I’ve had a great few weeks, creatively. I feel as if I’m really on form with my scribbles, which is unusual for me. My writing is finally at the stage where I’m just starting to believe the nice things people are saying about my poetry.

Yes, I’m finally starting to see what I do as actual poetry. I’m no Oscar Wilde, Burns or Kipling, though, that’s for sure! Still, I do share a fraternal membership in common with those heavy-hitters of the literary world. – I’m certainly happy with my creative path.

I’ve now turned my head to creating ways of advertising my work, and getting myself out there, not for fame or fortune, but in the hope that I can raise awareness of two things that I have a lot of experience with: Autism and depression.

I’m guessing there have been times in everyone’s lives when you’ve felt sad or low. It might be that, when these feelings arrive, they last for a few weeks and get in the way of day-to-day life. It could be a period of depression, which has a range of symptoms that vary from person to person, and could be mild or really severe.

It’s no different for someone like me, on the Autism spectrum, to deal with depression than a non-autistic person. I’ve done some research, and at least 20% of people in the world will experience a form of depression at some point in their lives. Sadly, it’s even more common in people who are on the Autism spectrum.

In my humble opinion, depression and suicide should be treated much more seriously. That way, it might make its way into books and education curricula everywhere and the message can be repeated over and over to our children and grandchildren that it’s ok to not be ok. We need to make it ok to talk about it.

Stay Safe X