Wild Orange Wellbeing - Tanika McLennan

29/12/2025

21/12/2025

I feel like this year I’ve had more conversations with people about the challenges they’re facing at Christmas than ever before. The family members who aren’t talking, the first Christmas after the loss of a loved one or a recent breakup… those things are all amplified by the time of year.

If this season feels heavy for you, please know you’re not alone… and there’s nothing wrong with you for feeling the way you do. You don’t have to force joy, gratitude or togetherness if it doesn’t feel true. Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is simply meet yourself where you are.

Be gentle with yourself. Reach out if you can. Rest if you need to. And remember that Christmas doesn’t have to look a certain way to still be meaningful.

Sending extra kindness to anyone finding this time of year a little harder than usual ❤️

20/12/2025

He’d been in situations in the past where nothing he ever did was good enough. He tried so hard to keep the peace that he stopped speaking up for himself. He sacrificed everything because he thought that’s what a good man did… but it still wasn’t enough.

It made him resentful.
It made him feel like something was wrong with him.
It made him believe he wasn’t lovable.

He’s terrified of repeating the cycle so when he starts to feel too close to someone, he shuts down… not because he doesn’t care but because he’s trying to avoid losing himself again. He’s avoiding the deep pain of not feeling good enough.

She’d been in situations in the past where she wasn’t safe. She learned to stay alert, to notice every tiny shift in his mood. She believed that if she could just love him enough, she could fix things. She tried so hard. She sacrificed everything.

But it didn’t work.
It made her question why her love wasn’t enough.
It left her feeling abandoned, rejected and like something was wrong with her.

She’s terrified of repeating the cycle so she stays hyper-vigilant and looks for constant reassurance that the relationship is safe… she’s trying to avoid the deep pain of abandonment.

And then they met each other.
She saw how grounded and steady he was and she was drawn to him.
He saw how alive and passionate she was and he was drawn to her.

What happened next depended entirely on whether they were willing to heal together… or repeat the same old cycles in a new relationship.

18/12/2025

A 4.00 o’clock start this morning called for a 70’s 80’s and 90’s concert on the way home to keep me awake… heavy on the 80’s 😆 How many can you name?

17/12/2025

I love a summer storm and this one was a ripper!

15/12/2025

Most people aren’t thinking about you the way you think they are.

They’re busy replaying their own conversations, worrying about their own insecurities, wondering if they said the wrong thing, looked the wrong way, or were enough.

The thing you’re overthinking?
They’ve already moved on.

So wear the thing. Say the thing. Try the thing.
Live your life a little more freely, knowing everyone else is too caught up in their own inner world to be judging yours.

Permission to exhale ❤️

14/12/2025

A mother’s love teaches us how to be held.
A father’s love teaches us how to stand.

One nurtures, soothes and reminds us we are safe to rest.
The other prepares us for the world… how to face consequences, hold our ground and walk into the storm with courage.

When both are present and healthy, we learn balance:
how to soften and how to be strong,
how to receive love and how to protect ourselves.

And when one was missing or inconsistent, healing becomes about integrating both within ourselves… learning to nurture our own hearts while also becoming steady enough to weather life.

Strength doesn’t cancel tenderness.
They’re meant to grow together. 🌱

13/12/2025

I’m not going to lie, “busy is a choice” is something I struggle with… I still get caught up in the “obligations” of work, family and friends and this year in particular, I’ve found that pretty challenging to balance. My morning cuppa and chill time has been my one non negotiable. It’s my peaceful time in the morning before the pressures of the day kick in… do you schedule downtime in your day?

11/12/2025

I know what it’s like to feel unsafe, unseen and unheard as a child. To learn early that showing your feelings could get you hurt. To grow up protecting yourself, shutting down, surviving.

Healing for me has been about reclaiming that protection… being the safe, loving presence my younger self desperately needed. Showing up for me, now.

It’s not about blaming anyone. It’s about finally giving myself what I wasn’t able to receive as a child and in doing so, feeling a little more whole every day. ❤️

If this resonates, drop a ❤️ and remember: you can be your own protector too.

10/12/2025

If you disconnect when you’re hurting, it doesn’t mean you’re cold or uncaring. It means there was a time — probably very young — where you learned nobody was coming. So you adapted. You handled it yourself. You became self reliant, strong, contained. It was survival.

Avoidant attachment isn’t the absence of emotion… it’s emotion with nowhere safe to land.

Healing looks like:

✨ Noticing when you shut down instead of judging yourself
✨ Letting one safe person in, slowly
✨ Practising sharing small feelings before the big ones
✨ Reminding your nervous system that support can exist
✨ Replacing “I’m fine” with “I’m struggling, but I’m here with it”

You don’t have to force vulnerability overnight.
Just soften the door a little. Crack the window.
Let people earn their way in… not crash through it.

You were left to handle things alone before. But you don’t have to live alone on the inside forever.

If this resonates, you’re healing. And that’s something to be proud of.

Drop a ❤️ if you’re learning to let people in… slowly, safely, gently.

07/12/2025

I don’t make the rules 🤷🏼‍♀️

07/12/2025

The way people treat you usually says more about them than it does about you!