GetGrowGive Resilience | #TPSmentalhealth

Hey beautifuls!

I had the pleasure of being invited back to The Priory School in Hitchin for their second annual mental health conference which focused on the matter of resilience this year. The day was based around how us students as well as teachers can get, grow and give resilience. Dr Kate Middleton says resilience is about overcoming and pushing through tough situations - can we get back up from these moments?

Here is how the day went!

Katie Southall, Assistant Headteacher of The Priory School, introduced the day by emphasising the importance of speaking about mental health, whether you are a student or teacher and Kate then followed on with an opening of what it means to be resilient as well as touching on 5 things to remember to be resilient:

1. Storms will always come - but it is about how you can get back up from these storms! Us humans have convinced ourselves that we cannot fail and perfection is something that has to be met as if we are super-humans with superpowers which is not true. For example, we feel as though we can only post selfies or pictures which show that we are happy and doing well but why is it not acceptable to share that maybe we are not okay sometimes?

2. Happiness isn't just a luck of the draw - 50% of your happiness can be your genes and personality etc but the other 50% is totally your choice - are you a pessimist or an optimistic? We all have  duty to learn how to be happy and how to manage our emotions but this can be difficult for us teenagers. The biggest lie your emotions will tell you is that you are not in control but YOU ARE IN CONTROL.

3. What really matters? - we can all feel under pressure about things that we think are important but realistically, they do not really matter such as Facebook or Instagram likes. It depends on what you decide to build your life on - people tend to think that perfectionism is associated with success and not struggles, if we built our lives on success, this would be known as flimsy resilience as success can go in a matter of minutes. Instead, build your life on knowing how valuable you, how loved you are and how significant you are - not on grades, money, success, beauty popularity etc.

4. Emotions and the Truth - emotions do not always tell us the truth, they are there to alert us and get our attention. We need to understand what our emotions are really telling us and not overthink it to be something worse.

5. Instincts are not always helpful - emotions set you up on what to feel and what to do as if there is something that we need to do in order to control something but sometimes we can be in situations where we have no control over it.

Session One: Understanding the Teenage Brain

I attended Dr Kate Middleton's talk about understanding the teenage brain and even I was truly amazed with what I learnt:

1. Emotions

• grabs our attention from something important which then results in physical changes as well as analytic thoughts
• attention can be brought by anxiety and anger which is strongly physical
• emotions are like striking a match - grabs your attention, can turn into a fire but eventually goes away
• due to the way teenage emotions develop, they can be easily triggered and hyper sensitive
• analytic brain is very active during teenage stage which triggers negative thoughts rather than positive
• teenagers brains are trained to focus on social life, friendships and romantic relationships
• adult brain = good at self regulation
• teenage brain = small things trigger mood, energetic and fun life, commonly known to get down and normal for mood to be up and down
• emotional hijack = reacting before you think

adult = green        teenager = red

2. Identity

• adults - have a sense of self and know who they are
• teenagers - do not understand themselves so the world revolves around them
• comparisons to others
• what do others think of me?
• more prone to feeling pressured by magazines etc about looks, body size 
• harder to get a realistic perspective of who you are

3. Self-Esteem

• grow up with a foundation of self-esteem
• as you grow up, you fill in the gaps on what others think of you
• you realise that everyone has a perspective of you which results in you questioning what you should be like

4. Relationships

• you come out of egocentric stage and start to recognise others more
• as you grow up, it is your duty to depend less of parents but more on peers 
• time you figure out your romantic self and sexuality
• Am i just friends with them or am I in love with them?

5. Risk Taking

• frontal lobe takes the longest to develop
• this part motivates you which is something teens always struggle with
• teens' brains are more prone to neuroactive substances such as alcohol and cigarettes

Session Two - Time to Change Strategies

This session with Lauren Steele, Jodie Goodacre and Tanne Spielman was such an insighful and real experience which I was able to relate to so I just want to give a huge thank you to you all on my blog - I am going to leave links below for all you beautifuls to check these beautiful people out.  Also, a shoutout to Time to Change which is an amazing organisation out there changing peoples' views on mental health, here is what they do:

• reduces stigma and discrimmination
• growing movement of people changing how we think and act about mental health
• using mental illness as adjectives can also been seen as stigmatising 

• celebrities who have spoken out about mental health: Zoella, ZAYN and Demi Lovato

Young people experience stigma from:

• friends (60%)
• family (50%)
• boyfriend/girlfriend (45%)
• teachers (43%)

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/health/i-just-sat-thinking-i-dont-belong-now-i-know-okay-not-okay/

https://www.justagirlinterrupted.com/ - Jodie's blog

https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/

After these sessions, I made my way around the carousel of organisations and was fortunate enough to speak to quite a few people about volunteering with charities etc.

The day ended with a Q&A Panel which was very helpful, touching on the topics of: males and mental health, sleep and making time for yourself and looking after yourself.

I hope to be back again next year and also to get involved a lot more with mental health awareness in the year coming!


I just wanted to give a little message out there to you beautifuls - please do not think that you are alone, please don't feel like you should be isolated or ashamed if you are struggling and please please please speak out and talk to someone.

It won't be easy by any means but I encourage you all to start up conversations about mental health as it is an increasing topic affecting many of you and if we all can help end the stigma and discrimination towards mental health then we could really be saving lives!

Stay kind to yourselves and stay kind to others.

I love you all lots,

sanz 

🖤

My Blog/YouTube Story | start of sanz.shares

Hey beautifuls!

It seems so weird to think that I started up this blog over a year ago and the things that I have achieved from it is something I will forever be proud of. Never did I think that starting up a blog would lead me to become the person I have today; I cannot explain how happy I am that I started this journey. I just want to thank you all beautifuls for the support, love and encouragement you have given me so far and I hope this continues.

So Saturday 3rd January 2015. That's when it all started.

To be completely honest, I had no clue what I was doing. I just knew that I wanted to get onto a platform where I could be myself, share my thoughts and interests; maybe even help my readers. I like to think that I have inspired some of you in the last year, whether that be through my blog or YouTube videos. I taught myself through watching YouTube videos on how to get started on a blog which was extremely helpful. (If you would like me to blog about this further, please do let me know.) I wanted to make it as original as possible, but I am thinking of making a few changes, what do you think?

Originally, this blog was meant to be purely beauty, fashion and lifestyle based, however as you guys can tell - I have slightly broadened the topics I write about as my interests have increased. At the moment I think that my blog has been very focused on mental health which is amazing because I am so passionate about it, however I don't want to be neglecting the beauty side of me. I hope to keep consistent and balanced in what content I create for you beautifuls.

I started vlogging on Snapchat in February 2015 which was a massive step for me because it was completely out of my comfort zone. I am so glad I started that; otherwise I would not have had my YouTube channel or the confidence to create video content for you all.

My YouTube is at the very first stage and is fairly small in terms of audience and being known, but I am very excited and determined to keep it going. As I am still studying, I find that it is difficult to balance my studies with my blog and YouTube but hopefully I can work on consistency.

If you have any questions then please do contact me; either by commenting on this post, using the contact form or messaging me on Instagram or Snapchat!

Remember to have faith beautifuls, I love you lots,

Sanz xo

Finding Myself | selfharmUK

Hey beautifuls!

...

Imagine being so confused with yourself to the point where you can't even recognise who you are anymore; well that was me roughly two years ago.

I was diagnosed with severe depression in January 2015 when I was fifteen years old, at this time I was referred to CAMHS where I had regular therapy sessions since until October 2016. I have been discharged from the services, however in the past two years I had an incredibly difficult time in living my life as the thoughts of worthlessness and uselessness overwhelmed the positivity that I once had. Fortunately I have regained my usual self through therapy as well as medication which I was put on in December 2015 as this was known to be a better route for me. I went through more than 3 suicide attempts and I am near to 11 months clean from self harm which is such a proud achievement for me.  

I can honestly say that, I would never wish any of the experiences I went through on anybody at all because feeling like you want to leave the world is such a horrible feeling and us teenagers should not be thinking such a thought when we have our whole life ahead of us. The same goes for anybody of any age group as everybody has a purpose, whether you can see it yourself or not. This is why mental health awareness is vital and too important to ignore. Since my diagnosis, I have learnt so much about mental health and this has added to my passion about mental health and getting people to start talking about this topic rather than viewing it as a weakness and a taboo thing to talk about. It is my mission to do my best in raising awareness to mental health as it certainly does not get the attention that it should do. I raise awareness through my blog, YouTube Channel, Instagram, Twitter and my Snapchat Vlogs.

Currently, I am at Sixth Form studying Art, Sociology and Philosophy & Ethics and I am absolutely loving Sixth Form life! As well as studying my A Levels, I am beginning an Art Therapy group for the younger students at my school, I have a YouTube Channel, a blog of course, I have started doing freelance makeup artistry as I have a passion for beauty as well and I also attend blogging events and meetings.

I have huge plans for my future which I did not think I would have as I honestly did not think I would get this far in life but I have, which is saying something – if I can then anybody can! I want to become an Art Therapist as well as continuing my blog and YouTube Channel. I want to make a difference and I want to inspire, those are my main goals.

Mental health is like physical illness, how long will it take for people to realise this?

...

This blog post of mine was written for a mental health organisation called selfharmUK; they are a group who share the help that can be given to those who suffer from mental health and self harm. Please do visit their website:

https://www.selfharm.co.uk/

https://www.selfharm.co.uk/blog/finding-myself

Remember to always have faith beautifuls, I love you lots.

Sanyha xo

Understand,Implement and Prevent | #TPSmentalhealth

Hey beautifuls!

On Friday 7th October, I had the pleasure of attending the Well Being and Mental Health Conference at The Priory School in Hitchin - the first ever UK schools' conference about mental health. I am honestly honoured to say that I was a part of that conference as it is the start of something amazing in my eyes. It is evident that mental health has been brought to attention to many people hence the many charities and funds out there to help those who are suffering in silence or with diagnosed disorders. However, I am 100% sure that there is not enough attention towards mental health at all due to the sigma attached - this is something I raised an understanding of, previously in the year on Time to Talk Day.

The day consisted of various workshop sessions throughout the day as well as a few talks and prize givings. As well as this, there were many organisations who had come to present beautiful stalls and to talk about what their charity or fund was based on. These organisations were the following:

• CAMHS
• Time to Change
• Youth Connexions
• KOOTH
• Be Who You Dare
• LGBTQ+ 
• Alumina

Plus many more which will be shown in my YouTube vlog of this event.

The workshop sessions that were taking place, included:

• Suicide Prevention
• Self-Harm
• Yoga
• 5 Things to WellBeing
• Well Being Forum
• LGBTQ+
• Time to Talk
• Drama/Art Therapy

Out of these, I was elected to take part in the Yoga, Drama/Art Therapy and Well Being Forum sessions which were all incredible and I had the chance to speak to many other students who were passionate about this topic. 

Yoga

Before this session, I had never actually taken part in a yoga session but I can tell you now that I really really enjoyed it. After experiencing the hardest times in my mental illness journey, I considered taking part in Yoga classes to help relief stress instead of resorting to harming myself. Although, I did not get round to starting this, I believe it is not too late so hopefully I can fit this into my weekly routine soon and I recommend you do also! In the small amount of time I had, I was still able to come out of the gym in such a relaxed mood than I first walked in with. 

People tend to think that Yoga is only for girls but in fact, the yoga teacher from the conference has more male students than female which surprised many people in the room. Not only does Yoga relax you, but it also teaches you resilience as some of the postures may be very difficult to hold.

I have definitely learnt a lot about Yoga which I didn't think I would before attending the session.

Give it a try - you might like it!

Drama/Art Therapy

I was extremely excited about taking part in this activity as some of you know that I am aspiring to become an Art Therapist in the future. During this time, we created our own creature using plasticine and then we made a story board about this creature of ours which included: the home, its purpose, a problem it faced, who helped the problem and the outcome of the help. Soon after we got into the activity, everybody started to recognise that their was a pattern in all of our stories as it turned out to reflect our own personal lives and experiences.

I found this session really interesting and I hope to implement this into plans for my school as it clearly does make a difference to people, whether these therapeutic sessions are through art, music, drama or even dance.

Well Being Forum

In this session, we did a lot of discussing about how we can improve the awareness of mental health in schools and what we can place in our own schools that can really helpful. Personally I think this workshop was a great one to end with as it gave my group so much motivation and inspiration to get started on our action plans which we cannot wait to start. 

As well as the different stalls and the various sessions, we had a few speakers being the Assistant Head of The Priory School in Hitchin, Jim McManus and Steve Mallon. All of the speakers were amazing but to me, Steve stood out the most as his talk was very hard hitting. I won't be going into detail, but his son killed himself a few weeks after his 18th birthday and 6 weeks after his got accepted at Cambridge University, this led Steve to start up a mental health charity - the way he speaks is so captivating and I am glad he was able to attend the conference. 

This event has really inspired me to take more action in raising awareness because we cannot just sit back and do nothing - that would be the worst thing we could do. So please, I ask you to share this if you can, not for me but for everybody else out there because you may be helping to the extend of saving a life by letting people know its okay to speak up. Tweet, snap, instagram or even just spread the word by talking about mental health because I believe that we can really make a difference as it is possible if we get people on board!

I hope to continue to do my part in helping as much as I can and don't forget that you can email, tweet, snapchat or even DM me on Instagram for any queries or suggestions. 

Remember to have faith beautifuls, I love you lots,

Sanyha xo

BLOGGERS FESTIVAL!

Hey beautifuls!

So it has been a while hasn't it? I just want to start by apologising for the lack of blog posts over the last couple of months as I have been focusing on the start of my YouTube - which thankfully, is going really well for a beginner. Also, now that I have started Sixth Form and my summer is over (unfortunately), my blog posts' timetable may not be consistent which I apologise for in advance. I do know that I have been slacking in terms of this for a while but as I have said from the beginning, this is all a hobby, for now at least. When I can, I will create content for you of course, as I love doing so.

Putting that aside, lets talk about the Bloggers Festival!

Outside of the Conrad St. James Hotel - venue of the Bloggers Festival event

Eve at the St.James park

So on Saturday 3rd September, my friend Eve and I went into London, St, James' Park for the Bloggers Festival that is run by Scarlett London. This is the first blogging event that Eve and I have attended; we absolutely loved it, we met so many love and beautiful people at the event who I have still kept in touch with. The event allowed a variety of different bloggers to come together and network as well as finding out about new brands to review etc.

Eve and I in front of the flower wall that every blogger was obsessed with! It was beautiful, so I don't blame them.

Goody bags, sweets and free drinks were provided at the event which was lovely next to the flower wall at the reception - where the photographer took photos of us, which reminds me that I need to try to get hold of those soon.

The venue was so posh and beautiful which I was very impressed and happy about as my YouTube filming had pretty views included. Although the hotel was very posh, the event was quite relaxed and informal which Eve and I both loved as it made us feel welcome and comfortable. One thing I loved about the event is that all the bloggers treated everybody with the same amount of respect despite the different levels and abilities we were in.

THE PRODUCTS

I received so many impressive products during the event which I was so excited about so I could try them all out. I haven't had a chance to try out all of the products yet but I am very happy about the ones I have used so far like the PNY re-chargeable power pack and the Beverly Hills Formula charcoal toothpaste - yes I know, charcoal! Hopefully I can review all of the products in detail soon but please be sure to check out their websites and social media as the products are gorgeous - I highly recommend the charcoal toothpaste by the way aha!

Beverly Hills Formula

Beverly Hills Formula toothpastes and toothbrush - cannot stress how much I am loving this

7th Heaven facial masks

7th Heaven is a brand that I have used a numerous amount of times in the past and I find their masks so amazing, effective and worthy as you can make a good couple of uses out of one packet. Unfortunately I have not been able to try all the different types from this range yet, but I cannot wait to try them out and tell you all what I think!

7th Heaven

7th Heaven hair mask 

I have never ever used a hair mask in my life so I am so eager to try this 7th Heaven one out, especially as I have heard how good argan oil is for your hair.

Argan Oil

I have been meaning to try out Argan Oil on my hair for so long now and now I can finally try it out and let you guys know what I think about it - I have heard so many amazing things about this!

PNY powerpack

The PNY powerpack has impressed many of the bloggers that I met at the event and I have been hearing lots about it so I am glad that I have got it as I am always using my phone for things.

PNY

Lip treatment for cold sores

I personally don't suffer from cold sores but I think its great that they have made and promoted these products as cold sores can be very common - I know a few people who get them and it can be very annoying.

Lipivir

Friction Free Shaving 

Friction Free Shaving provides a razor holder and four razor blades, one for each week of the month. I believe it is £7 a month for the most expensive and roughly £3 as the cheapest a month. I fell into a conversation where the lovely lady from the brand mentioned that they are coming out with a female shaving cream as we don't see many in stores, however there are plenty for men.

Friction Free Shaving

OOTD: plain white long sleeve t-shirt from Primark, light blue denim jeans from H&M, grey full length chiffon cloak from Selection at a London market plus black heels from new look

I definitely want to go back next summer and I hope to meet many more gorgeous bloggers! By the time you are reading this, there should be a YouTube vlog up of the event on my channel so please do check it out, share, like and comment, also subscribe if you haven't already for more videos.

My YouTube Channel

I hope you've enjoyed and maybe you would like to try out some of these products?

I love you all beautifuls,

Sanyha xo

Hyde Park Photoshoot

Hey beautifuls!

A couple of weeks ago, I went into London with my friend Trinity (some of you may have heard of her from my snapchat vlogs - sanyhaax). It was a beautiful day which consisted of makeup shopping of course and also a small photoshoot session at Hyde Park.

It being my first time at Hyde Park, I was extremely pumped to see the views and take in the surrounding. The photoshoot was not planned at all but I thought it was a great place to take some interesting shoots once I had arrived. If you follow me on Instagram (@sanz.shares) you will have noticed a few of these shots that were taken as I had posted them.

Hyde Park was not too busy at all when Trinity and I were there which meant that the emptiness of the park made the photos present a specific vibe that I was looking for - the idea of thinking and looking into the future as well as being in an individual zone of my own.

I don't take part in photoshoots often and I am certainly not amazing at it but I love the idea that photography can portray thoughts and feelings as well as a message. I hope to take part in more shoots in the future whether this is with my friends or a professional. Me being a very emotional and heart felt person as you all know from my vlogs and my art work too, I would love to plan shoots where others can take something from it or even find memorising by interpreting it themselves.

This post is purely just to share with you guys the photos that Trinity took of me - inspiration can be taken from this but I would also appreciate some feedback or suggestions for future shoots.

Also beautifuls, don't forget to check out my first YouTube video - the link is on my Instagram bio.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. (These photos were taken for fun, not for any sort of professional photoshoot)

I love you all, 

Sanyha xo

I am starting YouTube!

Hey beautifuls!

I HAVE FINALLY GOT A YOUTUBE CHANNEL! (Well, two YouTube channels)

I am so excited to announce that I will be starting YouTube this summer and videos will be uploaded from July onwards, InShaaAllah. I thought I would create a post to let you all know a little bit about my YouTube channels beforehand so you know what to expect.

I have two channels up: sanz.shares (main channel) and sanz.sharesvlogs (vlog channel). Hopefully I will be able to upload a video on each channel a week, however I do apologise in advance if there are any delays on video uploads, as I am not quite sure how the beginning of my channel will proceed. A main channel video will be up every Wednesday and a weekly vlog will be posted on a Sunday on my vlogging channel. (These are also the days I will be uploading blog posts)

Main Channel

My main channel will be beauty and lifestyle based, however I feel as though I will also cover various areas such as mental health and YouTube tags.

Here are a list of a few types of videos that will be uploaded on the sanz.shares channel:

• makeup tutorials
• hijab tutorials
• product reviews
• tags/challenges
• topic based discussions

Vlogging Channel

I have been eager to start up a vlogging channel for a while now and I thought it would be very convenient as it is the next step from my snapchat vlogging which I started at the beginning of 2016. I have decided to upload a weekly vlog instead of going through with daily vlogging as I believe it is a good starting point for me - being a YouTube beginner.
I hope to share with you beautifuls what I get up to during my summer holidays and through into my sixth form life.

Why YouTube?

The main purpose of both of my YouTube channels is to help my beautiful people out there. Honestly, if I am able to have a positive effect on a single person through my videos, that is more than enough for me. I hope to inspire, help, motivate and bring a joyful vibe to anybody who watches my future videos on YouTube.
I have always been afraid to follow my dreams and go ahead with what I want to do rather than what other people have told me to do. Self belief was not even in the picture. But I can do it. I know I can do it. I am doing this for me but not just for me, for all of you also.
Growing up I was always a shy and quiet girl who was too afraid to put her ideas across just in case she was to be judged for it. I feel as though YouTube will allow me to be myself and find that confidence to share my ideas and thoughts just like my blog has - it can be my comfort zone, and if that means inspiring people out there then what a bonus right?

I want to thank my beautifuls because I would not be at this stage if it was not for you all. You guys inspired me to go ahead with these YouTube channels as well as my YouTuber idols. I hope that you guys can continue to support me through the sanz.shares journey - once again, I am extremely grateful.

Be sure to contact me for any video suggestions.

First YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78oZS5Hvhz8



Remember to have faith beautifuls, in everything you do no matter how small it is. I love you all.



Sanyha xo

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