Posted on June 1, 2026
TW: mentions of depression and pet loss/grief.
As I’ve said in previous posts, I love a good photo challenge and I really liked the prompts posted for May: I felt like they allowed for more creativity than some of the previous months have (hence why I didn’t end up doing or finishing them) and, as a result, I enjoyed the challenge a lot more. I started the month in a really deep bit of depression so it wasn’t the worst thing for me to have something to do each day, even if it was as simple as finding something to take a photo off, and then, as I came out of that pit, it served as a good way to remember what a very hectic but also really special month…
Category: animals, anxiety, autism, autism dog, book, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, depression, emotions, event, family, favourites, mental health, music, pots, special interests, therapy, writing Tagged: 2026, 30 day photo challenge, asd, assistance dog, autism, autism assistance dog, autism dog, autism spectrum disorder, autistic, autistic adult, black labrador, cat, cat family, cat grief, cat loss, chronic fatigue, chronic illness, chronic pain, concert, crafting, criminal minds, criminal minds evolution, dentist, depression, dinosaur, dinosaur series 1, disabled, disabled adult, dog, dysregulation, emily prentiss, emotional dysregulation, emotional regulation, erin lecount, family of cats, fan culture, fangirl, fidget toy, friendship bracelets, grief, heatwave, hot weather, inter alia, labrador, leeds, live music, may 2026, may photo challenge, nervous system, pet grief, pet loss, photo a day challenge, photo challenge, poetry, poetry orchard, poetry workshop, red bull, redbull, regulation, service dog, sewing, somatic therapy, specialist dental clinic, specialist dentist, stimming, tangle, temperature dysregulation, temperature regulation, therapy, treatment resistant depression
Posted on April 18, 2026
TW: pet illness, pet death, pet loss, and pet grief.
This post is very late. At the beginning of July last year, my beloved cat, Lucy, suddenly had to be put to sleep; and when I say suddenly, I mean I found out on the Tuesday and had to take her into the vet for the final time on the Wednesday. It was a horrible, deeply distressing experience that I still don’t feel like I’ve recovered from and then, suddenly, I was thrust into my EP release and all of the work that came with that. But the year went downhill with a pinched nerve in my back and an awful, painful stomach problem, both of which went on for months. So, although it was great to finally have my EP, Too Much And Not Enough, Vol. 1, out in the world, it was a very stressful, very difficult six months and I just haven’t had the energy, the emotion, or the executive function to write about this until now. I wrote about half of this before everything else really took me out of commission and then I had to spend months on my back, trying to recover but in too much pain, feeling too sick, and on such strong medication that I couldn’t think clearly enough to write anything at all. But I still wanted to get this finished and posted because it was a really significant experience, a really difficult time with a lot of difficult emotions to try and manage. I’m still working through it and to not write about it feels a little like I’m doing Lucy a disservice. That’s probably not super healthy but it is how I feel right now. So I’ve finished writing this post and I’m putting it up…
Category: animals, death, emotions, family, mental health Tagged: cat, family of cats, family pet, grief, pet death, pet grief, pet illness, pet loss, soul cat, tabby cat
Posted on March 8, 2026
It has been such a long time since I last did a photo challenge that I actually forgot how much I enjoyed them until I was searching for something on my blog and came across an old post, an old photo challenge. I really enjoyed looking back through it and decided it was time to do another one.
So here we are. This is my January in photos.
Category: about me, adhd, animals, book, chronic pain, emotions, exercise, family, favourites, food, heds, sleep, special interests, university, writing Tagged: 30 day challenge, 30 day photo challenge, adhd, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, avatar: the last airbender, bingo board, bullet journal, cats, content creation, dog, family of cats, guitar, independent artist, insomnia, kalie shorr, keyboard, luminous, neurodivergent, photo challenge, physiotherapy, piano, pomchi, puppy, red bull, redbull, silvia park, singersongwriter, sleep, songwriter, songwriting, sweets, tattoo

Hi! I’m Lauren Alex Hooper. Welcome to my little blog! I write about living with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, OCD, CPTSD, depression, and anxiety, as well as other health issues including hEDS and POTS.
I’m an alt-pop singer-songwriter (it’s my biggest special interest and I have both a BA and MA in songwriting) and my most recent EP, Too Much And Not Enough, Vol. 1, is available on all music platforms and is the first in the series of works based on my experiences as an autistic person.
Finding Hope