Yesterday, on writesaidfred.org, I published an essay It’s Good To Talk about depression. This updated piece was predominantly written a couple of years ago when I was more guarded about suffering from mental health issues. A time when, in a badly veiled attempt to maintain my anonymity, I’d refer to the sufferer as ‘a friend’. As it’s still Mental Health Awareness Week, I thought I’d re-share some musings on the same […]
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK. As someone who’s experienced the all-consuming joylessness of depression I felt it’d be remiss of me not to pen my thoughts on the subject during the days aimed at raising the profile of mental illness. Below I enclose an updated version of an essay I wrote two years ago on the subject of mental health. A time when I was more guarded […]
Occasionally I’ll listen to movie scores on Apple Music. I find the act of experiencing these suites of music without pictured accompaniments concentrates the mind into a more focussed evaluation of their artistic integrity. Allowing a more informed critique supporting the merits of the audio underpinning the film; an element often inadvertently ignored by an audience distracted by the unfolding onscreen action. Recent examples of my listening choices include an […]
In recent years I’ve embraced a more contrarian nature than previously adopted during earlier adult life. Middle-age granting me the wisdom that staying true to my beliefs were an infinitely preferable bedfellow to compromising principles to curry favour. The latter displays of appeasement frustratingly occasionally granted to people completely unworthy of my respect. My former behaviour manifesting from a misguided belief I was following a laudable strategy to improve/maintain popularity. […]
At one stage yesterday evening I found myself watching US drama Dexter in parallel to listening to Edward Elgar’s classic orchestral work Nimrod (Enigma Variations). As entertainment multi-tasking is unusual behaviour for yours truly, on completion of Nimrod I began mulling over the significance of this break from the status quo (no not the band!). In particular, pondering what psychiatrist’s would make of my amalgamation of a fictional Floridian serial […]
As I’m unable to drive until Friday, this morning my mum cadged a lift from family friend Jo to visit yours truly, her eldest offspring. No doubt frightened she’s been missing out on something in the week and a bit since I last saw her, on arrival the old lady interrogated me at length about my post-heart attack lifestyle. This ‘interview’ included checking the fridge and kitchen cupboards for signs […]
Mercifully, this morning I feel in significantly better health than yesterday when I turned in at 8.30pm. A time when loosening catarrh caused my nose to stream so extravagantly I was in need of the nasal equivalent of the Hoover Dam. Sadly, as there’s no such this as the nasal version of the Hoover Dam, I was forced to stem the mucus flow with four boxes of Kleenex tissues and, […]
