The Pilgrimage Begins

This year my brother hit 50 and his journey to this stage of his life has not been easy; it has been punctuated by many difficulties and problems.  His childhood and the ensuing years were made more complicated by issues that neither he (nor his family around him) understood and these held him back like a brick wall that he did not know how to get round.  As he approached his half-century he has finally been give a name for all his ails and this has helped his family to have an understanding of the noise in his head that has stopped him from progressing and reaching goals.  Although that brick wall is still there, being at peace with his mental health diagnosis, has liberated him enough to consider undertaking a journey; the Camino de Santiago.  Most people would think this is a step too far.  It is true, it is going to be a difficult physical challenge for him as well as a mental test.  Even just getting to the point of departure will be a big step – until last September he had not left his home town for about eight years.

I have set this blog up for my brother because he wants to share with others (sufferers and those who do not know what it is to suffer) how hard it is to live with BPD and to conceive of undertaking something as big as this.  Over the years he has often written his thoughts down as s as a means to get out of his head the commotion, disruption and brouhaha that has been a feature of his life.  Before he begins his Camino he is going to share some of his writings. His thoughts are a stream of consciousness and (yes, there are plenty of spelling and grammar errors) but I think this helps me understand better just what it is like to be my brother.

From now on the blog posts are all Simon’s.  Please join him.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton