Welcome back!

Happy New Year everyone! It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years since I launched The Female Brief blog. In this time, a lot has changed, on both a personal and global level. 

Globally, we all experienced a pandemic, an increase in mental health awareness and demand for psychological support, a work-from-home transition and a rise in AI, leading to a mixed sense of hope and possibility for the future, coupled with a sense of anxiety, instability and isolation. 

Personally, I became a fully registered psychologist, moved houses three times, unintentionally morphed into a fitness junkie, and then in a left-field move, quit my full-time job to study a Master of Clinical Psychology, while simultaneously starting a side business in Private Practice.  

The last few years have been intense, fantastic, unique and full of growth. 

But, in the midst of the chaos of change, I lost sight of my passion – writing. Specifically, writing this blog, and talking to you all about the issues closest to my heart; overcoming personal challenges, thriving in a career, navigating relationships, and feeling happy everyday. 

Of these, relationships have always been a big fascination for me. I’ve written in the past about relationships – attachment styles, coping with a relationship ending and solving common relationship problems, and you guys loved the content!

Which leads me to the big news…

In 2024, I am relaunching The Female Brief as a relationship blog!

Why write a relationship blog?

Relationships are so fascinating, and yet full of contradictions, like: 

We all desire connection, and yet struggle to be vulnerable.
We all fear loneliness, and yet feel annoyed when someone is always near us.
We all secretly hope for a soulmate, and yet know that the concept is slightly ridiculous.
We all agree good communication is key, and yet ignore each other, bottle things up or say things in the worst possible way.
We all adore our friends and family, and yet spend a lot of time complaining about them. 
We all love to love and be loved, and yet hate it at the same time, because it means we can be hurt.

Do any of these statements sound familiar to you? I’m guessing yes, and I’m also hedging that you have heard about or navigated the jungle of app dating and swapped horror stories with friends, listened to podcasts on your attachment style and how that relates to your personality type, semi-ironically used star signs to predict if you will have chemistry with someone (or to justify if you didn’t) and peppered the words ‘rizz,’ ‘situationship,’ and ‘love language’ into your conversations (or is that just me?!)

Needless to say, relationships continue to be a source of joy, stress, confusion and life purpose for all of us, regardless of our status, sexuality, age or gender. 

Which is why I’ve decided to do a deep dive into relationships in 2024, and I want to bring you all with me.

My ‘relationship-inspired’ goals for 2024, are to:

1. Better understand relationships and some of the contradictions within them
2. Dedicate myself to researching relationships – books, media, podcasts and journals. Talk to relationship experts. Talk to my friends about relationships. Observe what people, both my patients and in the larger world, are saying about relationships, and what that can teach us about our human identity. 
3. Conduct a research project and write my Masters thesis on modern relationships – and maybe share some of my findings with you!

So, will you come on this journey with me? Let’s make 2024 the year to decode and demystify relationships of all kinds – romantic, friend and family based and perhaps the most important one of all, the relationship we have with ourselves. See you soon!