Sharing the Story vs. Living the Story

The Reality of Being Open While Living Through It

As we have been nearing the end of Mental Health Awareness Week, I’ve been asking myself one big question:

Was it worth it?

ID: A vintage 1950s-style European propaganda poster. At the centre, a solitary woman figure kneels back to the viewer, wearing a tattered overcoat. Faces a dramatic, divided sky. The left side glows in warm golden hues, filled with peaceful imagery including smiling faces, rolling hills, a setting sun, and serene clouds. The right side is dark and ominous, dominated by jagged lightning bolts, industrial silhouettes, and distressed human faces. The composition is symmetrical, evoking Cold War-era aesthetics. At the top, bold serifed text reads: “was it all worth it?” The overall design has a gritty texture, with dominant red and black tones casting an emotional, introspective mood. This image was created using AI.

I didn’t know if I’d be able to get a blog out every single day. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I knew it would be challenging with everything else going on. It also made it fairly interesting as I didn’t expect all the extra curveballs that came flying my way.

How the Week Actually Started

It started exactly one week ago with a six-hour relay race in Colchester. For the first time, the event welcomed wheelchair users, and naturally, as Wheels and Wheelchairs, we thought it would be a great idea to sign up. Me being me, I decided to push myself to make the most of it. Ended up doing a good four hours of the race in my skating wheelchair. Add the travel to and from the event, and the fact I wasn’t picked up from temporary accommodation, I ended up sitting for around seven hours.

For context, sitting that long for me isn’t just tiring, it’s painful. If I’m sat up for more than an hour and a half, I start to feel it. So, the next three days? I was stuck in bed being able to do nothing? Yeah right! But life doesn’t pause…