This print is in my bedroom, opposite my bed. I’ve had it a long time. The image caught my eye more than a decade ago in a London gallery and I bought it for myself.

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and one of my jobs is Well-being Coach to Students at the local FE College. I am good at my job and believe I make a difference to many of the young people I work with.

Today, Sunday afternoon, at about 5pm, I lay down on the bed in the afternoon after a solitary weekend at the end of a stressful week. I felt drained of energy. From my bedroom I could hear a baby crying across the street and birds singing in the background.

Normally, I enjoy time on my own in the life I have created. I know I have friends, work I enjoy, my own little home on a friendly street with a garden full of birds and flowers. Yet I felt completely drained empty. I lay down and started to cry. The tears had been building up for a while.

I looked at the picture. I bought it because it made me smile, but also because it reminded me of myself and my own insecurities.

We all have insecurities, weak moments, doubts – call them what you will – and we all manifest them in different ways. On Sunday, my way was to let them pour down my cheeks, without wiping them away. All the doubts and fears flooded my face, hair and neck.

After a few minutes wallowing in the watery time bubble, I noticed the baby outside had stopped crying and the birds were still singing. A breeze ruffled the bedroom curtains. The sun was still shining.

I looked again at the girl in the picture and then, slowly, got up and went downstairs to make a cup of tea. I took it out into the garden and found a sunny spot to drink it.

Not every day is a good day but there is good in every day.

#mentalhealthawarenessweek2023 #selfcare #findingpeace #coach #writer #balance #strength

[Print of painting ‘:Two Portraits of Sara’

by Cayetano de Arquer – Bulgas]