They say everything you ever wanted to know about yourself, you can learn in 42km. This may sound dramatic, however as it turns out the road really is a brutal teacher, as well as a mirror. For most of my life, I would have rolled my eyes at this. If someone had told little me that I would go on to cross three marathon finish lines before the age of thirty-two, I would never have believed them, probably laughed, and definitely presumed they were talking about someone the

Throughout life, women often experience a series of shared transitions. From menstruation and reproductive health to pregnancy and motherhood, and later life stages such as menopause, quietly creating forms of connection and community. My own experience with menstruation was one of the first times I noticed how these unspoken communities began to form. When I got my first period, it felt like a secret I was embarrassed to carry.

As I approach the end of my master’s degree and find myself once again confronted by the question of what comes next, I am reminded of Sylvia Plath’s 1963 semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar. In this book, Plath beautifully illustrates indecision and future possibilities through her fig tree analogy. “I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked."

It seems that I do have a trend of finding life lessons from my hobbies and interests. Two years ago, I wrote a piece on how ballet taught me life lessons. Then, I wrote about the deep symbolism of children’s movies, and finally, Taylor Swift. These are just some of my hobbies and interests alongside my full-time job as a researcher, and part time PhD.

I am running for the animal world. I am running the 2026 London Marathon in support of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the charity that runs the London Zoo and a range of amazing international conservation programmes. The adult in me – and hopefully those of you who want to support my 42 km of sweat and tears – is proud to support the conservation charity, but I would be lying if I did not also acknowledge the child in me who still feels so excited at visiting the Zoo

Last year, I spent six months living and working in Japan. I worked at the World Expo, a role that allowed me to meet people from a wide range of backgrounds. It was an experience that stayed with me long after I left, not because it was extreme or overwhelming, but because it quietly changed how I understand belonging and mental health. Being in a place where I didn’t fully fit in made me more aware of how much our sense of well-being is shaped by whether we feel connected

Community building has become something of a trend, especially over the past year. The more I scroll through social media, the more events I see. While I enjoy seeing people come together, it can also feel overwhelming to be flooded with Instagram posts and WhatsApp groups promoting countless events and gatherings. Traditionally, communities are formed by groups of people connected through shared spaces or common interests, religion, culture, ethnicity, or values.

When I was studying in high school, I came across a quote by Karl Popper, a philosopher and academic, that really caught my attention. He once said: “Avoiding mistakes is a narrow-minded ideal. If we don’t dare face those challenges that are so difficult as to make the error almost inevitable, knowledge will not be developed. It is from our more daring theories, including those that are wrong, that we learn the most. No one can avoid making mistakes, but the important thing i

I've been curious all my life—from collecting samples for my microscope as a kid to investigating psychiatric biomarkers as a PhD student now—but for me, this curiosity didn't belong in the same box as dresses and pink. I was never girly. I put up a fight against my mother whenever she tried to put me in dresses when I was a toddler. Throughout my childhood, my wardrobe mostly consisted of my brother’s hand-me-downs, and even now in my late twenties, it’s a sea of black, blu

Pregnancy is expected to be a “one size fits all” phenomenon. Every stereotype of a pregnant person involves peeing on a stick, sharing the happy news with your partner, throwing up every morning, and having a straightforward delivery where you’re screaming out in pain until the miracle of life is pushed out of your body.

How nostalgia makes us yearn for our own memories. Time moves forward whether we follow it or not. Nostalgia, however, waits.It lingers in old songs, in familiar streets, in the scent of a season or a person we thought we had forgotten. And when it finally returns, it pulls us gently, and sometimes painfully, back into a moment we can no longer touch.

Some things in life you never expect to lose. Your orgasm is one of them.

And there we have it. As of October 2025, boyfriends have become embarrassing, according to Vogue. An article published on 25th October talks about boyfriends being embarrassing, and about women being uncool or losers because they have romantic partners. This controversial piece has been discussed all over social media, and on popular news outlets, with Instagram celebrities sharing their opinions, either agreeing, or disagreeing with the piece. I came across the p

Dads, what would you say in a letter to your sons? The Adolescence star Stephen Graham recently called on fathers to share messages to their sons for a new book call ‘Letters to Our Sons’. Photo from Bloomsbury Publishing An ongoing national conversation promoted by this psychological crime drama about a 13-year-old who is arrested for the murder of his female classmate continues. Much of that conversation has been about bullying, toxic masculinity - a term for stereotypicall

Image Source: cottonbro studio on Pexels I’ve never found Mondays particularly stressful. Over time, I’ve learned to manage my energy more intentionally, and as a freelance journalist, I’ve picked up strategies that work for me. For instance, if I work over the weekend, I try to keep my Mondays lighter, a way to ease back into the week and protect my mental balance. But if I worked in a company or had an office role with fixed hours, that kind of adjustment would be much hard

My research in mental health and neuroscience is fuelled by a deep curiosity about how the world around us, everything from our...

When Prince Harry gave an impromptu speech last week at the Diana Award in central London, he talked of the loneliness that many young people experience, describing how they could feel isolated if “lost and separated from a group.” Research also confirms that young people are experiencing high rates of loneliness, often at higher levels than older age groups. A large review identified loneliness as peaking between ages 18 and 29, with one in three young adults reporting f

My mind is calm; my breathing is slow and persistent; and my hands aren’t shaking. I couldn’t have said that years ago, and I most certainly would not have gotten where I am without him. My partner, Roger, was the saving grace I never saw coming, but when I needed it the most. Roger and I met by chance, through a Meetup group (a site that allows people to join groups based on personal interests and hobbies). We only spoke a few words, and it was months later before we began l

I lost myself some time ago. I searched in vain until I found her in my bedroom mirror. Nineteen years later.

Let’s begin with good news. Young people in general are taking fewer drugs: around 17% of 16–24-year-olds took drugs in 2022–23, compared to 21% in 2019–20. However, such activities may be catastrophic for some teenagers, whose developing adolescent brains may never recover from taking toxic substances.

Of all the topics that concern parents, teachers, and caretakers of teenagers right now, I have found that the most worrying is how to reduce their phone use.

Before Covid forced many of us into pyjamas and endless Zoom calls, I was already working remotely and had been since 2017. In fact, I ran a successful blog about it and felt confident telling people how to manage their freelance time and stay productive at home. The problem was, over time, my social skills were taking a nosedive. Back then I had no idea what working from home so often was doing to me, but slowly, it was chipping away at my confidence and my ability to be aro

Moving to a new city, country, or even continent is exhilarating—until one uncomfortable reality sets in: suddenly, your support network is a hundred miles away, and the comfort of familiar friendships around the corner is replaced by the daunting task of building new ones from scratch.

If you feel like dating is a Sisyphean task, you’re not alone. As a neurodivergent woman, I’m probably (definitely) considered an...

“What are your hobbies?” This is quite a common icebreaker when having a conversation. For quite a few years, when someone asked me that, I actually had to think about it, and didn’t quite have an answer. After all, scrolling endlessly on social media in the evenings isn’t really a hobby, is it? As a part-time PhD student and a full-time researcher, finding new hobbies over the past 2 years has been a great way for me to unwind and find a suitable work-life balance.

When telling people that I was training for the London Marathon, most people would reply by telling me that they "could never do it". Even established runners, even people who had run half-marathons, would tell me that they could not do it, ever. And that, of course, is not true.

As Ramadan comes to an end, the scent of fresh henna (a temporary form of body art) on my hands brings back a flood of memories from...

Last weekend, I decided to watch Netflix’s new drama Adolescence. I had been apprehensive to watch it, assuming it would be another...

I am at Week 10 of my training plan for the 2025 London Marathon. My first marathon. I know running is good for my mental health , but...

I gamble. Not a lot, never recklessly, and certainly not in a way that keeps me up at night worrying about lost fortunes. But I do it.