My Story

“I am strong, I am confident, I am resilient, I am weak, I am fragile, and I hurt.” – Max Newman.

What it is to be naive or perhaps young and arrogant towards not only mental strength and health but overall well being. At 20 I was strong, confident and full of resilience and believed mental health was a false precedence for people to use as an excuse for attention or just being lazy.

10 heavy life years later, I got hit with some major life challenges that caused trauma but at that time I had not realised, I just took the knocks and tried to keep going forward. But I never really recovered and became depressed and suffered a major sense of failure. I did my best to hide my metal state from everyone to ensure the overall safety of my personal image to my family, friends and colleagues.

Being stubborn, perhaps still not understanding mental health combined with ignoring advice of others, I broke. The bubble I created protecting my personal image came crashing down after I was hospitalised for trying to do something really selfish and stupid. It was at that point in my life I started to take in the advice of doctors and loved ones. I also took the time to really understand what was wrong with my well being and what was needed to treat it.

In closing, my message to all men suffering mental health, put your pride aside blokes and understand you need some help and its ok to get it, for me my wife was there by my side, she showed me that never giving up on what was important, what really mattered in life and that happiness would prevail. 

“Happiness is always the defeater of your fears!” – Max Newman