I keep hold of receipts, leaflets, flight tickets, train tickets and whatnot from holidays, days out or my college years. I hoard it all. It might be things that are meaningless to others but to me they hold a fond place in my heart.

This is my sweet tin which is where I keep all of my fondest memories.

The lid doesn’t stay fastened to it anymore (think I may need a bigger box). I got the box out last night and had a look through and I had forgotten about half the stuff that was in there.

So this is near enough all my fondest memories of times in the UK. We have a leaflet from Hoo Farm which is when me and L had our day out feeding the meerkats. There are 2 breathalyzer tubes there from my good old college years when I got caught drunk and underage…College also used to have a winter ball and a summer ball every year and I still have my tickets from them. We also have my creamfields wristband, Cheshire hunt ball wristband and a summer ball wristband. The green wristband is from mine and L’s day out at Inflata Nation near the Trafford centre. Would highly recommend going there! I still have my Bolesworth ticket from a couple of years ago which ended up being an amazing night sneaking into VIP, running off with a pineapple, trying to take a Bolesworth flag home and making our driver stop several times so we could throw up. Ahh the good old days! The receipts are from mine and Z’s fat days. I have the reciept from our first fat day which was at a American Smoke House on the 26th January 2018. The pebble and the ticket underneath it is from my road trip day to Criccieth. I packed some dinner, had my mini fridge in the car and spent the whole day at the beach and exploring the castle by myself. It was bliss! The yellow ticket is from when me and E went on our trip to Wales back in February. It’s our ticket from Pistyll Rhaedwr Waterfalls. We didn’t make it to the top due to the snow and ice but it was still as beautiful as the pictures we’d seen beforehand! There is a Spooky World ticket and receipt there which is from the past 2 years when me and A used to go before Halloween. The drinks ticket is from my friends uni’s summer ball last year.

Now let’s move onto everything I’ve collected from holidays…

So the left image shows all the leaflets I’ve collected. Most of them are from New York as there is so much to do there! At the back is my map of the Universal Studios in Florida from 2010. We have a booklet of what to do in Iceland from my 20th birthday. We’ve got a leaflet of water sports to do in Ibiza and I didn’t even do any water sports. There’s my ticket from the Museum Of Natural History. There’s a receipt from the Irish bar in NYC me and mum went to next to our hotel which is where I met my friend J. On the right we have my boarding tickets from Manchester to Amsterdam and Reykjavik. From Amsterdam we have the plastic coin that we got when we went to the Icebar for my 21st birthday. My ticket to the sex museum (which I would recommend going to if you’re into your history or want a laugh). The first time I went to Amsterdam me and L usually went to a café called Baba’s. I still have one of their pot brownie leaflets and some of their sugar (like I said, its stuff that might not mean anything to others…). We also have a joint holder (sadly doesn’t smell like weed any more) and this was the joint that me and L smoked on our hotel roof. There’s also my train ticket from the airport to Amsterdam and the confetti string above that is from when me and mum went to watch Aladdin in New York. To the left of that we have the pizza menu from the take away me and L went to in Iceland. The key is from our day out at the geothermal pools. The key was given to us for our lockers and we were meant to give it back but both me and L forgot (I genuinely forgot!) but it’s a nice addition to my collection! We also have my ticket and the information leaflet I got from our day whale watching. Sadly we didn’t see any whales and I can’t begin to describe how cold it was but I still enjoyed the day out!

Next we have my Ibiza collection…

Ibiza will forever hold a place in my heart. A place where no one cares what you look like, sound like or where you’ve come from. You’re all there for pretty much one thing. The music. Here we have my tickets for Solomon, boat parties, Eden, DC10, Ushuaia and my boarding tickets. We also have a straw from Café Mambo (it’s not a used one…) which I went to 2 years ago with my friend L. It was our last night so I decided to book us a meal there and we watched to sunset and the evening entertainment was on point (Nic Fanciulli). There is also my Amnesia bracelet that they gave us for Together and we saw MK, Rudimental, Disciples, Sigala, FatBoy Slim, Hector Couto and Low Steppa. It still lights up to this day. We have my water bottle that I bought at Hi Ibiza last year when we went to see Deadmau5 and Eric Prydz. It was an emotional evening for me. It was Hi Ibiza’s first year up and running since they closed Space and Eric Prydz is just a legend. Deadmau5 is someone I’ve loved since the beginning so those two together along with drugs and alcohol resulted in an amazing and emotional night. When Eric Prydz played Everyday tears ran down my face. Even typing this is giving me goosebumps! The hat though…that is also from last year. We went to Amnesia for Elrow and it was insane! The most fun I’ve ever had and I came home with a hat! Winner winner!

My box of memories I keep in one of my cupboards but on my desktop I have a jar of memories too. I like to keep little bits in my jar. So we have a C02 canister which is from the time me and L went shooting. There is also a key ring light in there that L gave which could become quite handy! There is a wide variety of shells and pebbles in my jar. I picked them up from the different beaches I visited. They range from Turkey, Egypt, Wales, Greece, Spain and a few other places. Me and my mum have been on a few cruises which allowed us to see a different country each day so I started collecting jewellery from each country. I have bracelets from Morocco, Gibraltar, Rome, Malaga, Corfu, Cannes, Majorca and a few others.

My box and jar was something I started because I didn’t want to forget the good times. The times I escaped reality and my dark hole. My memory is very good. A lot better than I let it on to be but when you’re going through a dark patch it can be hard to remember the good times. This helped me. It helped me realise how lucky I am to have seen the countries I have and to have experienced the experiences I have. It can be hard to stop and think about how our lives aren’t actually that bad. There are people out there who have it horribly worse than us but when you suffer with a mental illness it’s hard to think like that. It’s hard to think that you’re lucky to have a roof over your head, access to clean water and even access to internet. We take a lot of things for granted which others may only be able to dream of having. No matter what you have done in your life, where you have been or things you have seen, stay humble and always be thankful. Whether you thank friends, family, God or the universe. Someone has helped you get to where you are.

Sending my love to you all,

Emma xo