Mental Health Exclusion

I am in Australia and feel very fortunate when it comes to public health services. When we opt for Private Health Insurance in Australia, it is so that we can get additional cash back on selected services and also more easily afford non-Government medical practitioners and hospitals. Private Health Insurance is also priced around age and services you would like covered, not around your medical history or risk (even though there are eligibility periods for certain claims). But you don’t need Health Insurance to get good medical care in Australia, as is the case in other countries. For that I am grateful.

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How is your Inner Child?

The Whole World Smiles Without Me

Louis Armstrong and many others have sung the words, “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.”

I believe in those words … I do. Smiles are contagious!

But I have not been able to smile for around 12 years now. A gift from my experience with Bell’s Palsy.

To my fellow Artists …

Lately I have been feeling the weight of not contributing to Canvas as much as I had originally planned. Even on my own blog I have barely had the time or energy to sketch, post and read updates from others. But not posting on my own blog burdens me less for some reason.

I keep quiet mostly about my illness, a stupid male pride thing. But on Canvas I found a means to express and share – partly to help myself process some thoughts and feelings and also in the hope I may be able to help others in some small way by sharing.

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” ~Aristotle

Desperado Dad

My Beautiful Girl,

I hope you know the depth of my love.
The lengths I would go to for you.
The things I would do to protect you.
The things I would do to provide for you.
The way my heart aches at what the world could do.

Hair Cuts and Detachment

I know I have depression. I know I am introverted. I know I have generalized anxiety with a good dose of SAD. I know these well at certain times. One of those times is when I get my hair cut. Here is an account of my latest visit to “Aldos”.

Dead Man Walking – Health Anxiety Strikes Again!

“Dog”

For something different, I thought I’d share a personal reflection on a piece of music that has become quite special to me.

The song is called “Dog” (by Andy Bull) in reference to the well known Churchill euphemism for depression. I first heard it as I was driving home from work in 2010. The words of this song rang so true for me … and it was the beginning of the realization that there are people who understand how it is to be me.