Author: Trudie Bamford
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The Wrong Tool. The Wrong Conclusion.
You know that feeling when even the easy stuff feels hard? You answer the emails, pay the bills, remember your sister’s birthday, and mostly manage to get a wash on before you have to resort to your only-for-emergencies underwear. But every little task seems to take more out of you than it takes everyone else,…
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Stuck On Repeat?
Believe it or not, you probably don’t need a total life overhaul. You just need to stop going round in the same loop, like a song that’s been on repeat for too long now, thanks very much. That’s most of what I work with in therapy. Not big dramatic breakthroughs. Not reinventing yourself in a…
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Are They Actually Mad With You, Or Is That Just Your Default Setting?
You write a perfectly reasonable reply to someone’s post. You read it back. Seems fine. You read it again. Hmm. You delete a sentence, add a “haha” so you don’t sound intense, then remove the “haha” in case it looks forced. You consider a thumbs up instead, decide that somehow looks passive aggressive, and post…
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You Don’t Need Therapy, Right? You’re Strong.
Therapy’s for people who fall apart. Not you. You hold it together. Smile through it. Keep going. Besides, everyone says it: “You’re so strong. I don’t know how you do it”.And you nod, say thanks, while thinking, “If by strong you mean holding everything together while quietly unravelling, then yes. Spot on”. It sounds like…
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Stuck Is A Feeling, Not A Life Sentence
“It is what it is.” I often trotted out this line in my own therapy. With a wry shrug meant to say, “I’m a tough cookie, I’ll cope”, but that didn’t quite hide the hopelessness. One session, mid “nothing will ever change” spiral, my therapist said:“It is what it is… until it isn’t”. Excuse me?…
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It’s Times Like These, Time and Time Again
In 2024 I got my first tattoo during a huge turning point in my life. It’s the lyrics to Times Like These by Foo Fighters. I was just emerging from an oppressive environment, one where I’d felt small, silenced and disconnected from who I really was. Leaving that space was terrifying and freeing all at once. The…
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How Not to Build a Life
I used to think I was just a bit rubbish at coping. Now I know I was never given much to work with. A lot of us don’t realise how few coping tools we have… until the bottom drops out of our world. You’re going through hell – grief, loss, heartbreak, burnout – and you…