Beyond Blue - Eddie's Story - video Dailymotion

The Advocate

Eddies' Story: 'How connecting with others helped me'. Video by Beyond Blue.

Transcript

00:00 [Music plays]

00:07 I was born in Western Australia on the family farm back in Conditon,

00:10 a little place about 350 kilometres east of Perth.

00:14 I was the youngest of four kids

00:17 and I guess growing up in those years when my father was always helping,

00:22 either after school or before school,

00:24 there was always something to do on the farm.

00:28 Dad was, he was a tough old fella, he was a hard farmer.

00:32 Not long after I turned 18 that Dad passed away

00:37 and suddenly there was me and Mum to run the farm

00:41 and get on with that part of life.

00:43 I didn't do much about the grief of my father

00:50 and that's, I believe, where a lot of my mental illness problems began.

00:54 We were friends with the local butcher in town

00:57 and his wife said, "Some of the things that I see in you

01:01 are similar to what I've just been through."

01:03 And she said, "I've been off and seen this doctor.

01:07 You'd probably benefit from seeing him as well."

01:09 And the things that she was describing to me,

01:12 "You seem very down, you don't seem very interested,

01:15 you're withdrawing from footy," and all that sort of stuff,

01:18 struck a chord.

01:20 Life's worth living.

01:26 I'm living my life now.

01:28 I didn't know either of my grandfathers growing up,

01:33 so I go the extra mile to make sure that my granddaughters

01:36 remember their grandfather, their nanny as well.

01:41 And to celebrate that, each grandchild gets two birthday trees

01:47 in our backyard that flare on their birthday.

01:49 And we go bike riding, we go down to parks,

01:51 we do all sorts of stuff together and it's just, it's been life-changing.

01:55 And help them through life, to explain what life's about.

01:58 If, you know, there's a dark moment in your life,

02:01 to explain what that is.

02:03 How do you feel now your father's gone?

02:06 Nobody did that.

02:08 But that's why I do what I do.

02:10 And I'll keep on doing that.

02:12 I do not remember my father telling me that he loved me

02:23 and I do not remember telling him.

02:25 When I speak to my son, it very often ends with,

02:30 "I love you, Dad. I love you, mate."

02:32 And it's a lovely and wonderful thing to hear your son say, "I love you, Dad."

02:36 It's really good.

02:38 And it's great to be able to reciprocate that.

02:40 Don't be afraid to ask for help.

02:45 Reach out to those that you know can help you.

02:50 Find someone that you can talk to.

02:52 Go and have a chat with Uncle Bob or whoever it is.

02:57 Because it can be a very lonely life.

03:00 And I think loneliness only engenders more loneliness.

03:05 Only engenders more loneliness.

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03:19 [Music]

Beyond Blue - Eddie's Story

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