“I’m not an easy character, I’m a difficult man, and my behaviour isn’t always great. I’ll say this right, with people who have mental health issues, there’s this feeling, this shame that they feel, it’s not just that they might look weak, but that they feel weak. Especially in men, like I take serious medicine every morning and every night, they’re antipsychotics. “

“You’ve got to really work for it, whether it be succeeding in your job or with your mental health, you’ve got to do something every single day. It’s not enough to do a bit here and there, there’s nothing like self discipline, there’s nothing like the love you can find for yourself if you just take care of yourself. But, whether it’ll be circumstantial problems or my mental health, it is doable, it is totally doable but you have to be open. You have to be honest and you have to practice talking about your feelings. But you have to do it, you know it’s not enough to just sit there and go, oh I agree. You have to act differently, even if it’s just a one-on-one with another friend. Everyone, must seek out someone else as best as you can, one you feel safe with, where you don’t necessarily have to know them all that well. You’d be surprised if you mention to your friends that you’re having a struggle or your family, I think most people would be surprised. And also, people want to help you. They want you to come to them, you know, they want you to burden them.”

“I feel naked without acting. The fear I’ve had in the past six years about it, has made me write my own show. I was like, I better do something. I wanna be part of the industry but I can’t be in front of that camera anymore so what I’ll do is, I’ll write it and get all these confident people to do what I used to do. And there was just a terrible sadness about it, I still do therapy as much as I can. My dad passed away and I finished our show, during that whole thing– still writing and into next season. The one positive to be draw out of this is, I didn’t just survive, I’m still surviving it. I’m writing about it all the time. I’ll never stop fighting it, never. I will not accept it, I won’t give in to this, this feeling.”

“I’m more proud of myself for admitting what’s wrong than I ever was bottling it up and not allowing myself to be honest….people see opening up about their emotions and feeling as weak or pathetic when in reality, its the opposite, it’s the strongest thing you can do.”

“I’ve smoked weed regularly for a few years now and I think naturally it has progressed into a bit of crutch for me at certain times. But I think even being aware and honest that it can be a crutch is good. Ultimately a crutch shows weakness and the physcoactive effects of weed can sometimes have a very negative impact on me if I’m feeling down. I think it's essential to be honest with yourself about your relationship with anything you consume regularly and to always be aware of whether it is the right thing for you at that moment. There have been times where I have been quite thankful to myself for turning down a zoot, and having that sense of power over a crutch through hard times helps to ease any dependancy one may have on it. I don’t think substances like weed or alcohol are ever a good coping mechanism but sometimes they can be a nice distraction and sometimes that’s all that’s needed.

…

I think the problem with social media is that it is ran like a business. Zuckerberg’s aim isn’t to connect the world, it is to line his pockets and unfortunately as many of us have developed addictions to these platforms we have become vulnerable and our trust is being abused. Theres an air of competition about social media that I often fall for myself but as a creative it is an essential tool that I value a lot. Traversing the world of social media is tricky and I like to keep it at arms length but sometimes I do get sucked in. If I’m not in a particularly good mood often it can make me feel worse so I’ve learned to avoid it in those times. One thing I’ve found beneficial recently is staying on top of what I follow, I know I’m gonna check Instagram everyday so I believe it’s due diligence to vet the kind of content I’m going to be taking in.”

“When I am anxious in general or worried about something, I feel unlike myself and tend to become irritable, impatient, shut off, etc.... Usually I struggle to ease my mind until the worry has been resolved in some way, in the meantime exercise/meditation/ good food all help.”