It’s nearing the end of another year here on the blog.  I love to look back on the year of blogging and what has been popular for my readers.  Sponsored posts seem to feature high this year, so I only included one.  However there are also some posts that I am really proud of.

Stubby Strip Review and Giveaway

This post continues to be at the top of my landing pages month after month.  The post was written over 18 months ago, but it still gets hits every single day.  Surprisingly it’s also one of my most controversial posts.  I thought that writing a blog about mental illness would open me up to all kinds of ignorant people. but it turns out an invention by a guy who was sick of carrying an esky attracts the most hate.  I get comments (none of which ever make the blog) calling me every name under the sun for supporting this product.  They go straight in the trash.

Sweet Dream Believer

This is a post I wrote for The Lounge earlier in the year.  It was a short story I created around the topic of domestic violence.  I wrote it after a period of having nothing to write, of feeling nothing for my writing.  The words seemed to explode from my fingertips.

You’re Awesome, I’m Awesome, We’re all Awesome

I wrote this post for I must confess with Kirsty from My Home Truths.  It is a laugh in the face of tall poppy syndrome and lists the reasons that I think that I am awesome.  I suspect that the meme used in the post is the reason for it’s popularity, but it’s a good post anyway.

Borderline: My Story

This was the post that started it all.  The post that opened the flood gates this year.  It made me face up to the stigma I was holding against myself and admit that I was afraid that people would judge me for my diagnosis.  The response I received was overwhelmingly positive.  The post was picked up by Mumsnet and I had my best traffic day of the whole year.  It’s still one of my favourite posts.

Epidemic

I wrote this post in 2012 and since then it has been repinned over 600 times.  The post talks about a segment on 60 minutes which talked about self harm.  It was a great segment that I feel helped to get rid of some of the misconceptions around self harm.  Of course you can’t help those who don’t want to learn, so stigma is still rife.

The Wanker Effect

The gender stereotypes are pretty rife in this post, so handle with care.  I talk about the seemingly testosterone driven behaviour that causes men to act like…well, wankers.  It’s a bit of a tongue in cheek post and I suspect again that it’s the meme used that makes this post popular.

Does blogging glorify mental illness?

The overwhelming response to this one seemed to be no.  This post was written after reading another comment from someone who said that bloggers create their own mental illness and make it seem cool.  It was a bit of a rant, where I talked about the realities of living with a mental illness.  This one was picked up by the Mental Health Segment of Mumsnet.

Social Media has an evil side too

I wrote this post after a spectacular falling in a Mum’s group I was part of.  It’s about keyboard warriors and standing behind the things that you say online.

Leave me alone

This is one of the many posts I have written about sleep deprivation and how it affected us.  I wrote about how Mr 5 not sleeping at the time didn’t just mean I was missing out on sleep, but on me time as well.  I was missing out on that important wind down time before I went to bed, or staying up till all hours of the night to get it.

Borderline Personality Disorder Myths

After ‘outing’ myself on my blog and admitting that the reason I was hesitant was because of stigma, I decided that it was important to face that stigma head on.  So I created a list of the myths that I have encountered, both from the general public and health professionals.  It was important to me to help get positive information out there about BPD.

That’s my top 10 posts for 2014.  I’m happy with the line-up and I look forward to another year here at Musings of the Misguided.

Did your favourite post make the cut?