People don’t ask enough questions, and when they do, the answers that are given are never genuine. Just a passing phrase like, “yeh pulling through” or “Not too bad”. This blog was made to give a place for people to genuinely think about tough questions and answer them with honesty and emotion. It’s also a place for people to come and read and get to know real people talking about their thoughts, feelings and life experiences in great detail. It’s a place to connect with someone new and maybe let people into your being. It’s been a year to the day and these two blogs are a round-up of what’s been said and how people feel about the blog.

some words from the participents

Vinny road

The blog has really helped me express my feelings and thoughts. It really allowed me to say whatever I think or what's on my mind it's also helped me to figure things out and work on myself. Changing to become the best that I can be one step at a time.

Spitty Micky

Both answering my own questions and reading the answers of others has been ultimately self reflective. I couldn't help but have an opinion on others' answers and almost always compared them to my own thoughts. I particularly enjoyed reading the answers from the people much older than myself. Their perspectives were different and I think they promoted family values. The year of Life in Perspective has given me the chance to see how I felt about different aspects of life from different aspects of my life. Looking back at some of my answers makes me cringe but they felt true or at least true at the time they were answered and having this directed public journal was a good way to explore more about myself. Even if that exploration came after reading the answers retrospectively.

Fred Gee

The blog has been really interesting and sometimes challenging, I got to be honest there been a few question where I have thought how the fuck how do I answer that, but when I eventually sit down to write my answer, I find thoughts just come into my head and the answer flow. There’s a certain amount of gratification out of completing the answer. The best part about it though is reading everyone’s answers, they can be so different and varied, how people have interpreted the question in different ways and sometimes thinking yeah never thought of it that way what a great spin on the answer.

Keep the questions coming

Pip Squeak

When I heard about the blog I thought it was a great idea. one of the hardest things a person can do is open up and be honest about themselves to other people. to be able to do it anonymously and then read other peoples submissions I found it to be really therapeutic. One of the things i've learned as I’ve gotten older is you are not the only one who thinks and feels certain things, you think and feel that you’re the only person experiencing what’s going on in your head but that’s not true. Thinking like that can make you feel hopeless and through experience I know it can be life threatening. I’ve lost 5 friends to suicide and I’ve also had my own struggles with my own mental health through anxiety. I once had a bit of a meltdown - my anxiety went through the roof because my mother in-law was dying and I was about to have my second child. It suddenly dawned on me that I had another person to provide for and my partner was about to lose her mother and what that would do to her and how we as a family would be affected. I was overwhelmed with a tight chest and tension headaches that went on for months to the point where one day it tipped me over the edge, I burst into tears, drove home from work and knew I needed help. I couldn’t talk to my family members about how I felt as I knew there would be biases and what I said might directly affect that person as some things were about them. I needed to talk to someone impartial and the next day I bit the bullet and went to speak to someone. It was the best thing I could have done as it instantly relieved me of my symptoms and I could look on the situation with a clear head.

If this blog gives people the opportunity to offload - I know first hand how powerful that is to someone in a pickle and since my ordeal I’ve encouraged people to do the same. A friend of mine set up a mental health group for men after one of our friends committed suicide in the hope that it would encourage men to go and talk to other men and offload. It ran for a while but it failed because men find it so hard to talk about things and therefore most nights no one would turn up. I think this blog could be a great platform for people, especially men to be able to offload and not feel alone when dealing with stresses that we all deal with. I think Mental health can be used as scapegoat for being weak and using it as an excuse not to take responsibility especially men - we need to be men, provide, protect and set example and there are men out there trying to do that but are suffering under the weight of expectation and purpose - I think this blog is a step in the right direction for both men and women to possibly take something from it therapeutically which will be a huge benefit to some People who need it. I hope my answers Have helped and will help people in the future, and hope the platform grows and extends to more people, that would be great.

Edward Ricketts

For over a year now I have been answering the questions for the blog. It has brought back many memories about my past which is a good thing in itself, but mostly it has helped me look into myself and ask questions that I may never have wanted to answer. Apart from enjoying the process of thinking of my answers and writing them down, I now use this blog as a kind of therapy and look forward to the next challenging question.

please leave any questions you think would be interesting for these people to answer.

give your perspective on the questions below