It's Mother's Day and as you know Mummy Barnet is most definitely one of the best sources of happiness in my life. She's always there for me, is as daft as a brush and we always have so much fun and laughter together.

Mummy Barnet has also given me lots of good advice over the years, much of which continues to help me now as I cope with the challenges of fatigue, anxiety and the general ups and downs life throws at you. Here are some of my favourites:  

We'll get there

For as long as I can remember, if any of us got stuck, overwhelmed or faced a challenge in life, my mum's mantra was "we'll get there". She often added, "even if we don't know where there is yet....we'll get there!". I love this and tell myself it when I face tough days now. Not only does it remind me that I will get through whatever challenge I'm dealing with but that I don't need to have everything all figured out just yet to be able to start moving forward. The use of "we" is also great, I know my mum is always on the journey with me.

Everybody else syndrome

Mum spotted pretty early that I am definitely someone who suffers from "everybody else syndrome". I was (and still am, if I'm really honest) extra critical of myself and will convince myself that everybody else has it all figured out/is perfectly happy/doing better than me, which of course only highlights my failings/struggles even more so. However as we all know when we stop and think about it, everyone has their own stuff going on and everyone has their own challenges and ups and downs, many of which we may never know about. It's even easier these days to fall in to this trap and feel you are the only one not holding it all together, with everyone posting the best bits of life online, heavily edited and filtered of course. But as usual Mummy Barnet is right, everyone else has their own doubts/worries/concerns going on too...and it's important to remember it's not just me and it's okay that not everything is perfect.

Positive people

Mum always told me to surround myself with people who are a positive in my life and not to keep those who are negatives. By this she meant, if someone is making me feel bad about myself or is causing me pain and upset, they shouldn't be in my life, and that I should value those who spending time with always feels like a positive experience.

It also led me to remember that if someone chooses to have me in their life, I should be a positive for them too; that we should all add something to each other's life, support each other and be a plus! 

I don't get all of these right but I do try to remember them and remain conscious of their message. I know I'm very lucky to have always had such a positive influence in my life and advice that has helped me through my journey so far. Love you mum, hope you have a fantastic Mother's Day and thank you for always keeping me right xx