Let me introduce myself. My name is Olivia and I am life-long worrier. I have an uncanny ability to make a mountain out of a molehill and catastrophise like there is no tomorrow. I don’t just like to worry about myself. I also like to worry about other people, for other people and on behalf of other people. It’s exhausting. Over the years I have had several therapists and counsellors to talk through my problems with. I have also taken medication from time to time under the ca

Last Wednesday evening I went on stage and spoke in front of a sold out audience at the Eventim (formerly Hammersmith) Apollo in London. That is a sentence I never thought I would say! Let me set start this blog by explaining some background info so you can truly appreciate how surprising it is for little old me to have done this. I'll start by going back to the 80s/90s. I remember being a shy child. I didn't strive to be centre of attention but this battled against a need to

On the day that thousands of students across the country receive their A level results I thought I would write about my own poor experience of A levels and Sixth Form College, and how it has NOT negatively impacted my life since then. Before I get to my A levels I should confess that I loved school. I loved learning, I found it easy, most things came to me pretty easily and worst of all I didn't need to revise or put in any extra work to pass exams. I know, I was really, real

I hold my hands up. I have NEVER been a fan of exercise. I got away with it when I was younger as I didn't have a car and walked or cycled miles everyday. I would occasionally join a gym, go to some classes, or do a workout video but nothing ever stuck. One problem was that I wanted immediate results (not possible) and it was too much effort (there's always going to be effort involved). In 2017 I lost a lot of weight purely through diet. I did zero exercise. So I knew I didn'

In January 2017 my friend at work begged me to go to a slimming club with her. I was in complete denial about my weight and health. I had been overweight for years but convinced myself that clothes shops were making sizes smaller and that I probably just needed to do a little exercise to get healthier. I had no real interest in going and didn't think that slimming clubs worked. In early February 2017 I finally gave in and went with her to Slimming World. I sat through the int