You don't always need to look for 'perspective'

When finding things hard, it can be tempting to look at the wider picture and how much harder others have it. But actually, acknowledging your pain or discomfort is more important, initially.

When I was 14 years old, a 16-year-old girl moved in with my family. She was the daughter of an old friend of my parents, but I didn’t really know her.

In she came with her hippie sarongs and leather sandals and shaved head and I thought she was possibly the coolest person I’d ever seen.

One afternoon, I was sitting on the stairs wallowing in teenage angst and she found me there.

She asked what was wrong and I said I was finding life hard, but I didn’t really know why. I said that it was silly, because so many people were much worse off.

And she responded: