Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

I had many favourite books as a child, but my favourite novel or chapter book as a child would have to be “These Happy Golden Years ” by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I can remember buying it from Myer at Tea Tree Gardens c in Adelaide. We were visiting my uncle and aunt in Adelaide, and I can vividly remember buying that book. I still have that book and reread it again recently.

What is your mission?

My mission or my life purpose is to help educate people about the reality of mental illness and to have empathy and compassion for everyone on this planet.

I worked in mental health services for 16 years and kbow. I helped a lot of sufferers and was a role model to many about how a good life can be led whilst experiencing mental health issues. I feel that was my life purpose and that I have fulfilled my life purpose by God. I still am a role model and still work on my life purpose, although I no longer receive a weekly wage for it. It is alongside my writing ✍️ is how I now spend my time. I am still working in mental health, just in a different way.

What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?

I am all for the concept of living a very long life, provided there is quality of life in that longevity. What would be the point of living a long life if you were suffering from ill health in that longevity. I would like to love a long, happy, prosperous life in relative good health. I do worry that my mental health issues will get worse as I age, but for now, I am in good health and manage to juggle all the balls relating to my well-being. I would hope that as I age, the balls will become easier to juggle, not more difficult.

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What could you do differently?

Thinking about today’s question has made me think quite deeply about the way I organise my life. I am a fairly organised but flexible person. My new years resolution is to be more committed to my writing ✍️ habits, both of my blogs and my other writings. What I could do differently is to spend 2 to 3 hours a day of activities related to my writing career, be that actually writing, seeking out stockists for my books, promoting my books, etc. It is something that I need to make a firm claim to doing, and hope, ully now I have put it in writing ✍️ I will strive to achieve that goal. So yes, the thing I could do differently is to make a more regular commitment to my ✍️ writing.

If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

If I had a billboard on a freeway, it would have in big bold letters IMAGINE with the words to the John Lennon song 🎵 Imagine below. This should not surprise my regular readers.

Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?

At first, I was a bit perplexed by today’s topic but realised that given my age, I spent a lot of time thinking about things from the past.

I am a bit of an expert on Australian Music from the 80s and 90s and in particular, I know a lot about Neil Finn, both in Crowded House, Split Enz and his solo career. I don’t think I live in the past and nor does Neil Finn live in the past. Neil has kept up with how technology impacts how Music is made today, he has embraced modern technology and used it to his advantage, recording an album online and having a world wide radio show, when all the world was in the grips of lockdown. I listened to all this.

I am aware of modern pop culture, but am less influenced by it and tend to embrace what I find fits in with my personality and interests, but ignore what I feel to be irrelevant in the modern world 🌎

So yes, somewhat I think more about the past, but not to such extent that I ignore the present.

What is the greatest gift someone could give you?

The great gift someone could give me I receive in bucket loads by some dear friends. It is the gift of compassion, empathy, and understanding. I experience mental health issues, so stigma is something I am really familiar with. Thank God not everyone in my life treats me with stigma. I am blessed with the friends who make up my life because they have compassion, empathy, and understanding. If you have empathy and can put yourself in someone else’s shoes, to see what it is like for them, you are truly amazing. Thank God for the truly amazing people 🙏 who make up my life.

What colleges have you attended?

In my life, I have attended Strathmore Secondary College, Melbourne University Institute of Education, and Kangan Batman TAFE. I also did a couple of law subjects at Victoria University.

Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?

I’m my life play is a regular occurrence mainly because of Lily. I spend a lot of time “playing ” with Lily. I consider my daily walks with her to be our bonding playtime. Lily also has a lot of toys that I spend time with her playing. From tug of war and keep things off , Lily loves playing with her toys. I also enjoy listening 🎶 to music 🎶 whilst stroking Lily. I consider that playtime, too. Lily loves watching television and barks and interacts with the television when dogs and other animals appear on the screen. I consider that playtime, too. So yes, I do play in my daily life.

What are your biggest challenges?

Life is what happens when we are busy making other plans. I think that although we have plans and dreams, life is a means journey of unexpected twists and turns.

My everyday challenge is to live with my mental health issues and my diabetes. This is a juggling act that normally I manage fairly well, but from time to time, unexpected stressful situations means I drop the balls I juggle. This invariably means a return of my mental health issues and means I have to focus on my well-being and slowly start to juggle again.

It is my new years resolution that I will stay well and successfully juggle all the balls, but I can never know what curve balls life will throw at me. I am strong but vulnerable and resilient, so yeah, my biggest challenge is to successfully juggle all the balls that make up my well-being.