Tales from a Bruised Mind

Coming back home is always super enlightening for me. For whatever reason it may be, it’s the best thing of all to come home. My true home.

I have always been a home boy. I love nothing more than to be with those I hold closest to my heart.

My Mum. My Dad. My brother ben. The perfect trio.

And so, with all that forever embedded in my mind, I hopped in my long-term test vehicle, a brand-new Kia Sportage Hybrid, and took off north towards Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. My home.

I do this journey several times a year. It’s a long way – around 1025km and 11.5 hours of driving door to door to Mum and Dad’s place in Maroochydore – but I do it because I absolutely love it. As you may have seen or read throughout this blog, driving is a dominant force in my life. So driving over a thousand kilometres in a day doesn’t seem such a big deal.

By this stage, I’m pretty used to it.

For me, the first two hours and the last two hours of the drive are the worst bits of all of it. The first two hours because I’m usually already exhausted, and the last two hours because I just want to get to my destination most of all.

Sure enough, I made it safely back to Queensland and quickly collapsed into a deep, deep sleep.

The D.A.D drive to the Bowden’s car collection

The core reason of me coming back to Queensland was to be present at Drive Against Depression’s second ever Queensland drive. I couldn’t have been happy to be part of it. The drive began in Caboolture and ended at the private car collection of the Bowden’s family, who happen to own some of the most prestigious and iconic motorsport heroes from years gone by. You’ve probably heard of the Bowden family before thanks to their car cleaning product business.

I dragged my brother, who has no interest at all in cars, to join me on the drive as chief navigator. He did a good job, and surprisingly had a very good time, even if he had no idea what Chris Bowden was saying for the majority of his collection walk-through.

Over 70 people showed up for the event – it was, as always, wonderful – and I met some new faces and connected with those in a way that you can only really do on a DAD drive. Awesome stuff!

Reconnecting with new and old friends

A year and a half ago, my family and I went on a cruise to New Zealand with Celebrity Cruise Lines. We met many interesting and wonderful people over the 12 nights, including one really, really nice guy by the name of Bernie.

Bernie is quite possibly one of the sweetest, kindest, most whole-hearted gentleman I have ever met in my life. The Adkins family and Bernie hit it off on the cruise almost immediately and we shared many drinks together. We connected easily and without any fuss. It was brilliant.

A year and a half later, Bernie happened to be holidaying right near my parent’s apartment in Cotton Tree, Maroochydore. I also happened to be at Mum and Dad’s place at the same time. Bernie rang me and could literally wave to me from his balcony. We were that close. And so, after organising a time, Bernie and I officially caught up at the local surf life saving club.

It was so wonderful to share a meal and talk about what had been happening in our lives. I told Bernie a bit about what had been happening with the Adkins family, explained some of my mental health past and, of course, had a drink or two.

But I also promised Bernie I’d get him a copy of my book. He was chuffed.

A few nights later, Bernie and I met up again, this time with brother Ben in tow, and I happily handed over a fresh copy of A Ballad from a Bruised Brain to Bernie. He was incredibly happy with that which made me happy, too.

(I have since heard from Bernie who told me that ABFABB had been very impactful for him and he had essentially read it all in one sitting!)

Spending three days of leave doing absolutely nothing at all

Having just finished a very manic week of work in Canberra, I decided to take three days of leave to reset, reflect and sleep in for a couple of mornings.

And Cotton Tree beach happened to be the best place to do that.

I went for a walk on the beach, went to the local shops, got a great fish and chips and, most of all, just sat and enjoyed the view from Mum and Dad’s place.

That view never ever gets old. I don’t think it ever will.

When it was time to pack up and head south back to Sydney, I felt super sad that it was over. It felt like a really good movie coming to an end, a movie you wish you could experience for the first time again and again.

As I began my journey south, I kept thinking of that view, of how lucky I am and just how good a life I lead.

Love,

Zak