Moving back home to Mount Isa has been one of the biggest things on my healing journey. That was a big shift into being who I am now. I hadn’t been home in 10 years. The power in that, connecting back to Country, where I was born and raised. There’s big power in that.
When your mental health isn’t right it’s a constant feeling. It’s all upstairs in your head, the voices that you’ve constantly got to battle.
“What I’ve come to realise is that it’s all mindset. When I was younger, I didn’t realise that life is all mindset.”
For me, a lot of my mental health issues came from using drugs and alcohol. I moved out of home at a young age and fell into the party life. I ventured away from my family.
I brought a van and moved to Broome to run away from my problems – I was masking the problem and my fears.
Using drugs and alcohol is about having instant gratification. But true fulfillment comes from putting in the hard work.
My mum has always been my biggest mentor in life. Years went by before I realised that most people aren’t fortunate enough to have someone like that in their lives. I’m lucky to have a mother to guide me through it.
She has been on her own mental health journey and taught me about the importance of meditating.
“So when I decided to look after my mental health, it was a big journey. I realised I would have to do the work myself.”
For the first two years of my healing journey I was meditating, doing breath work and journaling every morning to rewire my brain.
They were non-negotiations – I had a very strict routine, and I chose to live like that every morning.
That’s how badly I wanted to change.
Consistency is the hard part of this whole journey.
These are the practices that give you a good and healthy life.
The work comes from a solo journey. It’s you who has to get up at 4 am and do what you have to do. But that is the most fulfilling part too. It’s totally normal to fall off the train – you’ve just got to get back on that path, use your tools and be consistent.
The other major practice for me has been exercise.
I have chosen to do hard things that challenge me. I’ve gone on to run five marathons. It was daunting at first, but I’ve done it. It’s been part of the change into who I am now.
I was cleaning out the cupboard and found my journal the other day and I broke into tears – I couldn’t believe my thoughts and how I was talking to myself back then. I kept it all to myself. It made me so emotional because I’m in a different place now.
“I practice gratitude every day. It’s important to be grateful for the smallest things. I’m very grateful. Especially living here in Australia.”
Photos by Telisha Crisp Photography.
