Looking forward to the blog rennos, and your pop’s diary would have made for fascinating reading cos we have a different kind of bullet flying past our head everyday. Ones that won’t kill us instantly, but can still cause a lot of pain if we don’t wind our necks in.
Yeah, I tried to read it years ago but it was just too hard. I should look into paying someone to make it into an audiobook! He never ever spoke about the war, apparently. A lot of veterans were the same. I should get a copy and try again.
Brilliant piece on ADHD - I am floored every time I open your blogs, every one resonates & hits home. This was a big one for me - late diagnosis (at 45) and felt/feel everything you talk about in here.
It's so pleasing to me that people are actually taking something away what I'm writing. Sometimes I hit 'publish' and think "that was pretty shit", so it's nice to hear that people are enjoying them!
Thanks again, hopefully I can keep helping people and making them proud!
Can't wait to see what's next for you Sam! Congratulations on feeling you no longer need the blog to keep you accountable. It's been great reading/watching you grow over the few months I have been following your journey.
I often wonder where the drinking culture came from in Australia. Albert Facey's "A Fortunate Life" indicated that it came before WW1, so it's not even the war that led to us numbing ourselves with alcohol. Albert talks about Christmases spent with families on farms of which he worked from the age of 8 and how they would get plastered and get into fights. I wonder if the English were broken people who numbed with alcohol prior to their invasion of Australia and brought the culture with them? When I have enough theories to question I might write a blog about it.
Thanks for sharing those amazing photos from the Dawn Service and I'm glad you had a meaningful moment with yourself while attending :) .
Thanks Clare. But I still very much need the blog, haha. It's more a way of me normnalising my sobriety as a regular part of my life and not something that needs to be celebrated each and every day. It helps me make the mental switch from trying to be sober to just being sober.
There is a great book by Matt Noffs and Kieran Palmer called "Addicted?". Matt is the grandon of the legendary Ted Noffs who founded the Wayside Chappell in Kings Cross and helped out a lot of people back when heroin was running rampant through Sydney. A lot of the snobby church goers thought he was mad for what he was doing but he was a bloody legend and saw through the addiction to see the person underneath. Anyway, the book gives a pretty good insight into alcohol and how it became legalised and popularised in early Australia. Very strongly reccomend it.
Bloody perfect morning for it, wasn't it! Super grateful I was able to have that experience. One I'll remember for a long time and try to replicate for years to come!
I think everyone should write a blog, we all have our stories to share and I believe story sharing is what builds compassion and understanding and will help our mental health crisis. <3
Looking forward to the blog rennos, and your pop’s diary would have made for fascinating reading cos we have a different kind of bullet flying past our head everyday. Ones that won’t kill us instantly, but can still cause a lot of pain if we don’t wind our necks in.
Yeah, I tried to read it years ago but it was just too hard. I should look into paying someone to make it into an audiobook! He never ever spoke about the war, apparently. A lot of veterans were the same. I should get a copy and try again.
I wouldn't speak about it. Watching friends die would be fucking awful.
Yep. The visuals burnt into your brain. The sounds. The nightmares. You just couldn’t come back the same. No way.
Lesssgggoooo
Brilliant piece on ADHD - I am floored every time I open your blogs, every one resonates & hits home. This was a big one for me - late diagnosis (at 45) and felt/feel everything you talk about in here.
I’m so proud of you Sam! Thanks.
Thanks so much for the kind words.
It's so pleasing to me that people are actually taking something away what I'm writing. Sometimes I hit 'publish' and think "that was pretty shit", so it's nice to hear that people are enjoying them!
Thanks again, hopefully I can keep helping people and making them proud!
Can't wait to see what's next for you Sam! Congratulations on feeling you no longer need the blog to keep you accountable. It's been great reading/watching you grow over the few months I have been following your journey.
I often wonder where the drinking culture came from in Australia. Albert Facey's "A Fortunate Life" indicated that it came before WW1, so it's not even the war that led to us numbing ourselves with alcohol. Albert talks about Christmases spent with families on farms of which he worked from the age of 8 and how they would get plastered and get into fights. I wonder if the English were broken people who numbed with alcohol prior to their invasion of Australia and brought the culture with them? When I have enough theories to question I might write a blog about it.
Thanks for sharing those amazing photos from the Dawn Service and I'm glad you had a meaningful moment with yourself while attending :) .
Thanks Clare. But I still very much need the blog, haha. It's more a way of me normnalising my sobriety as a regular part of my life and not something that needs to be celebrated each and every day. It helps me make the mental switch from trying to be sober to just being sober.
There is a great book by Matt Noffs and Kieran Palmer called "Addicted?". Matt is the grandon of the legendary Ted Noffs who founded the Wayside Chappell in Kings Cross and helped out a lot of people back when heroin was running rampant through Sydney. A lot of the snobby church goers thought he was mad for what he was doing but he was a bloody legend and saw through the addiction to see the person underneath. Anyway, the book gives a pretty good insight into alcohol and how it became legalised and popularised in early Australia. Very strongly reccomend it.
Bloody perfect morning for it, wasn't it! Super grateful I was able to have that experience. One I'll remember for a long time and try to replicate for years to come!
Great! Thanks for the book recommendation.
I think everyone should write a blog, we all have our stories to share and I believe story sharing is what builds compassion and understanding and will help our mental health crisis. <3
I agree whole-heartedly. I remember thinking when I first started, "why the fuck haven't I been doing this already?" haha