I try to write every day. Even on the days when I’m not particularly “feeling it” I knuckle-down and clatter my fingertips to the keyboard until something of some description finally happens. But it’s not because it’s my job; It’s because there’s a part of me that feels like I have an obligation to do what I do.

If you can write (and by “write” I don’t just mean playing with the idea of writing. I mean having a skill for the game) then you should do it as much as humanly possible, in a whole host of ways. There…

Nobody ever told me what to expect when I became depressed. It’s not something that’s discussed at home, in the classroom, at work or even at the doctors’ office.

But even in the places depression was discussed openly and freely, everybody failed to mention one thing that is pretty important:

It’s contagious.

If you’re turning your head in confusion I totally get it; From a purely physical standpoint, depression is not contagious at all. A depressed person can’t sneeze on you and suddenly you catch it too, so relax.

But one thing I’ve discovered is that it’s incredibly easy to…

The world needs hope right now. So do you.

My middle name is Peter. In High School, a few of the kids used to joke that the ‘P’ in my name didn’t stand for Peter at all; It stood for Pessimistic.

That’s a pretty big word for a young teenager, and I didn’t even know what the word meant until I’d heard it used as an insult against me. But in all honesty, looking back, I don’t blame them for gifting me such an unusual title.

I was miserable. Not all the time, but most of it. This was because…

A few months ago I was prescribed a set of anti-depressants to help handle my symptoms of Derealisation Disorder (which I’ve also written about — you can find that piece here).

The doctor warned me there might be some small side-effects as my body adjusted to the drugs, which is understandable and certainly expected. What wasn’t expected were just how odd some of these side-effects would turn out to be.

The usual suspects came and went: Nausea, dizzyness, irritability. But everything else was highly unwanted and downright scary at times. After some research, I discovered many of these side-effects are…

For most of us lucky enough to still have jobs during the COVID-19 crisis, adapting to working from home has been one of two things:

1. A welcome change. Or…
2. A disastrous alteration.

How can working from home possibly be seen as a bad thing?! You get to wear whatever you want all day (don’t even have to change out of your PJs if you don’t want to!), eat and drink whenever it suits you and you undoubtedly save a ton of time thanks to cutting out your daily commute. …

Did you ever take a moment to figure out exactly how much time you spend looking at emails?

When our work requires a full-time connection to our inbox, we don’t really have a choice. But when we’re the ones being badgered by consistent notifications from stupid, pointless marketing emails it’s time to put in the extra effort and Unsubscribe.

I think this works as a good metaphor for life, too. Life is filled with so many actions, directions, events, interactions and influences that we can’t possibly be expected to absorb every single detail. Nor should we want to. …

I’ve been writing professionally for around 2 years now and, in all that time, the one thing that’s struck me the most is the way other young writers romanticize the idea of writing for a living.

Yes, in many respects, it’s a dream job. But it is by no means a perfect life. If you want to work as a writer and really stick at it, you’re going to have to find ways to balance everything that’s going on in your life and in your head. And, trust me, there’s going to be a lot going on in both.

Here…

There comes a time in many prizefights where a fighter begins to throw shots more freely, loosely. He looks relaxed, his hands drop a little, his feet are balanced yet constantly in motion, and he isn’t afraid to throw combinations for fear of being countered.

He has found his flow.

Then again, boxing is often a grueling spectacle; whatever you try, nothing seems to ‘click’ and you’re continuously getting caught with jab after jab. Until the inevitable happens and you’re out for the count.

I find writing to be a similar experience. There are days when words pour from your…