Jackdaw Wood CIC

02/11/2025

Sure do 😂🌳💚🌿🌱🍁🌙

28/10/2025

When things get tough ,
sometimes just to slow down & see how you are talking to yourself

Sit back & consider ,
if it’s time to slow down
Relax
And start again tomorrow 🍁💚🌳🍂🪶🧙🏻‍♂️

28/10/2025

People Euwwwwwww 🙈🙊🤮🤮🤣🤣

28/10/2025

Once, they carried voices across the city — now they carry hope.

Sweden’s forgotten phone booths, long silenced by smartphones and modern life,
are finding a second purpose that speaks louder than any call ever did.

Across snow-covered towns, engineers and volunteers have transformed these cold metal shells into lifesaving sanctuaries for birds.

Inside each booth,
small wooden compartments line the walls, filled with soft straw and gentle heat.

Solar panels power subtle warmth,
just enough to help tiny wings survive the bitter Scandinavian frost.

What used to echo with conversation now hums quietly with the sound of life — soft chirps replacing old dial tones.

Passersby have begun leaving seeds,
water dishes,
and handwritten notes on the glass: “Stay warm, little ones.”

Some booths even flicker with low amber lights at night, turning city streets into glowing symbols of compassion.

It’s a reminder that even the simplest act — offering warmth to a creature that cannot ask — carries extraordinary grace.

Each of these shelters stands as a bridge between technology and tenderness. Sweden didn’t just recycle metal —
it recycled empathy,
turning forgotten relics into lifelines.

In a world that often builds walls,
this project builds tiny homes.

What once connected people now connects hearts — across species,
seasons,
and silence. 🐦‍⬛🐤🐦🐦‍⬛

27/10/2025

I Wasn’t Loved — I Was Useful

They didn’t love me for who I was.
They loved me for what I could offer.
They liked me because I was easy—

Easy to talk to.
Easy to lean on.
Easy to forget once their hearts felt lighter.

I said yes when every part of me wanted to say no.
I smiled when I wanted to cry.

I laughed at jokes that weren’t funny,
just to keep the peace.

I held space for people
who never once noticed the emptiness growing inside me.

No one ever asked if I needed holding, too.

And now, I’m angry.
Not just at them—
but at myself.

For believing that kindness would protect me.
For mistaking self-sacrifice for love.

I Became Who They Needed — Not Who I Was

In every room,
I scanned for clues.

What do they want from me?
Who do I need to become to stay wanted?

I shape-shifted so perfectly,
I forgot what my own voice sounded like.
Forgot what it felt like to belong to myself.

Because being authentic
felt like a risk I couldn’t afford.

So I wore masks until they became my skin.
Until even I couldn’t tell where I ended
and their expectations began.

I Confused Being Liked With Being Safe

If they like me,
they won’t leave.

If I’m useful,
I’ll matter.

If I’m quiet,
agreeable,
low-maintenance—
maybe they’ll stay.

So I softened my edges
until I was barely a shape at all.

Apologized for existing
before anyone had the chance to reject me.

But approval is a fragile currency.

And one day,
I woke up bankrupt—
empty,
invisible,
and exhausted.

I Didn’t Burn Out — I Was Used Up

I wasn’t overreacting.
I was overextending.

The weight of being “the good one”
crushed the wild,
messy,
loud parts of me—
the parts that wanted to scream,
to say no,
to ask,
what about me?

I thought being nice would make people love me.

Instead,
it made them forget I was human.

I’m Not Bitter — I’m Finally Honest

I don’t want to be the safe choice anymore.
The reliable one.

The emotional sponge who absorbs everyone else’s pain.

I want to be loved for my soul,
not my silence.
For my truth,
not my tolerance.

And if my boundaries make me hard to love—
then maybe they never loved me at all.

I’m Done Performing

I’m not your emotional support system.
I’m not here to stay small so you can feel big.

I’m not shrinking anymore just to stay included.

If love requires me to disappear,
then I’d rather walk alone.

Because I deserve to exist fully—

Loudly.
Boldly.
Unapologetically.

No more pretending.

No more dimming my light to keep others comfortable.

This time,
I choose me. 😍🍁🌳💚🪶💚🌳

25/10/2025

🧙🏻🧙🏻🪶🎃🍁🍁🎃🎃🧙🏻🧙🏻🦉🦉🦉🧙🏻🪶🍁

25/10/2025

Researchers are carrying out a study to help tackle loneliness and isolation in Hull.

A team from Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust is working with the city council and Imperial College London on the project, called Interact.

Dr Austen El-Osta, from the project,
said:
“Loneliness is a silent epidemic that profoundly impacts mental and physical health yet remains poorly understood at scale."

Organisers said the study was the largest of its kind and would use a data-driven approach to map and measure loneliness.

Results of the survey are expected to be used to generate a heat map to highlight areas where loneliness is concentrated and is most likely to occur.

Data could then be used to help develop strategies to tackle the problem.

The team said research had shown that 13% of adults in Hull had reported feeling lonely, higher than the average for Yorkshire.

Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust
said it hoped at least 10% of the adults in the city
would take part in the survey.

Loneliness:
Causes, Effects,
and How to Cope

Loneliness has significant negative impacts on both physical and mental health, comparable to major health risks like obesity or smoking.

It increases the risk of cardiovascular disease,
stroke,
and premature death,
and is linked to mental health issues such as depression,
anxiety,
and cognitive decline.

Loneliness also weakens the immune system, disrupts sleep,
and can lead to poor lifestyle choices.

Physical health impacts

Cardiovascular health:

Loneliness is associated with a higher risk of coronary heart disease and stroke due to increased stress responses and elevated levels of the blood-clotting protein fibrinogen.

Premature death:

The influence of social relationships on mortality is comparable to well-established risk factors like obesity and smoking,
with one study showing loneliness increases the risk of early death by 26%.

Immune system:

Loneliness can suppress the immune system, making people more vulnerable to infections. It is also linked to higher levels of chronic inflammation.

Other physical conditions:

Loneliness is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, cognitive decline,
and can worsen symptoms for those with conditions like Parkinson's disease.

It is also associated with poor sleep quality.

Mental health impacts

Depression and anxiety:

Lonely individuals are more likely to experience depression and anxiety.
One study found that lonely people were 2.25 times more likely to be diagnosed with depression.

Cognitive function:

Chronic loneliness can lead to cognitive decline and increases the risk of developing dementia.

Other mental health effects:

It is linked to stress,
paranoia,
and in severe cases,
can increase the risk of self-harm or su***de.

Behavioral impacts

Poor lifestyle choices:

Feelings of loneliness can lead to unhealthy behaviours,
such as overeating,
lack of exercise,
poor sleep,
and increased substance abuse

25/10/2025

Before it became a Halloween costume, 🧙🏻Self-Care Is For Everyone
the pointed hat was a symbol of knowledge
— a marker of those who walked between worlds.

In the old villages,
the women who brewed,
healed,
and listened to the earth often covered their heads as a sign of respect for spirit.

Their hats were tall and practical
— keeping herbs dry,
rain off their shoulders,
and a sense of dignity in their craft.

Some say the pointed hat traces back to the cone-shaped headdresses worn by ancient priestesses and wise women
— symbols of connection between heaven and earth.

Others whisper that it echoes the duns and cairns,
the sacred mounds that rose from the soil like earthen spires,
marking places of power and burial.

Over time, these women — the midwives, the brewers, the herbalists — began to stand out.

In marketplaces,
they wore distinctive,
tall hats so villagers could see them in the crowd and seek their remedies or wisdom.

The hat became a sign of their trade,
their skill,
their presence.

But when the tides turned — when the church grew wary of women’s power and independence — that same symbol was twisted.

The pointed hat, once a crown of knowing, became a mark of shame.

The Wise Woman became the “witch,”
and her visibility — the very thing that once connected her to her community —
was recast as threat.

Yet the truth endures.

The hat’s point still reaches upward,
a symbol of spirit and intuition, 
while its wide brim shields and grounds.

It is the meeting place of above and below — heaven and hearth,
knowing and mystery.

So when you see the silhouette of a witch in her tall, dark hat beneath the October moon, remember what she really wears:

a crown of wisdom.
a marker of lineage.

a reminder that women’s knowing once stood tall —
and will again. 🧙🏻🧙🏻🧙🏻🎃🍁🍁🦉🦉

25/10/2025

Yarn wrapped Christmas trees .. love these! 🎄
Source Pinterest

25/10/2025

24/10/2025

Whenever I write about use of isolation in schools, someone says ‘but what’s wrong with spending time quietly by yourself?’ or even ‘I’d love to have some time in isolation!’. Sometimes people say ‘That’s not a real punishment, they should see what it was like in my day’.

There is a profound difference between choosing to spend time by yourself, and being forced to do so as a punishment. It’s the difference between choosing to eat lunch alone and being told that you must sit separately to everyone else.

The difference between being ignored by other people, and choosing not to talk to them. The difference between sitting still because you don’t want to move, and sitting still because you know you will be punished if you don’t.

One is a choice, the other is a punishment. And the difference really matters.

Punishments are always about more than what they appear to be. They are about shame, social judgement and showing who has power. They are about control.

And that is what causes the damage. Isolation is so much more than sitting quietly in a room.