Introduction

 

"Hello there!"- Obi-Wan Kenobi

 

 Like the well-known Jedi knight from Star Wars, I'd like to greet you warmly and say, "Come on in! Take your coat off, grab a drink and sit on a comfy chair, beanbag, whatever makes you comfortable. Think of this as like an online Costa, Starbucks, McDonalds or wherever you normally like to chill out. Let's start at the beginning, in case you haven't followed me from any of my social media:

I'm John, from Brighton in England in the United Kingdom. As you've probably guessed from the title and description of this blog, I'm Autistic and have lived a life of all kinds of bullying, abuse, prejudice, depression, anxiety...the list goes on. I will be talking about it all and my various life experiences in all my blogs, although I'll probably spread everything out and try to focus on a specific topic for each blog.

Even though I'm very much well into adulthood, I was only diagnosed with Autism a couple of years ago (just before the world changed forever with the COVID-19 pandemic!). So, as you can probably imagine, life's been pretty hard for me, especially BEFORE I was diagnosed. I haven't had any support...not even the tiniest little breadcrumb of support. So, I've had to try and fight my way through life and support myself in whatever way I can. Part of that has been through my interests in stuff like sci-fi (hence the Star Wars quote!), nature photography (hence the nature photo!) and through helping to support other young people, especially those going through the same or similar experiences to my own.

But, enough about me for now, as this is only meant to be an introduction and I want this blog to be relatable to YOU as well. Like I said, a BIG part of who I am as a person is being someone who reaches out to support other young people. Over the years, I've worked in schools but have also had a lot of kids and teens (especially boys) reach out to me either in person or on social media for help.

Which brings me onto my core objective for this blog. It's not just about sharing my obsessive pop culture references (although there will be a lot of them!) or my nature photography (check out my Instagram for that!). It's going to be about helping support all the every-increasing boys and men who are struggling with either their mental health or anything else like bullying, prejudice, abuse, relationships etc. If there's one thing I've learnt over the years, it's that I seem to have a knack for helping provide a sympathetic ear or a shoulder to cry on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a professional counsellor, psychiatrist etc. I have done multiple courses on Mentoring or child development, but a lot of my knowledge comes from life experiences. Similarly, while I'm into nature photography, I'm not knowledgeable about nature. I leave that sort of thing to my fellow Autistic legends like Chris Packham and Dara McAnulty (a teen from Northern Ireland who I'm proud to say has just won multiple awards for his book on nature, "Diary of a Young Naturalist").

Anyway, I think this is enough waffle for today. I'll start getting into the real "nitty-gritty" next time. I'm not going to have a specific schedule for these, just as and when I feel inspired to write. I hope you'll join me! In the meantime, go check out my Twitter and Instagram. The links should be on the right. Also, more importantly, if you're currently struggling and need immediate support, I've put various support service websites at the bottom of the blog page. Hopefully, they'll always be there anytime you need them!

I'd like to leave you, assuming it works, with some of my favourite uplifting music. This is one of the latest tracks from one half of my favourite trailer music creators, "Two Steps From Hell". Thomas Bergersen from Norway, who normally works with Nick Phoenix, has released various solo albums and this is from one of them. Take care and keep holding on, no matter what!