When the world is dragging you down, remember there’s plenty of positives out there, too. Enjoy our rundown of 50 sensational stories from 2022, to give you a more optimistic outlook
Environment
1. Parts of the Great Barrier Reef are reportedly showing the best signs of coral recovery in 36 years!
2. In a major milestone, there are now enough solar panels around the world to generate 1 terawatt of electricity.
3. Based on current progress, scientists estimate that the hole in the Earth’s ozone layer will close around 2070!
4. As of September 2022, Denmark has become the first country in the world to offer ‘loss and damage’ compensation to developing countries affected by climate change, in the form of €13.4 million.
5. Engineers at Stamford University, California, have created revolutionary solar panels that can also generate electricity at night.
6. In a truly selfless and generous act, an anonymous French man who won the Euromillions jackpot has used his €200 million winnings to start an environmental charity.
7. In August, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, based off the Yorkshire coast, was declared fully operational. It features 165 wind turbines, and will help to provide renewable energy to more than 1.4 million UK homes.
8. WasteSharks are the latest incredible innovation tackling plastic waste, utilising drone technology. Designed by Dutch company RanMarine, the aquatic drones were inspired by whale sharks catching their prey, with each one able to hold up to 160 litres of waste.
9. Hawaii closed its last coal power plant to focus on greener energy options, removing the 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases it created each year.
10. In a world-first, the National Grid is removing 22 electricity pylons from Dorset’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is replacing them with 60 miles of underground cables, in a bid to return the landscape to its natural form.
Animals
11. In April 2022, the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill was passed into British law, in a landmark ruling that recognises animals as complex beings, and protects them with stricter sentences against those who mistreat them.
12. Dog-lover Erica Hart has used a drone to search for and rescue more than 200 lost dogs in the past seven years. Helping distraught owners, her birdseye view has been invaluable in tracking down pups before any harm can come to them, and she’s even started a Facebook group to create a community on the watch for missing dogs, to reunite them with their families.
13. They may say ‘cat’s got your tongue’, but not any more. App, MeowTalk, claims to have cracked the code to translate a cat’s meows into human languages
It’s a long road to recovery following emotional abuse, manipulation, and gaslighting, but the following suggestions can help to ease that journey
Over the past couple of years, narcissistic abuse has become a social media buzzword – more and more people are becoming aware of the signs, and working to break free from it. Since 2017, I’ve been helping abuse survivors from all over the world to get back on their feet, regain their mental health, and recover who they were always meant to be.
Every person who walks through my door says something along the lines of, “I don’t know who I am any more.” Or, “I don’t recognise the person looking back at me in the mirror.” Some don’t even see anyone else at all. The complete loss of self, caused by the tactical erosion of identity, is one of the most difficult and heartbreaking consequences of narcissistic abuse.
The good news is that with the right tools, and the right support, you can find your way back to you, and when you do, this connection with yourself will be stronger than you could have ever imagined. So, how do you do it?
This is the most important rule of abuse recovery. Also, admittedly, one of the most difficult steps to take. If you stay connected, even if it’s keeping their number on your phone, just in case, you will not heal. Period.
Does this mean you’re selfish? Does this mean you’re a bad person? Does this mean you’re turning into a narcissist yourself? No, no, and no. No contact and narcissistic silent treatment are not the same at all. It serves your self-protection.
If no contact isn’t possible due to shared custody or legal proceedings, the contact needs to be highly modified and kept to the absolute minimum, with no personal touches at all, ideally through a neutral third party and/or apps such as OurFamilyWizard (ourfamilywizard.co.uk).
2. Take responsibility for your journey
It’s really easy to feel sorry for ourselves when we’ve experienced such unspeakable horrors and struggle with our mental health as a consequence. Is it fair? Absolutely not. The reality, however, is that we can’t change what has happened. All you can do is change how you feel about it. Can you take full responsibility for yourself and your recovery, make life happen, and feel empowered and in control? The decision is yours. Remember: you are the CEO of this operation!
3. Shift the focus
Shift the focus away from them, and what happened, and onto yourself and your healing. There is a time for reading books about narcissists and victim stories, and engaging in self-help groups, but eventually, you need to start to focus on yourself and begin to learn about things that actually will move you forward.
4. Self-care, self-care, self-care
I cannot stress enough the importance of self-care in finding yourself. This is something that very likely doesn’t come naturally to you. You’ve probably spent your whole life sacrificing yourself, and have always put others’ wellbeing before your own. Now is the time to change that. It’s like you putting your oxygen mask on first on the plane before you help others.
Self-care is whe
If you’re winding down for the year and are keen to take a moment for reflection, this guide is for you
How are you feeling as the end of the year approaches? If you’re anything like me, the word ‘tired’ may well come to mind. When this feeling comes over me, however, I try to embrace it. As I type this, I’m cocooned in a cosy jumper listening to acoustic Christmas songs. I’m making plans for rest and am ready to hibernate a little.
I’m also making plans for quiet reflection. The end of a year naturally lends itself to this, giving us a clear endpoint to pause and look back at the last 12 months. I do this every year and it helps me appreciate what I’ve experienced, learn any necessary lessons and grieve for what didn’t go to plan. It also serves as a jumping-off point for setting intentions and hopes for the year ahead.
If you’re keen to try an end of year reflection, here are some steps to make it both meaningful and enjoyable.
Set the scene
The first step is to carve out time and space for reflection. Plan a morning, afternoon or evening and schedule it in your calendar like you would any other important appointment. When you get to it, make it special. Play your favourite music, light a candle, have a beverage and snack nearby (I personally opt for a glass of red and a mince pie) and get a writing tool of choice (pen and paper, notes app on your phone, computer, voice memo – whatever works for you).
Take a couple of deep breaths to centre yourself. Let go of what’s happened so far today/this week. Engage your senses and root yourself in the present moment. We have to arrive where we are before we look back.
If you had to describe the year in one word, what would it be?
To start with, it can be helpful to really zoom out for a bird’s eye view of the year. Thinking of it as a whole, can you think of one word that encapsulates the year? This can be a helpful starting point before digging deeper.
What felt tough this year?
I personally like to start with the lows so I can end on a high, but you may prefer to switch this order. Whenever you come to it, ask yourself what was difficult about this year. You may have a lot to note here, or not as much as you think. Remember, we all have different capacities for stress, so what feels difficult for one person may not feel difficult for others. So try not to compare yourself to others who may have had it ‘worse’. This is about you and how you experienced the year.
What lessons were learnt?
The lessons from the tough moments of the year may be obvious, or they may still elude you. They may have reminded you how important self-compassion is. They may have strengthened or weakened relationships. They may have helped you see what’s important to you in your life. They may have simply reminded you that this life is a wild ride sometimes and all we can do is hold on until things settle.
Who gave you what you needed this year?
Taking a moment to thi
Eight months after The Wanted star Tom Parker died of brain cancer, his wife Kelsey reveals her ongoing experience of grief, and the physical and mental challenge that will offer an opportunity for contemplation and healing
The weekend before her interview with Happiful, actress and influencer Kelsey Parker was a guest at a wedding where she unexpectedly found herself sidelined by other guests.
“No one wanted to talk to me,” explains Kelsey. “People don’t know what to say to me, so they say nothing at all. I tried to speak to people that I hadn’t seen for a while, but after the ‘How are you?’ nobody wanted to take the conversation further.”
For the uninitiated, that conversation is grief. And, according to Kelsey, the widow of singer and The Wanted star Tom Parker who died in March at the age of 33, after an 18-month battle with brain cancer, it’s time we all did better at speaking out about life after loss.
“I’m coping with my grief by speaking about it, but in the UK we just don’t talk honestly and openly about grief, death, and everything else associated with these painful experiences. These are realities that will one day affect us all,” says Kelsey, who has made a six-part ITVBe miniseries about grief, which airs this month. Welcoming cameras into the south London home she once shared with Tom and their children Aurelia, three, and Bodhi, two, and being filmed as she explored alternative ways to navigate grief was, says Kelsey, “hugely healing”.
As well as visiting a death cafe where people drink tea, eat cake, and discuss death, she tried grief yoga, where movements and breathing techniques help participants process their feelings. She also met with members of Widowed And Young, a national charity for people who are aged 50 or under when their partner dies.
“It’s shocking, isn’t it? I’m 32 and I’m a widow,” sighs Kelsey. “Although my friends are amazing, they can’t truly relate to me because they’ve not lost their partner, so I really enjoyed meeting with the WAY members because they truly understood where I was coming from, and that was lovely.”
With this in mind, you can sense the appeal of another activity that Kelsey is embarking on as part of her life journey post-Tom.
Alongside her close pal, actress and podcaster Giovanna Fletcher, TOWIE star Pete Wicks, and TV personality Vicky Pattison, last month Kelsey trekked 100km across the Sahara in aid of breast cancer awareness charity, CoppaFeel!
Flanked by 100 CoppaFeel! supporters, the team hiked for 10 hours daily through Morocco’s unforgiving landscape, a gruelling challenge that would intimidate most. But not Kelsey.
From the day he was diagnosed with an inoperable grade four glioblastoma tumour in October 2020, during his 60 sessions of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and until the day he died just hours after lying beside Kelsey and placing his platinum wedding ring on her finger, Tom never lost s
If ‘barely getting by’ is where you’re at right now, you could be dwelling in ‘survival mode’
Here’s something that all of us can likely agree on: it can be really tough out there. The shared pressure to do and be more, the waves of bad news that flood our lives, and the personal challenges that we’re forced to face – it’s a wonder we’re able to manage at all. Except, actually, sometimes we aren’t. Sometimes, stress tips us over the edge, and our bodies respond.
“In simple terms, ‘survival mode’ is our body’s automatic response to danger,” counsellor and psychotherapist Belinda Sidhu says. “It’s what has helped us to survive, to get to this point. This response begins in one of the oldest parts of the brain, the limbic system.
“When someone confronts danger, the eyes, ears, or both send information to the amygdala – a part of the brain which can act a bit like an alarm system.
The amygdala interprets those images and sounds. When it perceives danger, it instantly sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus – which functions a bit like a control centre communicating with the rest of the body through our nervous system – and controls hormone release. This can lead to that fight/flight/freeze response.
“This response can absolutely be helpful and aid in our survival if, for example, we’re crossing the road and a car turns a corner unexpectedly. Yet, it’s not so helpful if we’re experiencing it when a stressful email pops up. However, the unfortunate element of the amygdala is that it cannot differentiate between the two ‘dangers’, and which may be an actual threat to our survival.”
As Belinda explains, stress is a very normal part of life – and it can even help motivate us, in small doses – but, over time, it can reach a tipping point where it begins to detrimentally affect your life, making it almost impossible for you to concentrate on anything else. At this point, you could enter ‘survival mode’.
“When we go into ‘survival mode’ – or experience the fight/flight/freeze responses – we may notice a number of physical, emotional, and behavioural signs,” Belinda explains. As she sees it, these include…
Physical signs: Aches and pains, trouble sleeping, muscle tension, or jaw clenching. You may find yourself grinding your teeth in your sleep and waking up with a sore jaw. Stomach or digestive problems, bloating, high blood pressure, or headaches.
Emotional signs: Being more emotional than usual – maybe more irritable, getting angry or frustrated at things that wouldn’t usually cause you anger, feeling overwhelmed, or on edge.
Behavioural signs: You may have trouble keeping track of things, making decisions, solving problems, concentrating or getting your work done. You might find yourself procrastinating and avoiding your responsibilities. You may be ‘self-prescribing’ – drinking more alcohol than usual, or using substances such as recreation