Eating Out

Hey everyone!

So today's post is on an issue that I have had for about two and a half years now. I haven't come across anyone who also has this issue before which is why I want to tell you all about it because I want to see if anyone else also has it. That issue is eating out.

Now you may be thinking what's her problem? What's wrong with eating out? I'll tell you what's wrong. It annoys me that whenever I go out somewhere to eat, the majority of the time I will be less than half way through my meal and I start to feel really sick and can't eat any more.

There's never anything wrong with the food. The food is always really nice. I don't know what it is that makes me feel like this. And I hate it. I hate the fact that I can't go out for a meal, not even with my family, friends and just people who I feel comfortable with in general, without not being able to finish a meal. I always end up having to get up and leave because I fear that if I stay in the room any longer I'm either going to be sick or I'm going to start having some sort of anxiety or panic attack.

I hate being like this. My mum and dad both know that I feel like this (they don't know about my anxiety) so I always have to make sure I'm sat by one of them so that if I do start to feel sick I can tell one of them and they'll make some sort of excuse for me to leave. Most of the time it's she's feeling a little ill. We're going to go and sit outside for a bit. Problem is, I always feel really anxious about getting out of these situations, as much as I want to get out of them, and it gets to the point where I'll either leg it or slowly start to remove myself from the table. Sometimes I won't even say anything about it and I'll just sit there and pretend nothing's wrong and if anyone asks me why I'm not eating, I'll tell them that I'm full.

It's slightly worse when I'm with friends. I don't normally get this sick feeling when I'm with my friends so it's normally alright but when I do, there's no mum or dad for me to tell so I can go outside. I'll usually just try and sit there and take short, deep little breaths but try and make it so that it's not noticeable by them. I'll either do that or go to the toilets and try to calm myself down.

I hate what's going on with my life and I just wish it could all stop. I have googled about this sick feeling but nothing's come up. I guess that's why I haven't been to the doctor's because it seems like it's just me that's going through this so it can't be that bad. Right?

If any of you also get this sick feeling please comment below if you know what it is or if you have any advice for me about what I can do in these situations. Even if you don't get this sick feeling but have some advice I'd still love to hear it so please comment below. Or you can tweet/DM me on twitter @teenagelifebeth or email me if you really want to teenagelifebeth@gmail.com

Love Beth xx

Being a Lifestyle Blogger

Hey everybody!

First of all, at the moment I'm kind of struggling for ideas about what I'm going to write about in my posts.  If you have any ideas about what I could write about or have a particular subject that you want me to talk about then please let me know either in the comments below, on twitter @teenagelifebeth or by emailing me teenagelifebeth@gmail.com.

Moving on, for today's post I am going to be telling you what it's like being a lifestyle blogger, what it involves and how you can be one too.

What it's like
Being a lifestyle blogger is great. It's a way for you to talk about everyday life and give people advice from your own experiences in order to help them. What makes it great is that every lifestyle blogger will talk about a different subject because of what they've experienced and even if you and someone else have gone through the same thing, you both have different advice to people who are also experiencing it so they can try different things to get through it. I love being a lifestyle blogger because every post to me is different and I love every week being able to tell you all about what's happened since I last updated my blog and talking about everything I've experienced. What makes it better is that even though I'm the one mostly giving advice, I sometimes get you guys giving me advice too, even if it's something I've put on twitter, and that really helps me.

What it involves
Being a lifestyle blogger involves you telling your readers about life in general. It's always better if you tell them about your own experiences of a subject instead of something that you've never experienced because you can't really give your readers advice if they're going through it. With my posts I always write from the heart and from my own experiences so that you, the reader, can really relate to me and also so that I can relate to any of you who have also experienced what I've experienced.
                     Being a blogger also involves social media quite a lot of the time as it's a way to attract more readers to your blog. If you are a blogger but don't advertise your blog on social media then I would recommend doing so as if I didn't post links from my blog on twitter, there is no way I'd have half the amount of readers as I do now. I think the main social media to get for your blog is twitter as you can use a lot more hash tags and there's also weekly chats which help publicise your blog even more.  As of now I do only have twitter for my blog but pretty soon I am going to make a page for my blog on facebook.
                                    But it's not all about publicising your blog on social media as this is also a way to interact with your followers and readers if you include stuff about you as well; such as something that happened that day and even if it's just telling your followers what you're watching, you'll find that more people will start loving you and even go and read your blog if you interact with them.

How YOU can be a lifestyle blogger
Being a lifestyle blogger doesn't take much. It just involves you talking about everyday life. If you're only in it because you want to gain followers or want to try and become famous somehow then this isn't for you. At the end of the day, even if I only have one reader of my blog then I'll still update if it means I'm helping one person. Don't be one of those people who tells they're followers that you're only going to update if you get a certain amount of reads or comments because that makes you come across as someone who's only in it for the fame and doesn't really care.
               You also only need to be yourself on here. In all my posts and on social media I am the real me and not someone who people see me as in school, which is what makes more people love you and want to read you're blog.

I hope this has helped some of you understand what being a lifestyle blogger really is and how you can be one to. If you have any questions either; comment below, mention/DM me on twitter @teenagelifebeth or email me teenagelifebeth@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading!

Love Beth xx

Subject: DIVORCE

Hey!

For today's post I wanted to talk about something that's going on in my life at the moment and I know it's not just me experiencing it as it happens to a lot of kids every year. That is, my parents getting a divorce.

I guess in some ways I'm kind of happy that my parents are divorcing because they were constantly arguing, day and night, and it always used to make me really upset and just want to hide in my bedroom and not come out until everything was calm again.

On the other hand, it's kind of scary that they're getting a divorce. I guess it's because of the fact that I now live with my mum so at times when I need my dad to help me with something (especially getting rid of spiders and maths homework) he's not really around that much any more and I'm just finding the whole process of their divorce hard to deal with.

I guess I have had time to get used to the idea. Around this time last year me, my mum and my brothers moved in with my uncle (my mums brother) because, and as my mum put it, "we're moving in with your uncle and your dad's staying at home because he needs to sort the house out" (I can't remember exactly what she said). When she first said we were moving out I thought she was going to say it was because her and my dad were getting a divorce and I got really panicked about that thought and I felt really sick from that day (a Friday) to Monday. Especially Monday as some people seemed to have a more clear idea about why I was living at my uncles and it made me think they knew something I didn't.

This March I was packing to go to Disneyland on a school trip and in the suitcase I was using I found a folder that said something about a solicitor's. Me, being the nosey person I am, opened the folder only to see something that confirmed my fears. I remember reading subject:DIVORCE and I got so angry for some reason that I threw the folder across the room and sat on my bed and cried. I guess I was angry about the fact that I had been lied to for months.

I never told my parents about me finding out. I guess I was too scared to. Plus, part of me wanted to wait and see how long it would take them to tell me. The answer - 6 MONTHS!

Around the end of September, my dad told me that my mum wanted a divorce from him. Obviously, me finding out 6 months before hand, I acted like I couldn't care less. Then he asked me and my brother if we already knew. I said yeah but didn't tell him how I knew. Turns out my brother knew as well. His friend had overheard a conversation between his mum and my mum about it.

I know that everyone's experience with their parents getting a divorce is different but it's kind of the same in that everyone takes a certain amount of time to realise that, at the end of the day, everything's going to be fine. Yes, your parents may be getting a divorce but it doesn't mean they don't love you any less. It will take time for you to get over it, but in the end you're okay because you realise that this happens to many people. And, in some cases, your parents will argue less and sometimes even not at all.

I used to like the fact that my parents were together as it felt like it was making my life easier with things such as Christmas and birthdays as I hardly had to worry about anything. Yes, the whole thing is scary but I'm just glad that it makes my parents happy. The subject hasn't been mentioned since the day my dad told me, which is great. And my parents can be in the same room together and hardly ever argue (come on, I've got to let them have a little argument here and there).

This whole experience has been tough and what would've made it easier would be if I had someone who I could talk to about the whole thing. If you want to talk to me about ANYTHING, whether it's to do with today's post, another post or life in general, please don't be afraid to contact me. My twitter is @teenagelifebeth and my email is teenagelifebeth@gmail.com so feel free to talk to me any time and I'll always answer you.

Love Beth xx

Life

Hi all!

So yesterday at school we had this workshop during our core/re lesson which I don't properly understand what it was about, however it was very interesting.

We were split into 3 groups and had to go round different stations. 

The first was a long piece of paper and we all had to either write or draw on it what we think represents life. I wrote life = school, stress & music because it's true isn't it? 

Life = school because that's all we ever seem to do. We pretty much go to school for 6 hours a day, 5                       days a week and we always have homework to do at the weekend and never seem to                             have time for a social life.

Life = stress because of school. They pressure us with exams and give us unnecessary tests in class                          and then have a go at us if we fail. Yet when we fail, it's always automatically our fault                        and that we never revised properly and never seems to be the teachers fault. 

Life = music because music helps us get through anything and everything. The right song creates the                        right mood and it doesn't matter what song it is, we all seem to be able to relate to the                          lyrics in one way or another.

On the second one, there was a few different things around the room where we could write about anything going on in our lives. The first thing I went to was where we had to write a question about life. I wrote why is life already really complicated at this age? The next thing was where there are a load of stones and you pick one up and have to write one word on it to do with your life. I wrote anxiety because those of you who are regular readers will know that I have anxiety. The next was where you have a post-it note and you have to write some kind of thanks on it and stick it on a board. I wrote thanks to the people who have always stuck by me because not many people have, and the ones who have are basically just my mum and maybe one or two others. The last one was where you had a cardboard tag and you had to write something that you find hard to cope with on it. I wrote anxiety & exams because those seem to be two of the biggest things in my life at the moment.

The last station was where there were a load of pictures and we had to say what we though each picture was representing. I'm not going to talk much about this one because it wasn't that interesting.

After that hour, I felt so much better for the rest of today and never felt a sense of paranoia and barely had any anxiety. I think the session helped open my eyes and the fact that other people had written things similar to me made me feel so much better that there are other people in my year experiencing the same things as me. It was also great because the whole thing was anonymous so no one knew who had written what. However, when I was writing things about my anxiety, I did have to hide it from my "friends" because I didn't want them to find out (not that they'd care anyway).

I would really recommend you trying something like this because this workshop was probably one of the best things I've done at school and it helped me get rid of everything about my anxiety that I've been keeping to myself for a very long time. Even if you don't get the chance to do something like this at school, you could maybe try it at home or maybe with friends. But honestly, it was a great help to me as I'm sure it will be to you.

If you have any questions about this or any other issues I've raised in my posts, please don't be afraid to DM me on twitter (@teenagelifebeth) or contact me by email (teenagelifebeth@gmail.com).

It would be a great help to me if you could comment below what you thought of this post or if you could give me any ideas for future posts.

Love Beth xx