A reader of A Speccy Man Has a Breakdown wrote to me.
I copied out by hand much of what he wrote, because I thought it deserved that. Scroll down to see it.
Good morning JP,
Your book is a gift; the conversations it’s helped me to have with my wife and two of my closest friends would have been inconceivable a few weeks ago.
My wife has asked a lot about triggers and scaffolding. She’s amazing. She wants to understand and to help. The “lots of different versions of myself” really chimed with me. It helped me to frame an answer to her question, “But how are you able to laugh sometimes when you are feeling so … worthless … or be with the kids … or just grind through work?”
The conversation with my closest friends… we recognised that we’d always used euphemisms to talk around how we were feeling. Stretched. Worn down. Pulled a bit thin.
Your book has brought an end to that nonsense.
I sent him the photo of my handwriting, and he said please go ahead and share it, adding:
I’ve just received this from my wife’s best friend via WhatsApp (following her conversations in the last couple of days with my wife about your book), “Please don’t worry about me, I’m ok but I decided I need counselling. I think it is about time.”
You are touching people’s lives, and encouraging them to act when doing something seemed to be an impossibly hard step. Extraordinary.
Keep going.
Thank you, you-know-who.