My Journey
I was born in 1951 in Tumut, Southern N.S.W. At age 19 yrs I moved to QLD, where I met Lynn, my wife to be. The Army came calling in September 1971, and Lynn and i married in May 1972.
We have 2 children and 3 grandchildren. Lynn has suffered from Grand Mal epilepsy for most of her life, and the impact of this horrible affliction steadily reduced her physical health to the point where I became her full-time carer in 2008. She has been permanently in a wheelchair since 2017.
It was around this time that I had some serious heart issues, which noticeably reduced my physical health. Following this, I encountered suicidal depression in my sub-conscious mind. This was a real shock and very confronting.
After struggling with the issue for a couple of months, I sort counselling from my local GP practice, where the senior nurse was very experienced in mental health issues. Eventually, I realised that I needed more than counselling. Serotonin is the chemical in our brain which controls our moods, and deficiency in this chemical can lead to suicidal depression.
The medication prescribed to me very quickly changed my whole persona, with calmness dominating my moods, which were for the previous 66 years of my life very volatile.
Having lived the depression experience, I resolved to use my writing and speaking abilities to educate people about depression. I am also very happy about walking the walk of depression and learning how to deal with it, because it has made caring for Lynn much easier. My previous volatile temperament was not suitable for a caring role.
In 2021 I was encouraged to join Beyond Blue as a volunteer speaker, and this has been a very rewarding time.
I started my blog as a way to help more people who may have Mental Health problems. My biggest inspiration is my wife, who encouraged me to start writing so I can reach out to as many people as I can, as depression and suicide do not discriminate, it can affect anyone at any point in their life.
Visual Narratives: A Journey Through My Lens
