UPON REFLECTION: Jim Pickersgill, a Leongatha accountant, is urging people experiencing ill mental health to seek immediate help. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nJIM Pickersgill could not find the energy to do anything.<\/p>\n
Even dressing himself became a chore.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy body had just been exhausted from trying to continue on for such a long time and it just got to the stage where I was physically and mentally burnt out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Leongatha accountant remembers the time 30 years ago when he felt as though his arms and legs were in plaster.<\/p>\n
His heart endured strong palpitations, his thoughts were racing and rushing through his mind was an overwhelming fear of death.<\/p>\n
After seeking help, Jim was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder and depression.<\/p>\n
Looking back, he believed he had been battling with the conditions for most of his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just thought everyone was like that. I did not know any different,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAround the age of 30, it culminated and I just fell in a dirty, great heap. It was terrifying, extremely isolating, and there was just the lack of capacity to function on a very basic level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe depression was just like being in a dark hole. The more you tried to get out, the more you just kept on dragging more dirt on yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jim believed there was no clear reason for his mental health deteriorating, but felt his lifestyle at the time may have been a contributing factor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was working extremely hard and probably did not take the necessary breaks. That was just an opportunity to do more work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first anxiety attack just came out of the blue. It was like a train had suddenly come out of nowhere and hit me from the side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reaching out for help was a \u201chuge step\u201d and one he was not comfortable with.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I knew I had to do that,\u201d Jim said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been a person with a thirst for knowledge so that the more I learnt about it, the more I was empowered and more aware of it in other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
His road to recovery included reading about depression, which emphasised the value of recognising glimpses of normality, and taking up Hatha-gita yoga and meditation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe moment I get up I do about half an hour of meditation and also take moments out during the day to have a quiet moment for just a minute,\u201d Jim said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing disciplined and working on these things have helped in so many ways so I can work at a reasonable level.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also practises controlled breathing: breathing in for four seconds, holding the breath for four seconds and breathing out for eight seconds, all while picturing a weak tree in bushland, repeating the cycle four times.<\/p>\n
Jim also engages the services of counsellors to not only work on his mental health, but also his own career path.<\/p>\n
While Jim said his mental health was not a concern today, he said the conditions were \u201chibernating\u201d and his experience has made him more sympathetic towards the plight of others.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore my episode, I felt that people chose to feel that way so maybe it was an excellent karma lesson,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jim\u2019s advice to others experiencing ill mental health?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important they reach out and sometimes reflecting is tough, but the first step would be to go to the doctor and say \u2018I\u2019m really struggling\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have these wonderful resources like Lifeline and Beyond Blue, people who are trained in how to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
These organisations are supported by his accountancy firm, Jim Pickersgill and Associates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that that awareness is out there. I think we still need to promote a lot more awareness,\u201d Jim said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do not want an illness to be treated as a flippant thing or the new black.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n- Lifeline: 13 11 14.<\/li>\n
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Short URL<\/strong>: \/?p=30737<\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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brad<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton Feb 4 2020. Filed under Featured<\/a>. \t\t\t\t\tYou can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0<\/a>. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYou can leave a response or trackback to this entry\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tuesday, February 4th, 2020 | Posted by brad Back from the black UPON REFLECTION: Jim Pickersgill, a Leongatha accountant, is urging people experiencing ill mental health to seek immediate help. JIM Pickersgill could not find the energy to do anything. Even dressing himself became a chore. \u201cMy body had just been exhausted from trying to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3091"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15283,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3091\/revisions\/15283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}