Voting is a rare
occurrence.It happens least often
than a birthday and it’s like going to see the nurse for an injection.You think there should be something
special behind the magic and mystery of political campaigning but in the end
it’s just a piece of paper that needs crossing, then you wait.
I voted today but
I’m not here to try to persuade you who to vote for, I simply want to record
the adult feeling of participating in a democracy and the distinct blend of
connection/ disconnection between the country as a whole and yourself as an
individual.
It’s a day where
we all become powerful and are trusted enough to be put in the position to
decide what is best for businesses and communities as a whole.As a friend of mine said, it’s not in
the broad strokes of people’s agreement that is interesting but the minutiae of
the disagreeing details that are more fascinating.The debates and discussions will go on and it is particularly
fulfilling to be engaged with them as a human being but it is also important to
note that politics cannot answer everything, there must be something else, in
families, long walks and art.Parties do not ultimately define us and we must be careful to pledge too
much loyalty to them.
It is a peculiar
thing, to vote.Animals, as far as
we know, do not do so yet the flourishing of our particular creation,
civilization, demands that we must be able to.Voting, if anything, reminds me of our strangeness as a
species, an irresolvable facet of our being.
At the beginning
of this year I was, without pomp or ceremony, finally given a diagnosis to the
mental health problems I have had throughout my adult life.The diagnosis is that I have bi-polar
disorder.This makes me one of
250,000[1]
people in Britain who have this illness.
Am I glad to have a name to what I have
had to go through?Well, it
doesn’t make too much difference to me.I sort of knew I had it, or something similar, so the diagnosis was more
of an ‘of course, that’s what it is’- but it does change the way I talk about
it with other people.Rather than
say vaguely that I have mental health problems I can clearly say that I have
bi-polar, and that offers up a more concentrated understanding of what it
really is that I have to deal with.
The name identifies but the illness is
still there.I still have to deal
with tiredness, part of the depressive side of the illness, and I still have to
be vigilant and alert when I take part in intense activities, such as being in
shows, but with all the work the mental health teams, both in England and in
Wales, have done, and still doing, with me I have managed to overcome most of
my problems.
I want to take the time to mention the
Early Intervention Team and how they have helped me.When I was eighteen and had my first episode of the illness
there was no Early Intervention Team to help young people to stay healthy after
their first encounter with psychosis.When I ran away from University that year I stopped taking the drugs
completely ending up dealing with severe depression for a year or two on my
own.
When I had my episode while in my
second year at Uni the Early Intervention Team had been newly created and
though I was a bit older than who they would normally take because I would have
been eligible for it when I had my first episode before they existed they
thought it no problem for them to help this time around.Since then they’ve been there when I
needed them- sometimes weekly, sometimes once a month- I’ve found them to be a
vital assert to the building and living my life with this illness.
It’s great to be living in a country of
scientific advances that can supply Lithium to those like me who need it, the
great thing being, as long as funding is rewarded to research, treatments for
these illnesses will only get better.
What helps a lot for me is keeping
active, seeing friends, writing scripts and doing shows.It all stops me from allowing myself to
relapse into depression but also trying to keep a regular routine helps me to keep
grounded and stops me from flying off into a manic state.
I am hoping to do a show about mental
illness because although awareness is getting better it’s like any serious
illness: one can never be too aware, especially if you are undiagnosed and you think
you may have an illness.
Nobody should feel as if they cannot
talk about their own health and thankfully there are plenty of decent websites
ready to give advice.If you do
think you are ill then the best thing to do is to see your GP who’ll be in a
better position to offer you help; the second best thing to do is to educate
yourself about mental illnesses, and this is advice to everyone reading not
just those who may have an illness.
I’ve been fortunate but I’ve also
worked hard at understanding how my body and my mind works.One of the important things I’ve learnt
is to seize the day when you can because you don’t know when you’ll have days
when you can’t.
So I have bi-polar but I look forward
to the day when I don’t have to take any sort of medication for it.It gives me something to work towards,
which is itself hope.
Below is a short list of videos that I've enjoyed and found interesting if not a little bit useful
Now this is where you hit a paywall- well not exactly a paywall more like a moat you can swim across- but what I'm saying is that if you enjoyed this blog and my previous work than you can help support me by going on Patreon.com and search for Alistair David Todd-Poet.
I only ask for the lowest possible donation ($1) so that you don't have to wake up in the middle of the night sweating about bills and tax. Two reasons I ask you of this is 1) It would mean a lot to me and 2) I can buy more books. Another way you can support me is by buying one of the literary books that I write. The links are on the side of the website, if you are reading this from a mobile phone than switch to web mode to see it.
You can even message me with recommendations of books I should cover that I haven't already, I'd be really interested in what you have to offer me. In the meantime stay safe and all the best to you.
