Florence Sharman is a mental health campaigner, website content creator and MQ Ambassador. Flo experienced a mental breakdown at eight years old and still lives with four mental illnesses. She believes her mental health journey has shaped her to be who she is today.
Mental health research is more vital now than ever. I know from my own personal experiences that with more research, my own mental health story could have been different. I can’t erase that chapter of my life, but what I can do is write a new chapter about the importance of research, and to raise awareness.
I was an eight-year-old little girl who had a very privileged upbringing. I loved life and didn’t have a care in the world. One night my life changed forever. I woke up in the middle of the night blind, confused, paralysed, nauseous and with a severe headache. I was rushed into hospital with what they thought was a bleed on the brain or brain infection. However, after many tests, this wasn’t the case, and I was discharged from the hospital the next day as if nothing had happened. My mental breakdown came in a physical form.
My childhood was taken from me in a matter of moments. I didn’t want to live anymore, thinking everyone was better off without me and was housebound for two years. At the age of just eight and a half, I was diagnosed with PTSD, OCD, depression and panic attacks. I was upset, ashamed and embarrassed, and in all honesty, didn’t understand these labels. Not surprising at such a young age, but mental illness just wasn’t talked about. I was so ashamed about being a mental health sufferer; it took me ten years for me to be proud of who I was, and not ashamed of having mental illnesses.
The last 14 years have not been a walk in the park. In fact, it’s been one big old rollercoaster to get to where I am today. I have had to climb mountains I never thought I would have to, I’ve had to overcome more hurdles than you could think. Let me tell you it sure has been one big uphill struggle, to say the least. But now, I’m a 22-year-old living a life I love: I overcame a mental breakdown, have a job I enjoy in marketing, I’m a fitness fanatic, public speaker and a very proud MQ Ambassador. I still have those four mental illnesses, but they don’t define me. They are just one tiny part of who I am.
Uphill struggles, uphill battles we will all face, some many more than others but one thing to remember is never to judge, always be kind, share your emotions and feel every one of them.
