I’m so excited to be starting a new journey with this blog! For years I’ve struggled with my own mental health and all the peaks and troughs that rollercoaster entails.

Mental health is something that most people agree should be talked about, but when it comes down to it, my experience is that people don’t actually want to listen. That creates horrible destructive cycles, and you just end up feeling more alone, rejected, and misunderstood.

So my goal with The Aquarium Online is two-fold.

Firstly, it’s to showcase what it’s actually like to be dealing with real-life mental health problems in the real world.

Secondly, it’s to provide realistic positivity where possible. Sometimes it’s hard to do simple things if you’re having a bad day. Sometimes people’s advice is more irritating or hurtful than it is helpful. But at the same time, you don’t want to read things that are going to make you even more depressed (there’s the whole rest of the internet if you’re looking for that!). So I’m planning to have simple tips, photos of cute animals, and nothing that’s too much pressure.

Things that this blog should never be

I figured it would help both you and me if I set some ground rules about what The Aquarium Online shouldn’t be.

• Condescending – Even mental health pros can be pretty condescending sometimes. And that’s before the well-meaning people in your life say unhelpful things like, “Have you tried cheering up? What about mindfulness?”
• Depressing – I want to be honest, but I never want to bring people down or make them feel worse. This blog should be like your favourite snuggly blanket – it always makes you feel at least a teeny bit better!
• Ranty – I’m a big complainer, but I’m going to try my best not to rant here because I want it to be a positive space.
• Off-topic – Although this blog technically falls into the lifestyle blogging niche more than mental health, my goal is to keep to practical, friendly topics such as happiness and habits.
• Medical – I’m not a mental health professional, nor do I have any training in that (or related skills). This blog will just have my experiences and things I find helpful, and should no way be taken as medical advice.

I hope you enjoy The Aquarium Online! Please feel free to bookmark my blog or subscribe via RSS to come back in future.