"From High Flyer To Rock Bottom" | What's In A Title?

Talks about my mental health tend to be particularly well attended when organisers use the title “High Flyer to Rock Bottom”. I can see why, but have always feel a bit uncomfortable about the “high flyer” bit.

Window Cleaner, Canary Wharf

With a number of talks coming up I’ve been looking for evidence of high flying to put in my bio. I came across an old copy of the Financial Times magazine. It shows:

a) that I was a staff writer on the FT (“high flyer”) and
b) that I cleaned the windows on the (then) tallest building in the UK (high flyer)

I thought I would record something about it.

Towards the end, I come up with a metaphor, based on my experience cleaning that building, to describe how bad mental health can sneak up on you.