tiegan lucy: reading

After reading Lauren's first book 'What would the Spice Girls do?' I deeply and all at once fell in love with her writing. Immediately after reading her book I started following her on Instagram, which is where I learned she had decided to give up fast fashion. I was interested in her decision to do this in today's society where influencer culture and clothing in the media is more dominating than ever before – especially for young women of her age. It didn’t come as a surprise to me (but a great excitement nonetheless) when she announced she was writing and releasing her newest book ‘How to Break Up with Fast Fashion’. I didn’t hesitate to pre-order it and began counting down the days until I could absorb all her reasoning and research behind the huge lifestyle change that she’d undertaken.

In the anticipation of this book, I became slightly worried. I was worried that as Lauren’s Instagram stories all seemed to be her in beautiful preowned clothing, or her seeming to constantly be in local charity shops in London, that the book would be strict and take a ‘holier-than-thou’ approach. I was worried that stepping away from fast fashion just wouldn’t be something I could do successfully and that by reading the book I would feel like an awful person - because just think of the helpless poverty-ridden children and the poor planet I’m destroying, HOW COULD I BE SO SELFISH!. Thankfully, (and I should’ve known this by how kind and approachable Lauren has been on direct messages to me), the book followed the same nature as her; understanding, informative, light-hearted and comical. It teaches you how to make you love your own wardrobe, how to get stains out of clothes you own instead of binning them, and how to mend broken items without replacing them. And it doesn't fall short of a pop culture reference or a Friends quote here and there.

The aspect I love most of all about this book is that it manages to have the tone of education and explanation, but without feeling like an essential university reading that you can’t wait to be over. It can be enlightening without feeling like an elderly grandparent going on at you about how much more sustainable they were at your age… *insert ‘back in my day’ quote here*. It doesn’t feel like a pestering ringing in your ears telling you how you are singlehandedly killing polar bears and should be ashamed of yourself. Instead, it tells us why we are all terrible (but in a nice way). Lauren admits to her own flaws in terms of sustainability and tells of how her old self used fast fashion as a way to make herself feel better, but actually, it ended up making herself feel worse. Ring any bells? I certainly relate.

Lauren has helped me realise small things I can do to become more sustainable around clothing. I’m not going to go out and suddenly buy all my clothes from charity shops, but I will gradually change my lifestyle to benefit the world around me. I’ll wash my clothes at 30 degrees or below because that’s all they need. I’ll continue to donate my used clothes to charity shops, and if they don’t accept them, I’ll recycle them. I’ll stop buying as many new clothing items as I have in the past (it’ll help the bank out too). Instead of spending hours trawling through ASOS or PLT, maybe I’ll take a look at a sustainable fashion website.

Overall, Lauren’s book has taught me so many little ways I can improve my shopping habits, without having to go cold turkey on buying clothes. If you want to learn more about the fast fashion industry, its negative implications, and how to stop it creating the huge clothing waste problem that it is, then READ LAUREN’S BOOK. Also, if you’re curious as to how sustainable you currently are, you should follow this link and take the quiz. This could be a useful way to track your improvement if you take any of Lauren’s advice https://www.thredup.com/fashionfootprint/. And remember: if you wouldn't wear it thirty times, or can't think of at least three things you already own that you could wear with it, don't buy it.

January 20, 2020 No comments

I can honestly say that reading this book was a pivotal moment in my life. It came through my door on an afternoon in February, the day it was published, which was coincidently World Book Day. I read it cover to cover that same afternoon. It was the first book I’d read of it’s kind and since that day my outlook on the whole grey area of Sex and Relationships Education has been changed forever. It was that day that I decided I wanted to strive to make a difference in this sector to help Sex Education be more inclusive and accessible to everyone. It’s a human right to understand our own bodies.

The Introduction and first chapter ‘A Sex Re-Education’ thoroughly shocked me and the cogs started turning. I was reminiscing my own Sex Education and realising that I was incorrect in thinking that due to being educated in the noughties that I’d be fully clued up on this topic. Surely in this day and age, I should’ve been taught all there is to know about my body? Right? Wrong.

There was so much information I had been deprived of. The Eve Appeal did a study in 2016 where 1,000 adult British women were asked to name female genitalia. Hundreds of them failed to the point where a staggering 60% were unable to identify their vulva. This statistic stuck out in my brain like a sore thumb and to this day I still haven’t been able to shake it. I was one of those women who couldn’t identify my own basic anatomy. I felt that I’d been done a massive disservice by the education system and by women-hood as a whole.

Sex education has not been working. Statistics back this statement up. As a society, we are too scared to teach people about one of the utmost important things to the human race. In science, sex is taught in terms of reproduction, purely to reproduce and create another generation. It’s a scientific approach. In PSHE it’s taught in terms of consent and safety. When will we teach teenagers about the pleasurable and fascinating side of our bodies? And what about the parts of the female body that aren’t directly for reproducing but still affect us on a monthly basis?

Lynn discusses in detail The Facts, The Hymen, The Clitoris, The Orgasm, Appearances, Periods, Pain, Fertility, Pregnancy and Menopause. So many of these essential topics are missing from the Sex Education curriculum, and there I could finally see it right in front of me. ‘The clitoris has been unmentioned, overlooked and deleted’ teachers won’t talk about it for fear of being inappropriate. Girls all over the world have their first period and don’t know what it is. Many women have never orgasmed. FGM (female genital mutilation) is more common than you’d like to believe. The hymen is seen as a symbol of virginity, but it’s not a ‘covering’ made to be broken on the first penetration. In fact, it’s not a covering at all. Women and men experience an ‘orgasm gap’ of 95% of straight men surveyed saying they usually always orgasm from sex compared to only 65% of straight women. The list of simple human biology we are unaware and uneducated about goes on and on.

I’ve learnt so much since picking this book up. I’ve now read an abundance of books about women’s health and I can confirm that women’s bodies are incredible. Reading this book has led me to become the Social Media Designer for my university’s Sexpression Society. I post on all our social platforms, educating about Sex and Relationships. We all deserve to know the truth about our bodies. I would recommend this book to anyone, men included, to educate yourself on the phenomenal things the female body can do.

And finally, food for thought, I’ll leave you with this: if you truly think that Sex Education has been equally based on women as it has on men, I challenge you to draw and label as many parts of the penis as you can. And then do this again for a vulva. I can assure you the results will be far from equal.

August 29, 2019 3 comments

Last April I went into this book completely blind as to who this 'Dolly Alderton' woman even was and why her new memoir 'Everything I Know About Love' was being so wildly raved about all over my Instagram. I did the classic cliché we're constantly told we should never do. I bought the book due to its front cover.

From page one I was absolutely engulfed in nostalgia. Regardless that I grew up a decade later than Dolly, I still resonated with the culture of MSN which included logging off and back on to get the attention of the boy you fancy. She goes on and within the book grows up to tell anecdotes of her crazy university years, which are far from what mine are panning out like at current. Dolly attended Exeter University, which I had down as my insurance choice for university, and I have to admit at the open days I attended I never imagined it would be capable to accommodate such rebellion within its quaint campus and countryside feel. This is the part of the book where Dolly starts to engage in meaningless flings that she believes are passionate and become all-encompassing to her. She gets into some very low points of alcoholism, smoking, weight-loss and drug-taking in the hope of it being a distraction from her loneliness post breakup.

As Dolly grows up more, she starts to see her friends committing to serious relationships. Here comes wedding invites and hen do's galore, which she writes parody versions of in the book. This part of her life includes her best friend Farly getting into a long-term relationship in which Dolly feels herself being pushed out of the equation and becomes resentful towards this new partner. We've all been in a similar situation of being jealous of a best friend’s partner stealing the limelight from ourselves. When Dolly opens up about her feelings on love and relationships to her therapist and best friends, she learns important lessons about how to feel happy for others in love and how to embrace her own company and independence.

The last sections of the book are my favourite. When Dolly moves out to live on her own and realises, she is 'enough'. She appreciates all her friend's support and understands how the love she feels for them is even better than falling in love. She knows all the little details about them. 'Nearly everything I know about love, I've learnt in my long-term friendships with women.' One of the passages she has written in the 'Homecoming' chapter, about love being loud and jubilant but also quiet, I hope will be one of the readings at my wedding someday as I cherish it so much.

I just adore Dolly’s writing. Her storytelling is beautiful and the underlying message she conveyed on the varying types of love that can be found in many different types of relationships is an important one. I love her gradual shift from what she believed love to be at a young age to what it has become to her now. Whether it be family, friends, flings or soulmates, Dolly writes of how all types of love are paramount to an individual's own life story. Reading this book has taught me to appreciate all the loves I have in my life and I cannot wait to experience many more as I get older.

August 29, 2019 1 comments

being at university and having loud, drunken teenagers shouting outside at all hours of the morning and music being played until late in the evening has meant that sleep can sometimes be a struggle. not only that but a bed that isn’t as good as the one at home and a sometimes messed up sleep schedule have all impacted the quality of sleep i get. here’s some things i do to try and deal with it.

lush sleepy – this body lotion is a life saver when i’m struggling to fall asleep. i’d been recommended it by many sources, and seeing as twilight is my favourite lush bath bomb (which is the same scent as sleepy) i was 100% on board to try it. it’s lavender scent and smooth consistency is warmly relaxing and always helps me to calm down when i feel frustrated about still being awake in the early hours of the morning. a little goes a long way.
https://uk.lush.com/products/lavender/sleepy

bodyshop lavender oil – this has been one of my greatest discoveries when trying to solve any sleeping problems i’ve had. i simply put a few drips of this onto the corner of my mattress and the smell fills the room and gets into my system and sends me off to sleep. a word of warning would be that using too much can cause a strong smell that has before made me feel slightly sick. another trick with this that i love is that you can drop this into your bath before bed to start the relaxing bedtime routine off early.
https://www.thebodyshop.com/en-gb/fragrance/home-fragrance-oils/lavender-home-fragrance-oil/

an eye-mask – this has absolutely saved my life whilst being at university. having to sleep in a room where the blinds don’t prevent the light from coming in at all used to be a big problem for me. i’d wake up way too early and not be able to fall back asleep or not be able to get to sleep at all (daytime naps were especially a struggle!). but now at a small expense of less than £2 i can enjoy darkness whilst i regain my energy and have noticed my sleep quality improve. my eye-mask also has a gel cooling pad inside it which is great for headaches.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075V9GWB4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

reading – everyone’s heard it a million times before… if you want to sleep better you should read before bed instead of going on your phone or watching tv. i find this enjoyable anyway as i read in my spare time and i do find the nights i read before bed i fall asleep much quicker. i also read a few chapters of a book if i’m unable to get to sleep throughout the night which usually works a treat at helping me nod off. even a non-fiction book will do the trick.

happy snoozing.

‘let’s start by taking a smallish nap or two...’ winnie the pooh

March 16, 2018 No comments

reading is one of my favourite things to do. in august 2017 i decided that i wanted to move away from the books i was reading most at the time which was young adult and chick lit books and move onto books that were largely renown and recommended worldwide. and seeing as it was world book day yesterday, here’s four of my favourite books that i would tell everyone to read at some point in their life.

the handmaid’s tale by maragret atwood.

before i properly started reading this i did a bit of research about it as from the first chapter i was a bit confused because it was one of the first dystopian novels i’d read. after that i understood what was happening so if you struggle at first with this i recommend doing that! this book is dark and can be very disturbing to read in parts but that only adds to the message it’s trying to give. although this book is by no means new, the points it makes about gender inequality and women’s oppression are still just as valid today. i’d highly recommend this book if you enjoy books with feminist themes in them.

‘better never means better for everyone. it always means worse, for some.’ commander fred

the diary of a young girl by anne frank.

this book was written in such a way that it’s hard to believe it’s a true story. when reading this i occasionally had to take a moment to process that what i was reading was by no means fiction and that anne frank was real and all her feelings she documented were actually felt. the idea of her, her family and her family friends being in hiding for as long as they were still blows my mind and it broke my heart to read how it ended. even as a fiction book it would be upsetting to read but as a true story, it’s even more devastating. however, no matter how sad, i think it’s important for people to read this to be able to understand just a small amount of how much suffering families involved in world war two felt.

'i’ve found that there is always some beauty left- in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you.’ anne frank

to kill a mockingbird by harper lee.

i studied this book for my gcse english literature exam and honestly at the time it felt like a drag and i didn’t enjoy it that much. however, going back to it now being older and dare i say wiser it’s really grown on me and i can now appreciate the deeper themes of racism and inequality. scout’s naivety about the world creates a heart-warming way to narrate a story full of such dark issues from 1950’s american society. reading her journey of growing up and understanding how cruel the world is can be very bittersweet but also moving and i think everyone should experience it.

‘watch carefully, the magic occurs, when you give a person just enough comfort to be themselves.’ atticus finch.

murder on the orient express by agatha christie.

i never thought i’d be one to read and actually enjoy an agatha christie book as the idea never really appealed to me before. my grandad wanted to buy me a book and the tesco i was at had limited choice but i saw the book and decided i may as well give it a try. i ended up loving it and hardly put it down until i’d finished it. as it’s a murder mystery there’s constantly twists and turns which made it so easy to want to keep reading. the number of characters included was a bit overwhelming to start with but eventually, i got used to it and started making my own predictions of who the murderer was.

‘if you confront anyone who has lied with the truth, he will usually admit it – often out of sheer surprise.’ hercule poirot

i always look forward to reading more books and if you have any that you think i should read please let me know! i swear by goodreads to keep track of what i’ve read and want to read next. i’ll leave the link here if you want to have a nose at my profile. https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/54224482-tiegan-weatherhead

thanks for reading this novel of a post (haha get it).

‘you can find magic wherever you look. sit back and relax, all you need is a book.’ dr seuss.

March 02, 2018 No comments

the anxiety solution?

it makes it sound like a maths equation or a recipe. as if you just need to add some things together and the end result will leave you panic free. that’s not what this book does (and i never assumed it would). what this book does do is it gives you some ways and helpful exercises to help control and limit the amount of worry you feel. the obvious ones are all there: exercise, no caffeine, a good sleep pattern and eating foods that help your brain (i’ve never tried to put kale and broccoli into so many meals before). but these things won’t suddenly change the way you think. they will, however, help you feel a bit more on top of life which can be beneficial.

i found the book is most helpful in the way it teaches you about how to allow the voices in your head to be more positive. i’ve taken from it that feeling anxious should be teaching me something about the situations i’m in. i need to listen to what my mind is telling me rather than pushing it out. then once i’ve listened to what it has to say i can answer back and tell it that it’s wrong and that everything is fine. you have to learn to listen but not always accept that the worst will happen. in a moment of complete panic, this can be difficult but i’ve learnt it’s important to breathe and talk myself out of bad thoughts after letting them be there first.

the downside of any self-help for anxiety is that everyone is different. no one feels the same worry or panics. this book can sometimes focus on superficial issues that don’t bother me such as self-esteem on instagram when compared with other women. this doesn’t faze me and my anxieties are down a different route to those. however, everyone can take something from this book when it’s interpreted and used in the correct way. if you take it for what it is, which i see as being suggestions to make things a bit easier, rather than a SOLUTION to the whole problem then this book may be of use to you.

if you have severe anxiety and feel that you need urgent help ring the NHS on 111. if you suspect you have anxiety and need support i would highly recommend going to see a GP. this book should NOT be used as a way to ‘cure’ any level of anxiety but only as a way to see it less negatively.

i hope this was helpful to anyone considering reading this book

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February 09, 2018 No comments

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