This is the ‘Head’ section of the blog, for discussions of mental health and particularly my own experiences. Readers are welcome to comment and share their own. You can also donate to Mind here. The same link is in the main menu.
As far as possible, this discussion will be kept separate from the main LEJoG blog, although sometimes the subject of mental health will be relevant to the walk.
As with the ‘Foot’ blog, links to all posts are in one place below. ‘Head’ blog posts are given the prefix ‘H’ as shown here. Blog post titles follow the convention established in the ‘Foot’ blog, where a direct, unaltered use of the source is shown in quotation marks.
I don’t know if this goes without saying, but you may find some of the written and linked content in this section of the blog distressing to read. Caution is always advised.
NOTE: While I welcome a wide-ranging discussion of mental health issues, mental illness and its impact on lives, I am not here either to advocate any solutions or to judge the situation of others. In particular, I have no professional qualification and can only relate my own experience and the insights I have developed. Please DO NOT use anything here either as a substitute for professional advice or as an alternative to seeking qualified help. Thank you.
FULL LIST OF ‘HEAD’ BLOG POSTS
H1: WALK A MILE IN THEIR SHOES – links to some articles by or about people who have experienced mental health issues. On a blog about walking and mental health, the title speaks for itself!
H2: WALK A MILE IN MINE – the basics of my own mental health experiences, using the previous post as a springboard.
H3: “TO BE HAPPY” – While I am no longer a mental health service user, and haven’t been since the late 2000s, this post is about how those experiences affect my current state of mind and state of life.
H4: BLUE COMETS AND BLACK MIRRORS – when mental health becomes a matter of life or death. This one uses two episodes of television I’ve seen for the first time in the last 18 months to meditate on existential despair and (the potential for) joy.
H5: “WHAT’S NEXT”, INDEED…? – a placeholder, looking forward in uncertain times… and then suddenly the times switch from uncertain to unprecedented.
H6: LIVIN’ LA VIDA LOCKDOWN – one month into those unprecedented times, when LEJoG should have started again: how to cope mentally.
H7: ANATOMY OF A BREAKDOWN, PART I: “AND I MUST BE AN ACROBAT” – The first of three long posts explaining the back story of how my breakdown happened. This one covers a defining six-month period from January to July 1994, looking back to childhood and adolescence in the process.
H7A: DEAR HUGH GRANT…. AKA ‘MY OTHER BLOODY VALENTINE’ – A bit of light relief (no pun intended, Hugh) as we go back to 1995 and a Valentine’s Day romance that could resurrect Mr Grant’s flaccid career.
Future titles planned include:
H8: ANATOMY OF A BREAKDOWN, PART II: ARBY – A PARADIGM
H9: ANATOMY OF A BREAKDOWN, PART III: RAGE TURNED INWARD
- THIS BE THE CURSE
- “NOBLER IN THE MIND”
- AFTERMATH OF A BREAKDOWN
- SHAWSHANK, WEST OF MEASHAM
- SECTION TWO
- HEAD TO FOOT (ON WHEELS)
- FAT ELVIS
- “BEING UNSEEN”