Just as beauty is in the eye
of the beholder, paradise is in the eye of the beholders imagination. Sun,
sea, sand and warmth is pleasant but i'll take the excitement of the wind
announcing its self like a herd of buffalo coursing through the mountain side
before it flattens you, experiencing mother nature's force of rain, cold and
hail, the views and of course the wonderful, diverse, brilliant amazing gang
that braved the exciting elements together in Snowdon.
Together we can brave the storm of mental illness, had I been
in the storm at Snowdon on my own I dare say it would have defeated me to a
point if not totally, but together we braved it, together we beat it, together
we were in paradise. Together made the views sparkle and the bad weather
exciting rather than dull, dreary or daunting, together in mental illness we can
reach paradise too. My experience of mental illness at the start was very much
alone, scary, daunting and at times I did wonder if i was going to survive it
for a long time, selfish thoughts of ending it all through desperation to
escape from that heard of buffalo that are trampling you like the winds. Even
when you try to get up they trample you down again, then the anguish and guilt
for what you have put loved ones through for having these thoughts or even
attempting to carry them through, thank God not successfully! My family have
been my rock through out, I would definitely not have survived without them and
still don't know what I would do without them! Some people are not so fortunate
to have such a loving family!
Along the way on my journey with mental illness
and recovery I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of amazing people, a
community of people who have suffered the same, many of which have become dear
friends who have all survived the storm. I now realize I am not alone, they are
not alone, we are all together and together we can make a change and find our
own little paradise and help others understand, thanks Lisa for this project,
you're a diamond.
Lloyd Adrian Quinn
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