muscles, especially around my knees and ankles. This also causes extreme tiredness. This being the second reason university wasn't for me.
Because I was suffering at university and had no one to talk to I started to become depressed and anxious. I didn't leave my room in the university halls and stopped eating properly because my anxiety rocketed at the thought of struggling to cook meals in the presence of people I was not yet familiar with. When I went home for the weekends I was angry with my family because they couldn't see how unhappy I was being at university. In early December, after a weeks break from university I broke down in tears and told my mom that I didn't want to go back to university and after that I didn't return. 

This blog is not only a release for me but I hope that by discussing different aspects of my life, like living with a disability, deciding on my future, coping with depression and also some other posts about positive things that happen in my life (just to cheer things up!) I will be able to help other people to feel more positive and to start loving yourself and the life you lead.

If you think someone you know could benefit from my future posts then please share my blog with them. There will be another post very soon, I'm looking forward to hearing what you think. 
Thanks, Charlie x