Real problems people actually face – grief, money worry, redundancy, and more, written about honestly rather than clinically.
Organised into seven groups, moving from the situations that touch almost everyone toward the ones that are harder to talk about. Each entry names what’s actually going on, not just how to feel calmer about it.
Not yet published.
Grief & loss
The most universal loss there is, and some of its least straightforward versions – from the parent everyone expects to lose eventually, to grief that resurfaces long after it’s supposed to be finished.
- Losing a parent
- Grief that comes in waves
- Losing a pet
- Grieving what hasn’t ended
- Anticipatory grief
- Baby loss
- A friendship ending
Uncertainty & worry
The mind’s habit of treating an unknown outcome as a threat to prepare for – whether that shows up as catastrophising, circular thought, or being unable to choose at all.
- Catastrophising
- Rumination
- Health anxiety
- Decision paralysis
- Sleepless nights
- Panic attacks
- Doomscrolling
Relationships & family
The people closest to us bring some of the hardest problems to name out loud – endings, distances, and the particular loneliness of being with someone and still feeling unseen.
- Divorce & separation
- Family estrangement
- Caring for an ageing parent
- The empty nest
- Alone inside a relationship
- Caring for a partner
- Loneliness
Work & identity
How much of who we are gets tangled up in what we do for a living – and what happens to that sense of self when the job changes, ends, or stops fitting.
- Redundancy and job loss
- Slow-building burnout
- Retirement and identity loss
- Imposter syndrome
- A late change of direction
- Returning to work
Health & body
What it’s like when the body stops being something you can take for granted – through diagnosis, recovery, ongoing pain, or simply age.
- A serious diagnosis
- Recovery after surgery
- Chronic pain and fatigue
- The body changing with age
- Menopausal mood swings
Money & security
Financial worry rarely stays just financial – it reaches into sleep, relationships and self-worth, especially after a life change nobody budgeted for.
- Financial insecurity
- Retirement money worry
- Starting over financially
- Hiding money trouble
Change & milestones
The moments that mark time passing – birthdays, house moves, new responsibilities – and what they quietly bring up alongside the occasion itself.
- Milestone birthdays
- Leaving a place you loved
- Becoming a carer
- Losing a sense of purpose