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Articles / Opinion Pieces / Essays
Posted on Sundays (
Weekly for paid subscribers / Biweekly for free- All content is currently free!)Musings on my past, present and future and the grip depression had on me in every event. I will explore how I adapted to various elements of Irish culture and how it reacted to my isolation and anxiety - from 90s kid and good catholic boy, to the quiet lad in secondary school, I'd like to explore how I was then and what I've learned since.
I am also curious to explore wider societies relationship with mental health, particularly in the digital space. Social media has amplified our voices within society and I intend to take a humorous yet insightful look at why we must sometimes yell and spew venom to get the mic and shout loudest.
Is there any place for mindfulness, pause and consideration in order to center ourselves and speak honestly yet kindly into the squabbling mass of voices. How can we remain calm, assertive and unscathed if the lashings of anger snap towards us. Can we actively listen and understand those that may present in anger, but come in good faith. Do we care what these anonymous voices think, or is it better to explore how and why they may think it.
I strive to be honest, authentic and raw. Warts and all but kind and reflective.
Journal Entries
Coming soon! (Posting schedule TBC) -
Weekly for paid subscribers / Biweekly for free- All content is currently free!15 years ago I walked into a bookshop in Dundalk, Co. Louth and purchased a fresh, A5 notepad that was intended as a study aid to assist in my repeat exams for College…. it did not. Instead, as I write “As the nib of my pen hovered over that crisp, A5 sheet of paper and my eyes scanned a page with an eloquent, articulate quote that I didn’t understand my brain jammed and the voice boomed YOU’RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH… So that is what I wrote. Over and over. In as many colourful, inventive, destructive ways as I could think of. and It felt good.. soothing, like I was kicking the shit out of my stupid, dumbass brain. As the repeat exams loomed and I continued to ignore the mounting study, the fear set in and I opened the notepad once more and the voice whispered in my ear as I scribbled - You’re. Not. Good. Enough.”
My notepad stayed with me for 15 years and sits tattered on my lap as I type today. It came with me through my travels and my relocation for a better life in London. It captured my best and my very worst. I want to sit down with my “past self” and explore a different entry every week, to see if I can give him advice, or learn something I might have even forgotten… Time to reopen The S.Y.L.O files.