Shit happens – you won’t be the first and you won’t be the last

Tonight I’m off to see “Cultivating Mad Cow” a one-woman play, its based on a book written by a woman’s personal journey who was suffering from bipolar, her mental health was shattered, however, her  journey was paused for a time, after she threw herself off a building, shattering what was left of her physical being. But that incident was just the start of her journey. Call it rock bottom (literally) Kathryn’s story is truly incredible, amazing but more importantly about being BRAVE enough to open her soul and share it. She’s can be mad as a box of frogs, but she’s one of the realest passionate people I have met in a long time. 

After arranging to meet with Kathryn over the phone for the first time, (I have to say at this point, I had only agreed to meet with her at such short notice, due to her persistence)  after putting down the phone a colleague asked me if I knew who she was? I’m like “Summit to do with DWP and disabilities?” I was then told about her story, about and about the book she had written “Cultivating Mad Cow”, and boy did my attitude change, after her insistence that I meet her, it was me who was more excited about meeting her. I was only a few weeks into this page and practicing my writing, so the opportunity to gain any tips or advice would be priceless.

I have the pleasure of working, coming into contact with people from all walks of life, from the person begging in the street, right up to people in a position of power. They may look different on the outside, but everyone has their own personal story to tell each one uniquely their own and their own to tell, should they chose. Kathryn chose to share hers.

Everyones definition of resilience is different, we all have it, we all possess resilience often we don’t recognise just how resilient we are, until like an elastic band, which starts out with an abundance of elasticity but has been played with, toyed with stretched, maybe used for a time to bind something in place, but sometimes it has been stretched so much to the point that there is no elasticity left resulting in us snapping, making unwise decisions, some which can have a lifetime of consequences. We all bare our own personal scars, which are a reminders of a time we have been stretched too far, sometimes the evidence of being stretched too far are still there to see, some visible to the naked eye others are not but can been seen in how we, act, react, how we deal with life, our actions. 

But just because the elastic band has snapped doesn’t mean it no longer serves a purpose! “how many times has the SHIT HIT THE PAN and you’ve snapped your elastic band in two, you have used all your bands up, had nothing left to use, so being resourceful you decide tie a knot into the band and start again?”– fuck me my band has about 5 knots biding it all together. 

Resilience, this is a quality that I love in people, the very same people who have at some point in their life been stretched to near breaking point but who have found the courage and strength to bounce back and who have found a way to manage their own elasticity and learned how to use it wisely. That’s all this page/blog is all about, recognizing that #Shithappens all the time, sometimes there is FUCK all you can do about it, but we do have choices how we manage/deal with the shit. sometimes it can help to know, understand and learn from others that when you are going through shit, you won’t be the first and you won’t be the last , but next time you can determines how far you will allow yourself to go before snapping.

Theatre isn’t really my thing, the last time I went was to the the theatre it was to see  ‘Something about Rita’, (which was amazing by the way) in fact it could have been called “something about Tracey” as I resonated so much with the character (but more of that in the book) but tonight, I am off to see someone perform Kathryn’s story, into a one women play, fuck knows how you do that? Well I’ll find out tonight, as tonights performance is (hopefully) the first draft of a performance that will be fine tuned and shown in theatres across the country. 

 Who would have thought eh! I bet Kathryn never did at the time, that her story of desperation/ hell would soon turn out to inspire and educate others around her, After meeting Kathryn and shyly telling her that I too was attempting to write a book, a story about me, dad and addiction, Kathryn gave me the courage to say, “Fuck it, just do it!” So thank you Kathryn and I will see you tonight,

PS did you say we had to bring our dildos or pens by the way?

Love Fordy xxx