I notice that the word influencer is used in social media and general media to mean people who have large followers on many different social platforms and have a great influence over certain groups. These influencers get paid a lot of money by companies/organisations to talk about their products etc.

In this blog I want to reclaim the word influence and talk about those people or books in our lives that have had an influence on us. It may be just one person or book, or it may be a series of people who have influenced you over your life. Sometimes it can be as simple as a smile that encouraged you when you needed it or someone who inspired you by how they lived their life, or words you needed to hear when you were feeling down.

One day when I was trying to explain to the tutor why I had not done my assignment, he said he knew I knew the work so we would talk about it and he would give me a mark on the talk. He told me he knows how hard it can be when one is down to finish assignments as he was way behind in his masters degree. I still struggled when depressed through my studies but I remember how much his understanding meant at  a time when few people understood mental health.

Leah 

A Moodscope member