18/10/2024
It has been a while since I returned from Chasing the Dog around Australia, so I thought I better check in with what’s been happening.
As I mentioned a few significant moments have happened from turning 64, having my third grandchild arrive, another boy, my youngest son has turned 16 and I have a wedding anniversary and my twin’s birthday around the corner. So, there is a lot happening.
Also going back to work and getting back into the routine of a regular life.
So, has the holiday/adventure buzz worn off?
If that is what it is then the answer is no, but I believe it is more than that.
I feel so much better than before the trip in fact I feel the best I have in years.
I feel lighter, more relaxed, more willing to let things slide than get cranky with them. I feel quietly confident in myself and what I can achieve.
I am more engaged with the world around me and those in it.
I laugh for freely at things and not just at the situations I create to avoid being involved.
I see simple things and find myself laughing out loud, from watching kids being kids or the dog that says, “no I’m not walking any further”, this includes my own.
There is an enjoyment in doing things and the same enjoyment in doing nothing.
I think you get the picture; things are pretty good.
When I look back at the trip or get asked about it I realise how important it was for me to do as an adventure, an exercise in planning to prove to myself I could still do something out of the box, to rebuild the confidence that I had lost. To prove to myself, and others if I’m honest, that I could do it. Ride that far day in and day out and be self-sufficient.
When the plans needed to be changed they were changed, and I didn’t feel disappointed in the changes or in myself for not fulfilling that part of the trip. And there were changes to the trip and to what I wanted to achieve in the original plan.
But I believe the way it panned out was better for me and the outcome of the trip.
Originally I planned to be on every radio station in regional Australia to talk about mental health. I sent out press releases and contacted people I knew in various stations around the country, and they were all interested and knew where I would be and when, but nothing came about from all that hard work. I had great support locally before I left and during the trip which I am very grateful for.
So, this page became my outlet for telling my story and just talking to people along the way in camping spots, caravan parks, roadhouses, cafes or just standing on the side of the road with the bike and people stopped to say hello and ask what I was doing and where was I going.
I was humbled by the way people listened and even more in the way they shared their own stories, sometimes ones they had never shared before. There is a great comfort in knowing your not the only one to feel certain ways during life. The more I heard from people the more I learned about myself.
It was the simple things and as I call it, going through the check list of things from fidgety legs to the arguments in your own head about things that have happened a long time ago or would likely never happen. It seems there are so many similarities in these and many other areas of mental health issues that when recognised brings a sigh of relief that I am not the only one doing these things.
I may not be normal but there are a lot of others like me out there.
This was a common theme both in conversations with people along the way and here on this page and with the direct messages I received with people sharing their stories and giving me encouragement to continue telling mine.
It seems a difference was being made.
I see the Chasing the Dog trip as one if not the most significant thing I have ever done from completing the trip, from clearing the mind along the way and to create a place safe enough for people to share or at least quietly recognise their own stories and hopefully start to believe in themselves again.
I may have started this thing, but it is all of you that have created this thing and for that I can never thank you enough.
My journey is not over but the next chapter has a better starting place.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making me realise the world is a good place full of good people doing good things.
Neil
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