Photography | Ba Ba “ Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
TRUE LIFE The breakthrough after my breakdown Lifesaving surgery at four months old led Flo to a mental breakdown when she was just eight, and resulted in a childhood defined by mental health. As a teenager, Flo had the lightbulb moment to stop letting her mental illnesses define her, and started sharing her story to empower and inspire others Writing | Flo Sharman While my birth was pretty straightforward, when I was four months old everything changed. I stopped breathing on many occasions, and my incredible mother had to resuscitate me several times – including on the day of my christening. I needed a life-saving operation to remove parts of my stomach to treat serious acid reflux, which was affecting my ability to breathe, and I had to stay in hospital for months. I had slow development, and remember needing a special chair and shoes, but apart from that things were looking up – we all thought that once life had dealt me that big, old card, surely I wouldn’t have to deal with another one. I really wish that was the case, but unfortunately it wasn’t. I remember the night that my life changed forever as if it was yesterday. This is my reminder to you all to cherish everything you have, and live in the moment, because you really don’t know what’s around the corner. My mental breakdown didn’t come gradually, it happened pretty much overnight, when I was just eight years old – and for me it came out as physical illness symptoms, not those of a classic mental breakdown. I woke up in the middle of the night in May 2008 blind, paralysed, hallucinating, my lip had dropped, I couldn’t talk, I was retching, and had a headache. I was rushed to hospital and they thought that I had a bleed on the brain or a brain infection, but how wrong they were. I stayed in overnight and was discharged the next morning with doctors saying it was a fluke, and would never happen again. But in 2017 I found out that the reason I had my mental breakdown, and the reason it showed itself in this way, is due to my traumatic experience in hospital during the early parts of my life, and this is the main root cause of my mental illnesses – PTSD, OCD, depression, and panic attacks. I truly believe that if, at the time of my mental breakdown in 2008, more research had been done to find the links between mental health breakdowns due to trauma as a baby, my journey would have been very different. That is why I’m so proud to be an ambassador for MQ, who are the UK’s leading mental health research charity. >>> <strong>September</strong> <strong>2020</strong> • happiful.com • 87
- Page 1 and 2:
THE MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO MENTAL HEAL
- Page 3 and 4:
A leap of faith Whether you’ve be
- Page 5 and 6:
Our team EDITORIAL Rebecca Thair |
- Page 7 and 8:
HAPPIFUL.COM | £4 09 Find help Our
- Page 9:
WELLNESS Virtual choirs tune-in to
- Page 12 and 13:
Take 5 Codebreaker It’s time to c
- Page 14:
Self-love conquers all Cupid’s st
- Page 17 and 18:
JACKIE’S STORY The only child to
- Page 19 and 20:
@GRACEFVICTORY are made up of old p
- Page 21 and 22:
What is imposter syndrome? Do you f
- Page 23 and 24:
TOP TIPS Ultimately, you want to be
- Page 25 and 26:
Everyone has unique strengths and t
- Page 27 and 28:
It’s about time we started talkin
- Page 29 and 30:
For more from Stevie, follow him on
- Page 31 and 32:
I wouldn’t describe myself as a v
- Page 33 and 34:
each area, this can be unrealistic,
- Page 35 and 36: can help you move forward and embra
- Page 37 and 38: TRUE LIFE It’s never too late to
- Page 39 and 40: You can email Vanessa via contact@b
- Page 41 and 42: Top tips for those struggling to ma
- Page 43 and 44: Therefore, our buzzing friends can
- Page 45 and 46: Being together every day, going thr
- Page 47 and 48: 3 amazing online dance classes to l
- Page 49 and 50: EIGHT MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SIGHT LO
- Page 51 and 52: SIGHT LOSS SUPPORT • The Royal Na
- Page 53 and 54: We’re rarely afraid of what we ca
- Page 55 and 56: TRUE LIFE A message of impact Feeli
- Page 57 and 58: Andy Salkeld is the author of ‘Li
- Page 59 and 60: 10 steps to cope with redundancy Fa
- Page 61 and 62: Protect your energy Approaching you
- Page 63: leads to you feeling diminished, an
- Page 66 and 67: £57 £40 ENTER CODE: HAPPISEP AT T
- Page 68 and 69: What, when, and how we eat is a key
- Page 70 and 71: Forget perfection keep your promise
- Page 72 and 73: “ To fall in love with yourself i
- Page 74 and 75: This extreme content grabs our atte
- Page 76 and 77: COLD SESAME SALMON Serves 2 Power-H
- Page 78 and 79: Photography | Daniel Odame “ Owni
- Page 80 and 81: Take a deep breath Four ways the re
- Page 82 and 83: A beginner’s guide to growing you
- Page 84 and 85: HAPPIFUL TOP 10 September Taking ca
- Page 88 and 89: I truly believe that if, at the tim
- Page 90: Embracing your natural looks - and