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Me and Theo blowing out the candles on my (Hello Kitty) birthday cake. 35 today and there have been several points all too recently when I felt I wouldn’t make it to this birthday but I did and I fully intend to make it to the next one and all the other ones after it as well.
Today has been a good day, well it did involve the receipt of gifts and cake!
>Yay well done on surviving another year! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! xxxc
>Kez, happy birthday. Just discovered your blog via a bbc link. Please continue to witness. best wishes, Nora
>My heart goes out to you. I am just coming out the other side of my first, and hopefully last, brush with depression. I am not brave. It was very rough. But I did fight it all the way, and now after a year of medication, counseling and some serious self care, I am recovering well. Although you might not believe so at the moment as you face the early dark days of this illness, recovery does happen. This is NOT a life sentence.You will get better. If I can help you in any way, please feel free to contact me (the_dubliner@hotmail.com )I wish you all that is good.Vincent
>Just discovered your blog. Just wanted to say thank you. I am also currently off work after having another 'breakdown' probably my 3rd in ten years. I had thought about doing this myself but was too scared to because I felt my boss and colleagues who have already written me off may just totally victimise me, classify me as a loony. They don;t understand anyway. Thanks for being braver than me. You are SO right that mental illness needs to be less stigmatised and more supported. Please don't stop blogging.
>Happy birthday!
>Happy birthday! Zoe best wishes. According to my CPN I'm "stable" on my medication. I was a teacher but lost all that. I've been active in bipolar support groups both here (Inverness) and in Dundee. The problem is that these groups are concerned with how we can fit in to a society that rejects us. As you have made clear mental illness is the last great taboo. Nobody wants to discuss it on any meaningful level. Suppression via drugs and containment are key strategies in the NHS. Do we not deserve some quality and richness to our lives?
>I was away, sans laptop, when you had your birthday. Here's wishing you a year of getting better and better all the time. Blog on…we're 'listening', so keep 'talking'. Like Vincent, who sounds so wise, we wish you all that is good…bee and mundy