Grief

10 Things No One Tells You About Grief

There’s this common misconception about grief that it only has to do with mourning the death of a loved one. But, that’s simply not true. Grief is the natural response to loss. And while, yes that includes the mourning loved ones that have passed, it also includes the mourning of past relationships/ friendships and the

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Your Guide To Navigating Group Chats

We all love a good group chat. You have the one with your besties where the real tea is spilt, the one with the fam where you realise where you got your craziness from or the work one where you all bond over the daily trauma that workplace brings you (our customer service people will

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How to Stay Calm Under Pressure

Steph Golds is a valued member of the Shona team, a counselling psychotherapist, who has spent countless hours working with young girls. We asked for her advice on staying calm when the world keeps spinning… There is a lot of scary or stressful information swirling around out there at the moment. It can be easy

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What is High-Functioning Anxiety?

It’s hard to describe, like explaining the colour yellow to someone who is blind. One of our readers sent us the video below, which perfectly sums up what anxiety feels like, here’s a transcript…. “High-functioning anxiety looks like… Achievement. Busyness. Perfectionism. When it sneaks out, it transforms into nervous habits. Nail-biting. Foot tapping. Running my fingers through

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Overcoming Anxiety – Tara’s Story

Tara got in touch with us a little while ago and wanted to share her story of overcoming anxiety. We think she is very brave and strong and tells her story beautifully. So Tara, take it away… Oddly enough, buses are one of the things that truly remind me how far I have come. I will

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Autism and Me – By Aoife

I’ve felt different from other people for as long as I can remember. As a little girl, I had some quirks: I didn’t really play with other kids a lot, I much preferred the company of myself or my twin sister. I was quiet and clumsy, and I was always away with the fairies. I frightened

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How to be Happy

We’re all just out here trying to be our best selves, figuring it all out, searching for answers; What do I want to do? What course should I apply for? What nice things do I want? Well. We’ve been thinking a LOT about how we approach life’s big questions and here’s what we’ve come up

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How To Nail Your CAO Application

CAO. Never have 3 letters made us quake in our boots, quite the way that those 3 do. Why is it that for some of the most important things in life, we are expected to just know how to do it and then when we don’t,  we’re left to figure it out ourselves? Like hello?

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Confessions of a Teacher: Why are my Teachers SO Mean?

“Why are my teachers so mean?” That’s one of the questions I received when we put a call out for ‘confessions’ ideas.  Firstly, to the person who asked the question. I’m sorry that you feel as though your teachers aren’t nice to you. Going to school is hard enough for some of you, never mind

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Why You NEED to Make Your Bed

Hey – make your bed! One small but mighty thing you can do every single day that can transform your life is to make your bed every morning. Sure, there are loads of excuses not to: I’d rather just have the extra five minutes in bed. It’ll just be unmade again later when I get back in. If

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My Life as a Square Peg

We’ve all heard of the phrase “That’s like putting a square peg in a round hole”. It’s a phrase I have heard all of my life and I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve been compared to a square peg. The question is, what have I got in common with a square peg? 

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You’ve Got This! Managing Exam Anxiety & Working with Confidence

Here at The Shona Project, we work to empower the new generation of young people. We understand that growing up in Ireland in 2024 can be very challenging. We also understand that being parents, guardians or just someone with a teen in their life can also be challenging. A main stressor for our young people is

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6 Successful People Who Failed at School

“Never let schooling interfere with the tech startup you’re running out of your bedroom.” – Marie Curie Okay, fair enough, she never said that, but she may or may not have been thinking it. Its true though, when it comes to learning, and becoming your best self, formal education is not always the best way

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Talking About Disordered Eating

I first started skipping meals, I thought it was what you were supposed to do to lose weight. I wasn’t the only person I knew doing it, so naturally, I didn’t see a problem. When I stopped eating completely for days at a time, excuses were given and the ‘oh I ate earlier’ line was

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What Does Your 2024 Hold?

Hello friends, It’s a new year, a new start. We’re about to take down the Xmas decos, scrape the last few bountys from the selection boxes (underrated if you ask us) and are looking to the days ahead. So what do you want for 2024? And how can you make it happen? Have you made

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Our Christmas Wish for You x

Another year is coming to an end, and here at Shona HQ, we’re putting on our out-of-office, sneaking the best bars from our selection boxes (the Curly Wurleys obvs) and looking back at all that we’ve achieved this year. 2023 was our biggest year yet, but it was tough, we’re not going to lie. We

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10 Things We Need to Stop Shaming Girls For!

Us girls are divils for judging each other. Instead of embracing our differences, we constantly compete to be the prettiest, the smartest, the most popular, the most athletic, the skinniest. When we look in the mirror, we always look at our faults, and therefore, looking for faults in others makes us feel better about ourselves. This

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10 Warning Signs That Your Friend is in an Unhealthy Relationship

We are huge supporters of the amazing work done by Women’s Aid, and their Too Into You Campaign. We will do anything to help spread the word about healthy relationships and potential red flags. Here’s a helpful post they wrote just for us and our followers…   Intimate relationship abuse against young people is prevalent in Ireland, with

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