There's Always Light at the End of the Tunnel

All my life I have been the kind of person to ignore and overlook my achievements but recently I have noticed a change within myself, one that is becoming increasingly more aware of what I have achieved in my life. What brought this on your might ask? Well this coming Thursday I will be graduating from college, that in itself is a huge achievement but for me when I took a closer look at it, it became so much more. 3 years ago I started out on what I thought was going to be the best thing in my life, I had worked hard to get through secondary school, sit my leaving cert and get onto the course I so desperately wanted to be on. 3 years ago I set out for college, anxious and uneasy but feeling like I knew where I was going, feeling like I knew exactly how my life was going to pan out but little did I know that would all change. I started college on the community and youth work course, all ready to become a fully qualified youth worker and do what I love most- work with young pe...

Back in April I took an overdose ... Did I want to die? I'm not sure. Did I want to hurt myself? Maybe. Did I want help? Absolutely. A few years ago I went through a really rough patch, self harming daily, contemplating taking my own life and indeed taking attempts to take my own life. Did I want help? Yes! What's the difference between then and now? While many years ago I did get help, albeit it took time for me to find the courage to open up and actually ask for that help. I felt ashamed, guilty, scared, and overall I was worried that I would be looked upon differently by society. And in many ways my worst fears became my reality when after my first suicide attempt some friends retreated, they didn't want to be friends with a crazy person! This year, this year I spoke up and got help. This year things took a turn for the worst back at the end of January. I was coming to terms with a slight change in my appearance due to double jaw surgery, I was feeling the p...

Bails of hay, real grass, some bunting and a picket fence on the side of the road in Dublin city centre, a site you couldn't miss, well unless you were me and walked right passed it without even noticing but I realised where I was meant to be when I saw some hay in the middle of the street! Today I attended park(ing) day in Dublin city centre to help hand out FREE stickers with the guys from See Change to encourage people to talk about mental health to break the stigma of metal health. If your like me you might not have a notion of what park(ing) day is because up until a couple of weeks ago I didn't know either. "PARK(ing) Day is a annual open-source global event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public places. The project began in 2005 when  Rebar , a San Francisco art and design studio, converted a single metered parking space into a temporary public pa...