Setting the scene

Let me take you back in time to the year of 1981, just 14 years after the sexual offences act of 1967 decriminalised Homosexuality in England. A time where many gay people were celebrating the fact that they no longer had to hide who they were.

Then, as if out of the blue Men who have sex with men (MSM) started getting very sick. On the 5th June 1981 the US centre for disease control published an article on cases of lung infections called pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). This also included cases of other infections, suggesting that their immune systems compromised.

Over time multiple other publications also reported patients with cases of immunodeficiency and an associated, but rare and aggressive cancer called Kaposi’s Sarcoma (KS). Throughout all of, this gay man were dying. There was no cure, and no one knew why! By the early 1980s, researchers strongly suspected sexual transmission, and between 1983–1984 the virus (HIV) had been identified. Before this the condition was coined as “gay cancer” or “Gay-related immunudeficiency”(GRID).

On the 4th July, 1982, a man called Terrance Higgins dies due to AIDS, this led to the creation of the Terrence Higgins Trust which you may have heard of. The term AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) was then introduced in July 1982, and by the 24th March 1986, 58 early cases of AIDS-related deaths had been officially recorded in Britain.

But what is HIV, and how is it different to AIDS?

HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system, causing it to weaken. This can then cause AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) if it is not treated. AIDS results in a severely damaged immune system and extreme vulnerability to infections.

Initial symptoms can include Flu like symptoms, fever, swollen lymph nodes, a sore throat, red skin rashes, muscle and joint pain and headaches. you can also be asymptomatic.

If the condition progresses to AIDS, symptoms may include rapid weight loss, recurring fevers or night sweats, digestive issues, and extreme, unexplained tiredness. As AIDS destroys the immune system, further symptoms from infections can also occur.

The impact on the Gay community

So many Gay people were (and still are) ostracised from their family due to their sexuality, so when they became ill, they often had no one to turn to for care but each other. The lesbian community, however, played a significant role in supporting their gay friends, from providing bedside care, delivering meals, forming blood drives and being a shoulder to cry on as you watched on while all of your friends died around you.

At the time many people also thought that HIV/AIDS was transmissible by touch but thankfully this was debunked in 1983 by the CDC, but public fear still persisted well into the 1980’s.

In 1987, Dianna, Princess of Wales caused a media frenzy when she decided to shake hands with a patient at the UK's first dedicated HIV/AIDS unit without gloves, this was a huge statement at the time, as many people were still afraid to touch those with the virus.

When could we test for it?

On the 2nd March 1985, the first commercial ELISA antibody blood test was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for HIV testing. As you can imagine, many people rushed to get tested.

How many people really died?

In the UK we know that over 100,000 Gay and bisexual men died during the first 25 years of the HIV/AIDS crisis. However, the real number is expected to be far greater. We are unsure about the percentage of Gay men who died in the UK, but a study in the US showed that 10% of gay men ages 25-44 in ‘certain cities’ died. Imagine one in ten of your friends dying in front of your eyes, not knowing if you would be next.

If you want to see the raw and real impact of the HIV crisis, but you don’t have time machine, I would strongly recommend watching ‘it’s a sin’ on channel 4 (UK). It is a limited series set between 1981-1991 surrounding a friendship group during the peak of the crisis. It is a very harrowing watch, and you will cry a lot but I believe that it is a really important watch. I have linked it at the bottom of the article.

How did we stop it killing people?

From 1985, testing for HIV became available; however, there was still no way to prevent death after infection. It was not until 11 years later, in 1996, that Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was introduced. This transformed HIV from fatal illness to a manageable condition. The combination of medications works by stopping the virus from replicating, reducing the amount of HIV in the blood to low or undetectable levels.

Since then, significant strides have been made in HIV management. A medication called PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) was licensed in the UK in August 2016. This medication lowers the risk of contacting HIV by around 99% and only required you to take one tablet a day.

There is still no cure for HIV, but research is still ongoing. n 2020, the UK Health Security Agency found that heterosexual diagnoses accounted for 49% of new cases, compared to 45% for gay and bisexual men. This was the first time (aside from a brief period in 1999) that heterosexual diagnoses overtook those among gay and bisexual men.

Why this matters when discussing the “rise” of homosexuality in Gen Z.

I agree that huge strives have been made, even since I left secondary education in 2015. It is far more accepted to be gay now than when I was a teenager, a fact I am both grateful for and, at times, envious of.

However, as with many things, increased acceptance means more people feel able to explore and express who they are, rather than hiding that part of themselves. This naturally leads to more people coming out, and therefore more visible numbers. That does not mean more gay people exist.

As mentioned earlier, another factor to consider is that many gay people in the 1980s and 1990s died during the HIV/AIDS crisis. This leaves me with a heavy heart, not only because of the avoidable loss of so many lives, but also, selfishly, because there are so few older gay role models for people like me. The lack of visibility of older gay people casts a shadow over my future. What will life be like when I’ve been married to a man for years and we grow old together? I hope to find out, but perhaps I will never fully know, due to the erasure of that part of queer history.

The end…

Well that was a long one! Congratulations for making it to the end of my ramblings, which I absolutely did not write to procrastinate an essay that is due!

There are lots of things that I could not cover in this article, or else it would be far too long. However, I wish to at least acknowledge a few things and this includes…

• The huge level of support that lesbian women provided to gay men (which is why the LGBTQ+ community starts with an L)

• That until 2007, with the introduction of the equality act (sexual orientation regulations) in 2007 it was not illegal to discriminate against gay people in certain cases.

• The Disaster that was HIV transmissions caused due to blood transfusions.

• That the Early response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic was significantly delayed due to political reluctance and societal homophobia which absolutely caused unnecessary deaths.

• UK schooling does not require covering the HIV/AIDS crisis other than discussions surrounding safe sex and U=U.

With Love, Owen x

The cool links at the end…

• If you want to learn about the timeline of HIV and aids click here

• To read about the Terrance Higgins trust click here

• To watch ‘it’s a sin’ on Channel 4 click here

• To learn about PrEP and Doxy-PEP click here

• For resources to support you through a HIV diagnosis click here

• To find local STD testing centres in the UK click here

For those of you that don’t follow me elsewhere, I make journaling content on TikTok. Every week I have a show and tell situation where I flick through all of the pages that I have written and painted in that week, for some reason 120,000+ people follow me.

I would describe my journaling style as creative chaos. I love to write about my day, and I try to also draw something that I see every day to go alongside it. My aim is to both paint something that otherwise would pass me by, and to remind myself to take time to stop and think about the bigger picture because i’m surrounding myself with so many beautiful moments if I just stopped and looked.

Alongside this style of journaling I also make some super fun lists of things that I think about. This week I made one on questions that I have asked my boyfriend recently, including ‘if one of us had to be turned into a giraffe for a year, which one of us do you think would be best suited for the task?’ .It is not only interesting to look back on in the future but also quite funny to write each week, and brings me a laugh.

I also dabble in some light junk journaling, by this I mean that I sometimes stick things into my journal and then get glue on my pages and get angry when they stick together. I also have a mini photo printer (I use a HP sprocket plus) which has sticky back photo paper which makes my life so much easier when I want to stick pictures in!

But is it an invasion of privacy?

When you take a step back and think about it, it does seem like an incredible invasion of my privacy for millions of people a week to not only read my writing, but also to hear me talk about all the things I write about.

I am so very grateful to not only be provided an audience of this magnitude, but also that I get to inspire people to do something creative and artistic, it feels as if I am providing a little something of good to someone around the world, and that means so very much to me!

To some level I do worry that sharing all of this will come back and bite me, I try really hard to be as raw, real and candid as I can, because to me it’s important to show the realities of your life as well as the good bits.

Because I am putting myself out there, and because I don’t like to look back on bad memories I have a separate journal which is rather ‘burn book’ of me where I can write about anything that I don’t want the world to see. This includes work drama, when I'm feeling bad or i’ve not had a good day, projects I'm working on and anything I don’t really want to share with the internet forever.

I think it is important to have some level of separation between my deep and personal thoughts and feelings and putting them on blast to people who are just one swipe away. There is some level of venerability and authenticity people have sharing both their highs and lows, but I do not feel that I should be expected to provide this at any point.

Inside my journal

I thought that I would take you inside some of my journal entries for this past year so that you can see what I've made, and what normal journaling looks like for me, so here goes!

This is a journal entry that I did in a museum in Leicester when I was there on placement. I find it super helpful when I am in a museum to draw things that I see, not only because it makes me stop and think about what I am looking at, but also because I then have a greater understanding of the things around me. I also get the bonus of people stoping and talking to me about what I'm drawing, which is a great conversation starter!

This is one of my favourite ever journal prompts, ‘if I was in a plane crash with the Telletubbies, this is the order that i’d eat them in.’ It just goes to show that journaling can be fun, it doesn't have to be all so serious and you can justify anything that you want!!

All of these pottery shards are found in the top floor of the V&A ceramics section. I find it amazing that all of these individual pieces were all made by hand by people. just imagine all the hands that have touched them through time! I think that I found a higher level of appreciation for the intricacies and art of creating them when you challenge yourself to draw them, plus it is now a memory sealed in my journal forever!

In this journal entry I looked out of the window at one of my favourite coffee shops (EspressMo in Kensington) and just dew some things that I saw, I didn’t have much inspiration, but then I could use it to formulate the text around it to express what I was thinking at the time, even if it was unrelated to what I drew!

London gallery weekend is one of the best free events to do in London every year, where free galleries are opened to the public that would otherwise be closed! So, of course I cut all the galleries I went to out and stuck them in. I also made a road map to show the (very rainy) trip we took that day! It just goes to show that you can have fun, be creative and also write about your day without it all having to be text or intricate drawings!

I try my best to stop and look at all the thing that I see every day and pick one thing to draw, and this time it was a lamp post with graffiti that said ‘do you fear your mother’ in this cool script. That had to go into my journal, as well as what I got up to that day, including thrilling things such as my Aldi food shop experience, because anything is fair game in your journal!

I went on live and did this drawing with recommendations of pens to use from my viewers, it was really fun to create something like this while everyone watched, with no way to cover up any mistakes in the process, it was very freeing and fun!

But my journal doesn’t look perfect!

People trying to make journaling look perfect is a real bug bear of mine. The journals you often see online are impossibly intricate, with stunning creativity and design and a very specific style. They also never seem to have smudged ink on their pages or mistakes in their writing, and that could just never be me.

This is the one thing that I do really think holds people back from truly making their journals a personal expression of who they are and what they’ve done. Don’t get me wrong, I love to get inspiration from other peoples styles, however there is a difference between getting inspiration and instead comparing your work to that of others. Other people’s journaling will look different to yours, and that’s ok!

Overconsumption

Overconsumption is also a huge issue in the journaling community. It is often that you see people buying so much stuff, showing you pens and items that they actually do not need. I try to consciously buy things that I either need, or things that are replacing items that have run out, partly because I am a student and cannot afford to shell out on lots, but also because to some level I believe that I should be setting an example to all of you watching, that you really do only need a pen and a notebook to get started!

To summarise

All of that is to say, I love to show you all what I make each week, please do get inspiration from my work, but also know that if my journal is allowed to be messy, so is yours! Enjoy it, make it fun, and never worry that it doesn't look ‘picture perfect’

With love, Owen x

I wanted to talk about what I make, but also how I feel about posing my inner thoughts so publicly!

When you put yourself publicly online you expect some level of hate comments, however what I find rather interesting is the amount of them that seek to attack my apparent lack of masculinity.

Recently I received a comment on a video about journaling that said ‘God forbid if England was at war any time soon.’ It is fascinating that someone genuinely believes that writing down my thought and feelings every day, or how I look and talk is enough to decide on my level of masculinity.

Firstly, masculinity is a social construct. There may be societal expectations about what therefore makes a man, however over time these expectations and standard have vastly changed.

Let me take you on a trip back in time to discuss some things that were originally perceived as masculine, which now are not due to changing cultural expectations of what it is to be ‘a man’.

High Heels

High heels are the first thing that came to mind when I was thinking about this topic. High heels were used by men in 10th-century Persia, male cavalry soldiers wore heeled boots so that they could lock their feet into their stirrups, keeping them steady while shooting arrows on horseback.

Crop tops

Crop tops were made popular for men in the 1970’s by both American football players and bodybuilders. Crop tops dominated gyms as they had rules requiring a shirt when inside, however cropping it was an easy way to create a loophole and keep cool. For the same reason American footballers took on the crop top. A combination of these factors led to celebrity musicians wearing them on stage in the 1980’s, further popularising the trend. It is therefore fascinating that a garment that was popularised by arguably the most societally accepted standard of masculinity can now be perceived as feminine.

Handbags

The first discovered handbag belonged to Ötzi the Iceman, a preserved natural mummy of a Copper Age man who was discovered in an Ötztal Alps glacier in September 1991. He was dated to 3300BC and is Europe's oldest known natural human mummy.

His handbag was made of calfskin and was attached to him with a leather belt. His bag contained a flint scraper, bone awl, flaking tool, and dried tinder fungus. Sadly he did not have a Power bank, Burt’s Bees vanilla lip balm, a perfume atomiser or some bubble mint gum in is bag, so he can’t have been much use on a night out.

Makeup

Makeup is another divisive topic for the history books, in 4000 BCE Egyptians used black pigment eyeliner to show their masculinity, In the 1st century AD men painted their nails and used blush, and in Elizabethan England white powder was used by men to make their skin appear lighter , it was made with lead though, so maybe let’s move past it!

Wigs

The wigs will really be snatched with this one, but wigs were used in Ancient Egypt by men and women to protect their heads from lice and the sun.

A large popularisation of wigs occurred in the 1600’s due to King Louis XIII of France and his successor Louis XIV. They used wigs to cover premature hair loss and mask illness from lice infestations to syphilis outbreaks. You could therefore argue that wigs are male gender affirming care.

Of course they became a fashion accessory (especially when they were powdered) when European noblemen in the 18th century adopted them as high-status formal wear. They became very large and elaborately designed, because why half ass something when you could instead do it with your full ass? This trend then spread to courts, militaries, and of course the founding fathers.

One of the best things to come out of the wig boom was the Dr Who Episode ‘The girl in the fireplace” which happens to be one of my all time favourite episodes. It is set between a time window on a spaceship and 18th century France, when clockwork repair droids wearing wigs are trying to cut up Madame De Pompadour for parts. Of course they go undercover in full 18th century get up. It’s a wonderful and hilarious stand alone episode to watch!

Stockings

It’s time to pull your socks up and realise that stockings were originally a menswear item. In the 12th century European men used them instead of tunics when horse riding as stockings were much more practical.

The renaissance (the period, not the Beyonce album) brought with it a new style which the Internet would coin rather ‘berries and cream’, consisting of doublets (a tight fitting jacket) and breeches (trousers that end just below the knee) with skintight hose.

In this period, muscular calves were seen as the ultimate display of masculinity and status. Henry VIII used to love showing his off, and I guess if you’ve got it why not flaunt it?

The colour pink

Historically, pink was a colour for boys. Unlike the bright and passionate red, pink was seen as softer but just as powerful, why would you not want that for your son? It was not until the 1940’s-1950’s that pink became a ‘girls colour’, partly due to capitalism, as then you can make blue and pink clothing and make more money!

Wristwatches

Wristwatches were perceived as jewellery when compared to the peak of masculinity that is a pocket watch. In the 19th century, due to aviation, war and shipping, wristwatches were developed for men. I do agree that pulling out a pocket watch while flying a plane sounds like much more of a risk than twisting your wrist. But what do I know?

The First World War (1914-1918) made wristwatches much more socially acceptable.‘Trench watches’ were provided as standard issue, because coordinated attacks required precise timing. Why does war always change so much?

To conclude, perception of not only masculinity, but also any from of gender expression is relative and relevant to not only the society around us but also views at the time. This is constantly changing, for this reason stating something lacks masculinity not only is incorrect and ridiculous, it also negates the historical perception of said object or task.

Further reading is below…

With love, Owen x

• To read about makeup and gender click here

• To learn more about the iceman click here

• To read about the gender history of pink click here

Recently I received a comment on a video about journaling that said ‘God forbid if England was at war any time soon.’ It is fascinating that someone genuinely believes that writing down my thought and feelings every day, or how I look and talk is enough to decide on my level of masculinity.

Firstly, masculinity is a social construct. There may be societal expectations about what therefore makes a man, however over time these expectations and standard have vastly changed.

Let me take you on a trip back in time to discuss some things that were originally perceived as masculine, which now are not due to changing cultural expectations of what it is to be ‘a man’.

• To read about makeup and gender click here 

• To learn more about the iceman click here 

• To read about the gender history of pink click here 

Keyboards are really poorly designed, but because you don’t stop and look at it, or know any better you don’t realise it. Let me tell you what I have discovered during my deep dive!

The Beginning…

Originally QWERTY keyboards were designed for typewriters in 1870. They settled on that layout as prior to this, keys that were next to each other and regularly used in quick succession were jamming due to the way a typewriter worked.

This was because a typewriter worked by having letter keys attached to a metal type bar. When the key was pressed the type bar would then swing up from the machine and stamp the letter that you pressed onto the page. when these keys were pressed next to each other the type bars collided and this is what caused the machine to jam. The QWERTY keyboard solved this problem by placing commonly used letters far apart from each other, unfortunately however, this does make for a terrible writing experience.

What should a well designed keyboard look like?

A well designed keyboard should look significantly different to a traditional QWERTY design. The main principles of good keyboard design are to..

• Have your most used keys along the home row

• Make more frequently used keys less of a reach

• Put more frequency used keys around stronger fingers

• Alternate key use from left to right hand

But what does that even mean, and what is a home row?

The home row is the position your fingers sit in on the keyboard when they are at rest. On a QWERTY keyboard those are keys ASDFJKL; It makes sense that the most used letters are therefore easier to access as your fingers are above them. For the same reason placing less common, but still fairly regularly used keys in places that are easy to reach will also make typing easier.

The human Index and middle fingers are, in most cases the larger and stronger fingers. Therefore above, below and next to these fingers should be where the less commonly used keys are placed. All of the barely used keys should then be placed at the extremes of your index fingers such as Z, Q and J.

One other thing to consider is that the letter placement should alternate between your left and right hand. This is so that you use them evenly as to not cause fatigue. But, more importantly it puts your typing into a better rhythm.

Keyboards around the world

Countries around the world use different styles of letters, alphabets and languages, this causes keyboard designs to be different dependant on where you are living. I thought I would briefly touch on my favourite keyboard and also my favourite adaptation of a QWERTY keyboard to suit another language and alphabet.

My favourite keyboard is the Cyrillic Russian keyboard because it just looks so beautiful, and so very different to the language that I know.

The Chinese adaption to the QWERTY keyboard is something that I have always admired. The traditional keyboard is used, but it uses something called Pinyin which gets you to type the Chinese word phonetically in the latin alphabet. Then, once you have phonetically typed your word, the keyboard will pop up with suggestions of the word that it thinks you want to say which you can then select. There are also alternative keyboard options that work differently, including one that lets you handwrite the mandarin characters.

How past innovation can hold us back

This topic does make me ponder a greater question, to what level do past innovations hold us back from future progression? When something gets normalised and standardised in society it then becomes to some level overlooked, and this is a problem!

How many changes to past designs have been made to provide better safety, ergonomics, faster systems or even completely rewriting what it means to be a product, such as with the first ever iPhone. Should we let how something that has ‘always been designed that way’ hold us back from doing better?

Previous innovations in technology such as the UK plug socket have provided world leading electrical safety. The radio made communication not only easy to access, but also accessible for those that could not read a newspaper. With all of these changes we have developed and grown as a society, my worry is that we get held back by complacency, when there is nothing feels like it needs to change, innovation gets stagnant. Can you think of something you’d innovate today?

As always, I would be interested to hear your thoughts and links to videos and articles can be found below!

With love, Owen x

• To learn about typewriters click here

• To see keyboard around the world click here

• To learn about typewriters click here

• To see keyboard around the world click here

It is crazy to think that in 2026 we are having to talk about not drinking unpasteurised milk, yet here we are. Recently, I have seen a spike in people promoting drinking raw milk for its alleged ‘health benefits’ when compared to its pasteurised counterparts.

But what is pasteurisation?

Pasteurisation is a process developed by Louis Pasteur in 1865. The aim is to heat food and drink to a mild temperature in order to kill pathogens and extend the shelf life. The first recorded use of pasteurisation was in China in AD 1117 when it was used to heat wine in order to preserve it.

When pasteurising milk, the temperature is raised to less than 100º celsius. There are several methods for pasteurising milk, the most common options are to either heat milk to 72ºC for 15 seconds, which is called high temperature short time (HTST) or to 63ºC for 30 minutes, which is called low temperature long time (LTLT). Below you can see a chart with all of the options available.

Why do we even need to do it?

I promise that pasteurisation is not done just for a laugh or an unnecessary extra step. It is an essential part of public safety. Prior to the standardisation of pasteurisation, many people died due to infected milk. An estimated 800,000 people died between 1850-1950 due to Tuberculosis (TB) and other pathogens caused by infected milk. Some examples include typhoid, enteritis, diphtheria, scarlet fever and many others.

Tuberculosis (TB) was a major public health crisis in the UK, causing approximately 15% of all deaths in Britain in the mid-19th century. Due to safety measured implemented (including requiring pasteurisation of milk) by 1950 this dropped to 2.5% of the population.

The law changed in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 1985, making it illegal to sell unpasteurised milk in retail shops and supermarkets. However, direct sales from the producer (at a farm, farm shop, or farmers' market) with mandatory health warnings is still legal.

Although anyone can be affected, Some groups, such as children under 5, pregnant People, People over 65, and people with weakened immune systems are at a higher risk of serious illness.

Journalism vs Influencers

‘Influencers’ have recently been promoting the consumption of raw milk, claiming it has “more health benefits” and is “less processed.” In reality, pasteurised milk can taste “cleaner,” while raw milk is often described as “richer.” This difference is because heating removes sharp or oxidised fat flavours.

I am firm believer that if we have proven clinical evidence showing that drinking raw milk poses a health risk, which can lead to death, and if the government has effectively restricted its sale, and that when we intervened to provide better milk safety the numbers of people who died due to infected milk greatly decreased, then we should be sensible. Even if some people prefer the taste, it is not worth risking our health for a truly insignificant compromise.

The conundrum I have is this: what do we do about people posting misleading health information while presenting themselves as experts?

Traditional journalists are regulated by the IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation) which Enforces the Editors' Code of Practice print and digital newspapers. This required publications to be accurate; avoid distortion, and quickly publish corrections or retractions when errors occur. Ofcom also regulates TV and radio broadcasters under the Broadcasting Code, which enforces rules on accuracy and impartiality in news.

Journalists therefore are far less likely to publish misleading or incorrect information, not only because they are ethically bound not to, but also because there are consequences if they do. In contrast, anyone can pick up a phone, record a video, and share their views without accountability.

With the rise of social media, we have ushered in a new ways of receiving news, one that changes depending on an algorithms, one where we trust the charter of the ‘influencer’ that we relate to more than we would a regular columnist in a newspaper. They are someone we ‘know’ after all! Some of these ‘influencers’ even have a larger platform than that of traditional news outlets.

This raises an important question: if social media were regulated in the same way as journalism, how close would that come to restricting freedom of expression? I believe that when it comes to public health, especially in areas supported by strong evidence, there should be some level of accountability. Where misinformation has the potential to cause harm, there should be consequences for those who spread it.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts in the comments, and as always, any links to further information can be found below.

The further reading part…

• To read about information from the international dairy food association (IDFA) click here

• To read about the battle for safe milk (UK) click here

• To watch milk get pasteurised click here

• TO read CDC Guidance on raw milk click here

• To learn about the IPSO click here

With love, Owen x

• To read about information from the international dairy food association (IDFA) click here

• To read about the battle for safe milk (UK) click here

• To watch milk get pasteurised click here

• TO read CDC Guidance on raw milk click here

• To learn about the IPSO click here

Journaling has been a constant in my life for over a decade, but it used to be something that I kept to myself. This year, I opened up my journal to the world and my life changed because of it.

At the start of the year I made a new years resolution to pick up a pencil, some watercolours and learn to paint. Before this, I hadn’t painted or drawn anything since pre-GCSE art classes. It really built on my new years resolution from last year, which was to do things that I'm not good at and be ok with it. It’s a brilliant one to keep in your back pocket for when you’re scrambling to come up with a resolution at the end of December that doesn’t revolve around food, exercise, or being hard on yourself. I would strongly recommend it as an option!

Because I knew that I was very much not the person that could stick to drawing without making myself accountable, I decided to make the most logical decision and instead of telling my friends or family about it, I decided to make a video documenting "what I made in may journal this week”.

Slowly but surely my following grew. At the time of writing I have amassed over 100,000 followers over the last seven months. However, the other (and much more important thing to me) that grew was my artistic talent and a community of people learning that they don’t have to be perfect, but instead that they can give something a go, knowing that no one will judge them.

A lot of my journaling content is a little bit silly and a lot of fun. I make playful and silly list on topics that really aren’t significant such as “why I'm mad at my boyfriend”, “which fruit would be friends in a fruit bowl” to “things that I don’t understand”. I also make up prompts in my head such as “designing my own mythical creature” or “silly news articles I saw this week”.

Part of the reason I think I have gained so much traction is because I try my best to make my content approachable, accessible and down-to-earth. I always show my face in my video and stick to my journaling niche. I often wonder whether I’d have gained as many views if I didn’t have such curly hair or a recognisable face. The internet loves someone that’s easy to pick out of the crowd and I believe that is very much the box that my face ticks - may that be for better or worse!

My journal is an outlet and outflow of my emotions, feelings and experiences over time. Because of this, I also write about my day as well as painting little things that I saw every day. I try to capture moments I see that might otherwise pass me by, because I want to take a minute to absorb the little things around me and consider that there is a little bit of beauty everywhere you look. It has the added benefit that it forms a snapshot of my life on that day. So when I look back in years from now I can be transported back and to remember and re-live that day.

As a content creator with a platform, I believe that I have some level of responsibility to discuss things that matter. I like to touch on topics which are close to my heart. From content creators not declaring ads (illegal in the UK), the ethics of being a content creator, to bike helmet and cycling safety content. One of the most wonderful things about my niche and community is that, because everything centres around my journal, anything that I write in there is then fair game to make a video on. This really makes integrating my more serious content into my regular posting a little more easy.

Journaling is such an amazing hobby and activity to take up for your mental health. I have received an overwhelming number of messages and comments from people telling me that I have inspired them to write about their day, to make silly lists or to give sketching a little go, this means so much to me. I have also recieved deeply personal messages from people in confidence telling me that my videos pushed them to face their emotions, that it helped them pull themselves out of their mental health crisis and is part of the reason that they are alive and still here today.

I cannot put into words how significant and meaningful being told this is to me. It has completely shifted the way that I make content because I want to make a soft and cosy space for people to know it’s ok to just exist and know that they are worthy of love, that they can do things that may appear scary and moreover, that life gets better when you push through something that may seem a challenge and get out the other side.

I never intended to make content to get “famous” or make money from this. My only goal was to show people what I had been making, to keep myself accountable so that I kept writing every day and also to make a small difference to peoples lives. It’s safe to say that I could not possibly imagine how big this little account had become only seven months later!

So, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Every person that connects or engages with my content reminds me that it really is worth it.

If I could leave you with one piece of advice it would be this: try something new. Dip your toe in the water, knowing you might not be perfect at the start, or ever. But if you enjoy it, that’s what truly matters.

If you would like to have a little nose at the videos I make on TikTok you can watch them Here.

With love, Owen x

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As always, you can read the full article free on my substack at itskingowen.substack.com and the accompanying TikTok video on my account.

With love, Owen x

If you would like to see the full written piece for FREE it is on my substack ◡̈

Please do let me know what you think!

Welcome to my first ever Substack article! I will not be making these regularly; however I think when there’s something I get the urge to write about I will share it here, So enjoy the spontaneous content.

Yesterday I took a trip to the Ashmolean museum in Oxford, as I am in the city for a month on a hospital placement as part of my masters. The Ashmolean happens to be one of my favourite museums, partly because I had my second date with my boyfriend there, but also because love to learn new things. It really does have such a range of artefacts from all around the world making it feel like you are taking a dip into each county’s culture as you step from room to room.

One thing that I love is to take people to museums I enjoy and showing them some of my favourite pieces. Selfishly, I also love to do it to show off a little bit, but I think you’re allowed to have your vices and showing off education feels like a lesser concern.

I do believe education and an interest in the world around you really does shape your character and how you appreciate things around you that would otherwise pass you by. This is why I adore a school holiday museum trip, as they always put on extra interactive events that may be designed for children; however I will be metaphorically elbowing them out of the way so that I can experience it too!

The best one today was in the basement of the Ashmolean where you got to get hands on and touch some ancient coins-because who doesn't like to feel history in their hands? We got to hold all of these coins from all around the world, and it really did make you think about how these will have been touched by so many people throughout history, whether that be for buying bread, swords, slaves or so many other things. It makes you truly realise how small a part of the history of humanity you occupy.

Now, the coin which I was most interested in was the Alexander The Great Silver Tetradrachm. This was made in around 323 BC, when Alexander the Great wanted to standardise coinage. It weighs 17 grams, has a 25mm diameter and is made of solid silver! Historically coins were worth the weight of metal that they were made of and bank notes were just receipts for the amount of gold they were purchased for (but fitting a gold bar In your wallet is much less practical than a £5 note, so it makes sense as to why we moved to paper money).

I did a little Google search on the Royal Mint’s website because I like to work out if I turned into a museum-robbing criminal how financially viable it would be as a business and this coin is currently on auction for £1,550, which is a lot for 17 grams of frankly, quite old silver. I guess it’s the price you Pay for history!

What I find the most interesting about this is that it is actually not Alexander the Great on the coin. It is instead a depiction of Heracles/Hercules depending on if you are Greek or Roman (but that is a discussion for another time!). Alexander’s father, King Philip II, and their ancestors “traced” their bloodline back to Heracles through a mythical founder named Caranus. Due to this he used a depiction of Heracles as himself on his coins.

If you look closely at the coin you can see that Heracles is wearing a lion hide, with its jaws facing towards the right over his head. This is a depiction from mythology showing triumph over the Nemean Lion, whose golden fur could not be pierced by any weapon. Heracles beat it by stunning it with his club and strangling it. Due to the hides impenetrability by sword, he then used its own claws to slice it open and claim the fleece as his prize which he then obviously used as his own impenetrable armour. I bet it was quite nice in the bitter cold, much less heavy than chainmail and it looks more runway ready! I see no flaws in this sustainability mindset.

I could have walked past those coins and thought nothing of them, which I am sure that most of us are guilty of doing with our current currency. But if we stop, take a step back and look at all of the little things around us we can find beauty, education and such a rich history in things that may initially seem insignificant.

I urge you to take yourself to a museum with a notebook, choose a random item, sketch it, then read about it and research the piece you are looking at to get more information (a lot of museums will have a website for just this reason). You will really see the significance of stopping and taking in the little things—and who knows what you might learn!

• If you want to see the coin on sale from the royal mint click here

• If you want to learn about coin making click here

• If you want to know more about the mythology behind Heracles and the lion click here

• You can view all of my journaling content on TikTok here

Thank you so much for reading my ramblings on what I learnt on a Saturday afternoon touching coins. I hope that you found it interesting! Please do let me know what you think in the comment and if you have any other suggestions on what you would like to hear me talk about then I am all ears!

I aim to make it free to access, as I do not feel that any level of education should be behind a paywall (and that includes further education). So please share this around if you found it of interest!

With love, Owen x