Prologue

Climbing My Mountains

A Journey Through Mental Illness

Prologue

I would like to share my story. I have focused on the times I have struggled with depression and anxiety. I am very interested in analogies and I have used the analogy of a journey over varying terrains as an illustration of what each step felt like. I am very aware of the people who have accompanied me on the journey and my faith has helped me to believe that God has also accompanied me. I love the Footprints Verse and when I look back and see one set of footprints I know that God was carrying me. This is a story for everyone and I hope that all my readers will be able to relate to my story which is a very human account of good times and times of adversity and struggles.

At the age of ten, in 1961, I settled in Australia with my parents, my sisters and two great Aunts. My Dad was working in the Merchant Navy in Australia and had been for a few years. He had been an absent parent for extended periods in my childhood and at times our relationship was tenuous. As I entered my teens I was aware that Dad had spent time in a prison of war camp during the war. While he didn’t talk about his experiences a lot I remember him describing a game of soccer at the camp. I believe that the German soldiers joined in. I would now like to share two of Dad’s experiences during the war, which I learned about later. Firstly, he was walking through the streets of London when the air raid siren sounded. He could not get to a shelter in time and a German plane flew overhead. The pilot attempted to release the bomb when the mechanism jammed and Dad was saved. Later, Dad was part of the crew on an Irish Merchant ship which was targeted by a German ship. Dad’s ship sank and he found himself entangled in a rope which he couldn’t free himself from. He prayed and asked God to help him. The rope moved apart and he was free to swim to the surface where he was pulled aboard the German ship. He was the only survivor and as Ireland was a neutral country, the Germans gave him a choice to join their navy and fight for them or go to a prison of war camp. He chose the latter. These experiences have increased my faith and I now think of Dad as a special person who cared for his family.

I would like to share three moving experiences. One of my Aunts was in hospital and she was close to death. I gave her rosary beads. She held onto the cross and suddenly became distressed. She described a garden and a locked gate preventing her from entering. She was using the cross as a key and it would not open the gate. I took the rosary beads from her and she became peaceful once more. I was not present when my other Aunt was nearing her final moments. My sister was the only one in the room with My Aunt. She was asked by my Aunt to leave the room so that the people in the corner could talk to her. Mum had dementia and did not recognise myself or my sister when we visited her in the nursing home. My sister was with her before she passed away and Mum said “you are my

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 15.12.2015
ISBN: 978-3-7396-2808-0

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Widmung:
I would like to dedicate this book to all the people who were concerned about me and offered help and support at a very challenging time.