‘It will be sunny one day’- Stephen Fry’s inspirational letter to someone struggling with their mental health

One day it will be sunny

To mark Oct 10th and World Mental Health Day 2019, I’ve reposted something from the Unwind Your Mind archives.

Depression is such a lonely illness and it takes a lot of courage for people to reach out to others. But I love hearing of stories when someone does reach out and gets a positive reaction.

Crystal Nunn was going through a deep depression when she found the courage to send Stephen Fry a letter. Fry’s history with manic depression is well documented, but never in a million years did Crystal think that Fry would reply to her letter.

The letter which I’ve transcribed below has a wonderful message and it well worth a read.

Transcript

April 10, 2006

Dear Crystal,

I’m so sorry to hear that life is getting you down at the moment. Goodness knows, it can be so tough when nothing seems to fit and little seems to be fulfilling. I’m not sure there’s any specific advice I can give that will help bring life back its savour. Although they mean well, it’s sometimes quite galling to be reminded how much people love you when you don’t love yourself that much.

I’ve found that it’s of some help to think of one’s moods and feelings about the world as being similar to weather:

Donegal’s first wellness cafe to open

I’ve been extra quiet on here over the past few months and I must apologize for that.  I’ve been busy and blogging just seemed to take a back seat and the longer I went without writing a post the more difficult it became to get back to it. Anyways enough excuses…

Over the past few months I have been involved behind the scenes in helping to set up a wellness cafe in Letterkenny. The idea of a wellness cafe is to provide people with a safe space to meet up in a relaxed informal space to connect with others to support their wellbeing.

Basically this is a fancy way of saying that it’s for people to meet and have a chat over a cup of tea or coffee. The wellness cafe will be held every Thursday between 10.30 and 12pm in the Eatery cafe in an Grianan Theatre. Although it’s only for two hours a week I believe that it’s a good start with the potential to do a lot of good.

Myself and two other people have been working closely with members of the Donegal mental health team in Letterkenny to make sure that the cafe places the mental health service user at the centre of everything. That means allowing cafe members to make decisions about the way the cafe is run, choosing any short workshops they would like to take part in and most of all giving them a stigma free space where they can come for a cup of tea and a chat.

The cafe is launching on the 19th of September in An Grianan theatre in Letterkenny between 11am-1pm. Why not come along and learn more.

There has been a Facebook page set up which you can like and follow updates and the progress of the cafe. You can find it : Letterkenny wellness cafe

 

 

 

Apologies for the radio silence

 

Marble Hill beach in Dunfanaghy just as the sun was setting

 

I have really neglected this blog over the past while and I hope to change that going forward. I have been updating the Unwind Your Mind facebook page on a regular basis (You can check it out here) It has over 4,300 likes and has good engagement. But for some reason I’ve had a mental block when it comes down to blogging and updating my posts here.

The good news is that I have been enjoying a relatively good spell with my mental health and continue to work hard on staying well. It’s not easy and the past two years in particular have been extremely difficult but I’m hoping I have put the worst behind me.

The real reason I’m taking part in 100 days of walking

I’m currently taking part in the ‘100 days of walking’ challenge spearheaded by Dr Ciara Kelly ( newstalk  presenter and formerly the doctor on Operation Transformation) on Twitter. The idea is that starting on January 1st you take up the challenge to walk every day for the first 100 days of the year. You can stay motivated by following everyone’s progress and by using the hashtag #100daysofwalking

I gave it a half-hearted attempt last year for a few weeks and this year I decided to give it my all and really put in a good effort to take part. For the past year I have been walking most days and have gone from being extremely overweight and unfit, unable to drag myself out of bed, to walking 10km up to five times a week. I have also lost over 4 stone since this time last year. But the real reason I’m walking every day is to banish those negative thoughts in my head and to try to boost my mood. So how did I go from not exercising at all, to hiking every day in the wilds of Donegal?

‘It will be sunny one day’- Stephen Fry’s inspirational letter to someone struggling with their mental health

One day it will be sunny

 

*EDIT: Stephen Fry has been in the news in recent months after sharing the sad news that he is fighting Prostate cancer. Fry has been extremely open about his own struggles with Bipolar Disorder and has been a champion in raising much needed awareness on the issue. I wish him a speedy recovery because the world needs legends like him.

Depression is such a lonely illness and it takes a lot of courage for people to reach out to others. But I love hearing of stories when someone does reach out and gets a positive reaction.

Crystal Nunn was going through a deep depression when she found the courage to send Stephen Fry a letter. Fry’s history with manic depression is well documented, but never in a million years did Crystal think that Fry would reply to her letter.

The letter which I’ve transcribed below has a wonderful message and it well worth a read.

Transcript

April 10, 2006

Dear Crystal,

I’m so sorry to hear that life is getting you down at the moment. Goodness knows, it can be so tough when nothing seems to fit and little seems to be fulfilling. I’m not sure there’s any specific advice I can give that will help bring life back its savour. Although they mean well, it’s sometimes quite galling to be reminded how much people love you when you don’t love yourself that much.

I’ve found that it’s of some help to think of one’s moods and feelings about the world as being similar to weather:

Our Deepest Fear…

Sorry for the radio silence here over the past few months. I’ve been busy and unable to give the blog the attention it deserves,

The past few years have been challenging for me and I really wasn’t in a great place for a very long time. Thankfully I’m in a much better place now but it’s hard not to be frustrated with where I am in my life. Always looking to the future and trying to second guess the unknown, while also being stuck in the past and looking nervously over my shoulder. But never being in the present and enjoying the here and now.

I’ve been doing a bit of reading recently and the below quote from Marianne Williamson always grabs my attention and I absolutely adore it. We all have greatness inside us and it’s important that we don’t let ourselves be overshadowed by our fear of the unknown. As Williamson says “Our deepest is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”

By Marianne Williamson

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”