I'm Back

What's been going on... 

SO I've been away for a little while and I've not really had the time to explain why. Those of you that follow me on twitter would have seen the odd tweet here and there but for the most part I have been MIA for the last few months.   

Firstly, as some of you will know June was a hard month due to the passing of my Nan's partner. He was a really great guy who treated my Nan well and he is missed by a lot of people. He spent his last few days at Thorpe Hall and I have to say the Sue Ryder staff there were amazing and made that time as good as it could have been.  R.I.P Ronald Slater. 

Secondly, those of you that know me know how I have struggled with anxiety a lot over the last two years and at times I've let it get the better of me. Around the beginning of Novemeber 2016 I started to get some professional help, there is still a stigma around therapy but hand on heart this was the best thing I ever did. It's given me the tools I needed to get myself better and no one should feel ashamed or scared of asking for help! 

Anyways I digress, the point I was trying to get to was that recently I made the decision that I was going to turn my negative experiences into something positive. How am I going to do that you might ask? (You might not but lets roll with it) The plan is to take my artistic education and my experiences over the last few years and move into a sector that I can help others with, Art Therapy! It is going to be hard work and I'll need to go back to university at some point but I'm really excited to have a focus and a goal. This last month I have started volunteering twice a week and doing a couple of free course at the Open University (highly recommended!) and I'm really excited to see where this goes!  

As well as all this my best friend married her partner of nearly 11 years the other week, she looked beautiful and I can't wait to see all the pictures from their honeymoon when they get back. 

So as you can see things have been a little manic over the last two months, which lead to me having to take a break from blogging. I missed it like crazy but it was needed. But now I'm back! Being as I've had a bit of a redirection I thought it was about time the blog had a revamp to. I've not changed the way in which my blog looks since I started it in 2014 so I'm a little nervous about what you guys are going to think - I hope you like it! It has all the stuff you love still (so don't worry) and hopefully some new and exciting features to come. 

Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that has been there over the last few months and a massive thank you to everyone that still follows my ramblings on here three and a half years on from when I started. To the bloggers, readers, authors, the friends, the family and everyone in between. Have an awesome month and I hope you enjoy the next chapter of The YA's Nightstand!