How the power of play is so impactful on young people

Hello everyone! Hope you've all had a good August, I know I have!

I say that, as I was working during the weekday for 3 weeks from the 28th of July - the 19th of August. Not to mention that I got to enjoy myself doing other things over the weekends in between as well. I even had a an enjoyable holiday from the 20th and only got back home yesterday (the 28th).

Since I have downtime for most of today, I thought I'd do a post on here which is inspired by the Challengers' Impact Report of 2025. Especially how my life involves that place at the moment. It will mainly consist of how play is so vitally important to help young people with various disabilities navigate the world.

One of the core values at Challengers, is to NEVER exclude anyone regardless of how complex their needs are. This is done to ensure that they all fit, as well as interact with every other young person on scheme who all have similar needs to them.

Now, let's talk about inclusivity... What do we do at Challengers to ensure every young person feels included on scheme? The answer couldn't be much simpler, we provide a range of activities which are all accessible to suite every young person's need. Even if the activities are not accessible to some young people at first, we will always make every effort to make them accessible to those young people.

This also leads me to the next rhetorical question... How do all of the staff at Challengers let the young people have fun playing on scheme? We (as staff members) undergo regular safeguarding, first aid & crisis drills training to ensure every young person who comes on scheme is in safe hands & well looked after. To this extent, we get visits from Ofsted to check we meet the safeguarding needs that Challengers provides to young people.

And the big rhetorical question... Why are both of these things blended together so vitally important for young people to play on scheme? This is because we are dedicated to bringing laughter & smiles out of these young people despite the challenging behaviour that they present us with. Although in all of the schemes I've worked in, it's some more than others. Allowing challenging young people to play really helps them to become more happier, and they can demonstrate that (verbally or not) by interacting with us, as they rarely get so much of that much needed intensive interaction elsewhere. Some young people are even aware of how well we look after their medical needs, as we will always welcome them with warm arms into our schemes where no other place would due to how complex their medical or behaviour needs are.

To see the evidence for yourselves, I have attached the Impact Report of 2025: https://disability-challengers.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Challengers-Impact-Report-2024-25.pdf

*I began this post on the 29/8, but didn't finish it until the 30/8*

The power of picking yourself back up after being knocked down

Hello all, I know I'm not active on here as much as I used to be anymore, but I wanted to come on here and reflect on how I've been feeling all week. 

Let's just say, I've not had the best of weeks. Although it had actually been that way from Tuesday onwards.

My outcome for this post, is that I can talk about what had made me how I have felt from Tuesday - Today, as well as use this feeling as a learning curb. The joined purpose of this post, is to inspire other people who may be reading this post to do the same if they happen to experience a similar week to mine.

It had all started after Monday, where I needed to attend a special training course in order to start my new promotion at work. I felt like at the time: "It's just a course where I just have to sit and pay close attention to everything that has been said." "It'll be as easy as pie." However, it wasn't like that at all...

Especially at the end of it, where there was a sudden assessment to undertake. I just dived into it head first, thinking that I can whizz through it without any problems. I didn't end up finishing it. And as a unfortunate result, I was told by my supervisor not to return to work until I redo & pass the training course.

After receiving that news on Tuesday, I felt a sudden loss with what to do with myself from that point going forwards. I was like my mind had suddenly gotten lost in a maze, and cannot seem to think of a way out of it. That feeling ended up sticking around for the remainder of the week.

Luckily for me, I understood the psychology behind my feeling, so I figured that there was no point of feeling lost all of the time until I can return to work. For 1, life is too short to feel this way all of the time. Secondly, this gives me a chance to do more things that I want to do. With that said, I am planning on doing something which shall keep me occupied throughout the whole of next month. That will be for another post.

What have I learned from this? I have learned that doing things (or will be doing) that I enjoy doing helps to distract me from the reality of my situation.

*I had began this post on the 22/6/24, but didn't finish it until the 24/6/24*

Just a little something for #WorldMentalHealthDay

Hello peeps, hope you've all been healthy and well recently, especially on a day like today. Why? Because today (10/10) is World Mental Health Day.

Why the occasion? As mental heath can impact one on a day-to-day basis, without even acknowledging that it's even playing inside your mind at all. With that said, you could say it's like living with a demon inside your mind, which somehow got trapped in there and can't get out - Making people feel down.

This is why I feel like talking about the reality of how Mental Health works and why, so I can ensure people that they are not alone in relations to this.

Now, in case if you're new and not aware, I have always had an interest with how different minds work and why they work the way they do, hence I became hooked onto psychology. However, when I was much younger, (probably up until 15) I didn't even know the term was called psychology. I actually got hooked onto it when I was 17.

 

DEAR SELF... 

You are absolutely bloody amazing of who you are and what you've become. Your Mental Health is just there to sometimes tell you that you're not good enough, therefore, making you feel anxious and miserable all the time. Never let it define you as a person.

However, the reality is you are smart enough to know that these thoughts are just lies to make you feel guilty.

You have many people that care about you, to ensure you are doing alright. Always check on them back to repay the same human kindness.

You know you're exceeding in life, as you have a planned future ahead of you. Just keep yourself focused by constantly finding that self-motivation you've never had before.

Knowledge the fact some people like to put you down, as they have no understanding of the impact of Mental Health. In this case, YOU are your only limit to success.

Cherish every loving moment with friends/family or even if it's on your own, as it can may well have a good reflect on your life, as well as Mental Health.

Never, ever, EVER feel like you can't interact with anyone, just because your demon thoughts are taking over your mind. Talking will always be the solid reason why people feel motivated the way they do. You'll never know... it could may even save somebody's life.💜💜💜

What is beneficial about "Looking forwards in life"?

I'm back!😁 

Yes, I purposely took a long and fore filling break, because A: I've been on holiday recently. B: I've been having trouble with what to talk about. This is why taking this lengthily break helped me to cook up new ideas for some upcoming posts...

In this case, this one is related to our defeat against the Italians 2 Sundays ago. I will admit, when we lost, I felt the tears running around in my head and they were screaming to be let out by me, as I was so whelmed up by everything that's happened during the whole game. In the end, I realized that it was only best to reflect on the team's journey during this tournament and looking forward in life. (Explanation coming up)

 

Fun fact: This is a popular quote which can be explained in many different ways!

What does this quote mean?

It means, that you acknowledge something great is eventually going to happen to you in life, but in order to achieve that greatness, you HAVE to keep looking forwards at your future and not think too much about what happened in your past, as you cannot change it.

What is beneficial about this quote and why?

If you keep reading this quote over and over again, your mind will eventually become so hyper focused on working on your plans and goals for your future.

Don't get me wrong, it is always a good thing to reflect on your life journey, as well as your past achievements, (if necessary) to help give your mindset some ideas on how to succeed for next time and do better than ever.

Furthermore, never forget about all of the obstacles you had to face and what you had to do to progress through them, as they will always be a useful reminder of your mindset tactics in favour of your success. 

What are the best examples to use and why?

One of them being what I was talking about previously. The England V Italy game. I can sense the players' heartbreak and frustration on how they succeeded in every game right up until the final, when the players got tired and were struggling to keep up. 

During their loss at the end of the game, they had the whole night to pause and reflect on their journey and how they can improve for next time. As this reflecting moment was showing on live TV, I can imagine the teary reaction of everyone else watching, as they can feel the players' emotions when THEY show them after their team lost. It was so powerful.

This is where they start talking on their social media platforms, that they were extremely proud of their tournament journey, their teammates and their support. In which, will help encourage them to look forwards to their next journey in life.

That's all for this post.

Thank you for taking your time to read through. Please feel free to let me know what your thoughts are in the comments or in person. Have a good evening!

   

"Show up!" Motivational Quotes

Hey everyone, I hope you're all having a good week thus far. Especially now the Euro 2020 has now begun recently, and I'm happy that England have won their first game. Hopefully, we'll be able to make it past the group stages!

I feel like I need to address my readers with more verbal motivational content, well... look no further!

What does the expression "Show up" mean?

It means you MUST make an effort to attend every single thing, regardless of how you are feeling. For example: Running classes

• When you are feeling too tired to go to class - SHOW UP!
• 
  
• When you lack confidence about performing on stage - SHOW UP!

• When you feel nervous about walking into a huge room with 50 people - SHOW UP! 
• When you don't feel like exercising when you have to - SHOW UP!
• 
  
• When you have to face your fears - SHOW UP!
• 
  
• When you attempt at trying something new and don't succeed - SHOW UP!
• 
  
• When you get humiliated by failing at something and wish to quit - SHOW UP!

My advice to you all: Whenever you have a bad day and you feel like you can't do anything, READ THESE QUOTES OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Make sure you have a long hard think whilst you read them, as they will help to get your mind motivated with whatever it is you will eventually be facing.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading through and please feel free to let me know about what you guys think.

Remember to keep following this blog and I'll be back soon!

The definition of "Your mind is a magnet"

Hello one and all! I know it's been a while since I was last active on here, this was due to me working throughout half term, so I didn't have much time to maintain my focus on my site...😔

However, I finally once again have some free time to kill, so I can continue with my blogging!😁

I shall be talking about the used expression "Your mind is a magnet"

What does this expression mean?

It means that your mind has the capacity of attracting positive thoughts and negative thoughts.

How does this expression work?

First of, try and imagine that your mind is a magnet. You could either think about positive thoughts or negative thoughts.

What does it do to you?

Word of warning and foremost, when you choose to think about either one of these thoughts, they keep on coming into your mind like a travelator, which therefore, will be stuck in your mind like glue.

When you choose to attract positive thoughts into your mind, they will help to boost your mood in full-on happy mode for a long lengthly period of time. But if you choose to attract negative thoughts into your mind, they will only decrease your mood by making you miserable. 

Conclusion: When you are alone, be careful with your thoughts. (Psychological fact)

Thank you for reading through this post, please feel free to let me know about what you think in the comments or tell me in person.

Goodbye for now!

How does your mind play tricks on you and how can you deal with it?

Ello all, I hope you're all enjoying your week so far... For me, I had a great day at College yesterday, and I did some Maths revision this morning. (Just in case I need to retake my final exam the following month)

In this post, I will be highlighting all of the ways that your mind plays tricks on you... as well as the best ways of how to overcome them.

Remember: 

YOU are capable of being your own worst enemy, so always be careful with what you think about.

Keep repeating those words.

Example 1:

You are at home currently doing some English revision, when all of a sudden... you begin to struggle with how to answer one particular question and your thoughts have gone all "blank" as you cannot think about anything at all.

At this stage, your mind starts playing tricks on you by muttering these kind of words: "You'll never do it, so just give up now" "I'm such a disappointment" "I will always be stupid, because my friends can do these easily but I can't"

One way of managing these mind tricks, is by memorizing all of your previous achievements when doing revision tasks, as they will help encourage you find the success in completing them, Another good way is just to simply take a break, so your brain will be able to recharge its batteries in order to help you think better.

(These are all of the things I do, when I experience these problems whilst doing revision - They really help!)

Example 2:

You are on your own somewhere, with no one else around in sight, (let's say in your bedroom) then out of the blue... you start to feel angry about something you did in the past or even just recently which you were not proud of.

Again, your mind starts playing tricks on you, however this time, you experience something called: "self confrontation" which means, you say bad things to yourself in order to make you feel bad or imagining yourself saying these bad things to another person and imagining THEIR anger. This is where you unnecessarily compare yourself to somebody else, as your "self confrontational" mind tricks have now built up your intensity level to no longer think straight.

The best and foremost way of handling it, is to break the habit of comparing yourself to other people and not dwelling about your past, so you will be able to ensure yourself to keep on pushing through with your life no matter what. Although, using "self confrontation" may actually be a good thing for you, as it helps to practise test the mental strength of your own mind, so when someone starts having a go at you, you'll be able to soak up their negative words like a sponge by doing all of that practise.

(Believe you me, this is something which I do almost on a daily basis! And it works a treat in reality!)

Thank you ever so much for taking your time to read through this long post. Please do feel free to comment or message me in person about a similar experience you may haver had before.😊

But just before I end this post, I thought about sharing one of my favourite songs with the above title. 

*Warning, this song contains explicit words* 

 

  

 

You are blessed because...

Just a quickie, but the title says it all.

My main objective of this post, is to spread the message, and make people feel better when they're feeling down in the dumps. This is what is known as: "Common decency"

 

To all of my readers out there...

• You are blessed because... You have a loving family.
• You are blessed because... You have a roof under your head.
• You are blessed because... You have friends that look out for you.
• You are blessed because... You have education.
• You are blessed because... You have food and drink.
• You are blessed because... You can achieve anything you want.
• You are blessed because... You have feelings.
• You are blessed because... You are a human being.
• You are blessed because... You have clothes to wear.
• You are blessed because... You have entertainment around you.
• You are blessed because... You have many places to visit.
• You are blessed because... You are able to make decisions in your life.
• You are blessed because... You can NEVER be too old to do something.
• You are blessed because... You realise that happiness is your top priority.
• You are blessed because... You have so much talent.
• You are blessed because... You are kept healthy and well by the NHS worldwide.

I hope this post will bring a ray of sunshine to everyone's day and I shall see you all very soon!💞 

"NO EXCUSES" - Best Motivational Video By Ben Lionel Scott

Hey all, I hope you're all having a good weekend. Today, I'm feeling very generous about sharing my recent watched motivational video with you all.😊

*TOP TIP: When you watch the video, pay very close attention to the narration of how everything is being said, as this helps to capture the audience's attention and imagination*

So, sit back, get those eyes at the ready and enjoy!

Also, check out: @BENLIONELSCOTT on Instagram for more of his inspiring content!

My useful advice for blocking out negativity

Hi all, I hope everyone is well and happy, and I am very pleased to announce that I have now finished all of my Maths exams! Woohoo!🎉 This means, I now have more free time on my hands, meaning, I can start posting more regularly again.

As the above title says, I would like to advise everyone out there in the world, that negativity is just words that come out of people's mouths. Yes, I know it does sound blunt, but this is how I personally choose to see it. In addition, I am secretly hoping that everybody else would agree with me on this opinion.

 

Here are the bulleted points on the various ways of how you can block out the different types of negativity:

• Jealously - When someone happens to say mean things about you for no reason, it means they are annoyed, because they haven't got your kind and caring qualities, in which, they enjoy putting other people down to their poor standards. Give them a sarcastic laugh and say "Hehe, that is SO funny." This shows you don't care about their negativity.

• Criticism - You begin to realize that somebody or more, is constantly targeting you with verbal abuse, as they do it for their own personal entertainment. If it gets too much to handle, talk about it to friends or family who will help you to stand up to them, by saying "What's your problem?" This should make them go silent. 

That's all I have for today. Thank you for reading through and please feel free to tell me your thoughts on this topic, even if you would like to share about a similar experience you may have had.

See you all soon!

 

My favourite life quotes

I thought about doing something relatively different for this kind of post; Since I personally think that everyone needs a fairly decent amount of hope from time to time. Which is why the above title explains my chosen topic.

*This is something which I very much struggle with already, and talking about it really does help*

 

*I also strongly advise everyone else to do the same, as one of my goals for this blog, is to encourage people to discuss their inner feelings more openly to a wider audience, so that they don't feel 'alone' by thinking they're the only ones who suffer from their demon thoughts*

 

(Courtesy of: https://www.facebook.com/officialknowledgeispower/)

10 steps to a positive body image

This is an interesting topic of conversation, in which, I came across recently. (Courtesy of my College)

I personally feel like we need to be spreading these messages out more to the world, as there still could be THOUSANDS of people putting themselves down due to their dissatisfaction of their body image. It is deeply important to justify that we are human and we can only function with positive energy. 

Take a look for yourself and have a good long reflect.

  

Just remember - You are ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT regardless of who you are, what you do and whatever you're background is.✊

I rest my case.