Last Sunday, as the day slipped into dusk, I had a panic attack. I have different kinds - sometimes I just feel like I've breathed too quickly, or like I've slipped on a bit of wet road, and I can sit in a quiet place
I miss standing on a verandah and seeing the way the world reveals itself. Not the neighbours' patio, or the dog across the street, or the chime of the level crossing. Distance. I miss distance. Horizons. I go to the beach every day and they
Content warning: suicide, the state of mental health support in Australia I read that when creative writing students are starting out, one of the things they write about most is suicide. It’s a "gimmie subject," professors say (their words, not mine!), "like the Holocaust." It’s easy
8. I was eight when I realised my hand was on backwards, standing in a car park with my friend Fleur, who was a violinist. ‘Isn’t it crazy,’ I said, ‘how you just think about moving your hand and then it moves?’ But it wasn’t strange
People talk a lot about intersectionality in feminism at the moment (this is a good thing). Without trying to insult your intelligence, what that means is that the pursuit of women's rights incorporates a multitude of issues that require awareness and understanding of overlaps with feminism
Last week I sat down to write a piece for uni. It was a total open topic: any subject, fiction or non-fiction, as long as it had a narrative thread. Literally anything. I sat at my desk and I thought about everything I had the wits to
Yesterday I woke up and I looked at my clock and it said 5:55. Gaz had left for work already, so I lay there on my own and watched the sun come higher and higher through the gaps in the blinds. Our garden is full
I'm supposed to be working on a book about a man. He's been in there for a while, in my head and my fingers. He lost his wife. I'm supposed to be helping him to find her. She's out at sea somewhere. I think she's
This piece relates to what we chat about in Episode 4 of The Anxiety Shut-In Hour. Pop over and have a listen to our extended thoughts (and ranting). The Abbott government loves the idea of “having a go”, doesn’t it? Want to buy a house in
It's been a weird six months. What started as investigation into a flashing light in my left eye has devolved into a general decay of my body. I went to my doctor a couple of months ago because I had weird hot patches on my
You may have seen this piece in today’s The Age, wherein we discover that, unsurprisingly, a large percentage of the population either doesn't understand what anxiety means, or actively denies its existence. Apparently, 50% of people think that anxiety is a personality trait. You're a