My Account
Matakana’s Wendy Parkins has published a memoir about living with depression and phobia while embarking on a professional career in the United Kingdom.
“I led a kind of double life, necessarily concealing my phobia from others, hoping that the screaming terror in my head was audible only to me,” Wendy says.
Entitled Every Morning So Far I’m Alive, the book records what it was like to live in a world where shaking a stranger’s hand, catching a taxi or touching a door handle was fraught with fear and dread.
“Obviously it is a personal story, but I hope there are moments in there that everyone will identify with. I wanted to add to New Zealand’s story about how mental illness is experienced.
“There is hope and – spoiler alert – at the end of the book, I recover.”
Wendy has advice for anyone who might find themselves in the same position.
“It is important that sufferers of mental illness don’t feel a sense of shame because that can be just as debilitating. Don’t think to yourself that, as a professional, you shouldn’t be experiencing it, and understand it as a health problem.”
The book is published by Otago University Press and is available at Matakana Village Books or online at Unity Books for $35.
Book Giveaway
Mahurangi Matters has a copy of Early Morning So Far I’m Alive to give away. Write your name and number on the back of an envelope, post to book competition, Mahurangi Matters PO Box 701 Warkworth or email news@localmatters.co.nz with the subject line: Every Morning. Competition closes Tuesday May 28.
