The Other Me
An ongoing serial about neurosis, beginning with anxiety that burgeoned through my teenage years, and grew into issues also with depression and OCD, amongst other things.
The Other Me
‘The Other Me’ ii. A manuscript I entered in a competition won one of eight places to fly down to Queensland, and be involved in a Program run by a big publisher that included writing workshops, feedback on the manuscript, and one on one time with the publisher, as well as the invitation to resubmit the manuscript after it had been revised. The moment I learned I’d won, my closest and oldest friend, my anxiety, exploded in my face. Dr Warren had posed I might need surgery to remove the disc in my troublesome neck. As usual, my anxiety played out the worst case scenarios: the disc was just holding…
The Other Me
‘The Other Me’ i. While all this was going on, my relationship with Allie continued to have its ups and downs. During my initial recovery, she would sometimes get me, and take me to her place, just to get me out. Or she’d pick me up after some of my nerve blocks, and take me home. As usual, her efforts were generous and big-hearted. But, conversely, we still argued about lots of the same things, until I felt myself splitting in two, unsure of what direction to take – wanting it to work, but learning to accept it wouldn’t. The anxiety and stress became ingrained in my head, in my…