Description

By Norah Johnson

ISBN: 978-1-84991-790-2
Published: 2012
Pages: 55
Key Themes: Mental Health, Post-War, Care, Biography

Description

The main theme of my book is looking at my life with its many twists and turns and working out why there were so many ups and downs and with the acquired knowledge try to help and inspire the reader by studying the contents so they may get an idea of the many pitfalls they could possibly face. I am quite sure most people could write their autobiography if they put there minds to. It is so important to keep the facts as they happened as it must be true to your life’s experiences. I did not want to mask the truth as that would have just been another story and there would be less learning that way. Also as you read my book you will realise that the people I talk about are real but there Christian names are not revealed as they must be protected throughout my story. The book is quite funny in parts and some chapters are so very sad. The emotions go as low as the abyss and as high as Everest. I compiled and wrote my book whilst travelling and working in country’s such as Romania, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and other parts of Europe; but not least England where I was born. The reason I wrote my book was to try and inspire people who may be struggling with this thing called ‘life’. We all go through so much in different ways and at times we needlessly take the long and painful routes, but if we decided to study ourselves first (and that is far from easy), we could have a better quality of life. Also there are parts of spiritual education which helped to guide me to the path that I needed to take. I would never forgive myself if the book bored the reader as that would be hard to bear. The books I chose to study helped to bring inspiration to me and I so thank the authors for there work as it all helped me to write my book. I also would like to thank my local college in Huyton and the manger and staff who were so supportive to me and showed so much interest in my book. I dedicate my book to my six sons, my daughter and my grandchildren, those people I have met on my adventures, and all of my friends. It is the nature of humans to suffer while learning and developing. When you’re set of lessons are learnt, then and only then can you harmonise and enjoy your life. I hope you enjoy my life’s story and I am quite sure that my words can and will reinforce minds that need to feel free from the weights that keep them trapped.

About the Author

I was born in 1943, just after the war i did not feel very secure as a child , and felt very unhappy. within my self, which because nothing had been dealt with. I ended up in mental hospitals, and was given so much shock treatment.
, And lots of drugs that the hospital perscribed for me. i am allso the mother of seven children and i am sure the way i was acting must have hurt them.I am ouite sure with the correct help and information like they have these days i may not have gone to such a dark place in my mind .

Book Extract

However, the time was so long and the days dragged, I would sit in the bedroom eating lots of oranges, I could not handle all of those people downstairs, and yet they were so nice. Then the day came for me to go and have my baby, I was so afraid. I was in the hospital for three days and I had a little boy, he was five pounds and five ounces and was quite strained looking, I think it was because I was also strained. When he was six weeks old we got our first house. I found life so hard and I could not cope too well, it took me so long to bath the baby. I did not have a washing machine and I remember mum boiling washing in a white metal bucket on the stove, so I did that, I put all those dirty nappies in the bucket. I did not know that I had to throw the motions down the toilet first; it just taught me how naive I was. This day while my nappies were boiling up, there was a knock on the door; it was a young lady with a baby in a pram. She said she had heard that a young woman had moved into this house, and would I like a friend? “Oh, come in,” I said. She came in and said” What’s that awful smell in your house?” I could not smell anything, when you are in it you don’t see or smell things. I was consumed at this stage. She said, “It smells like boiled shit.” She was right. Then she showed me the way it should have been done. So many people have had a good laugh at this incident over the years, but that friend had been sent to my rescue. God works in so many ways, and that was an Act of God. He sent the help when I needed it.

So life came and went. When the baby was three months old I decided to go to the doctor’s for my postnatal check. The doctor was not too pleased to see me. He said I should have come six weeks after the birth of my son. When he examined me he said I was having another baby. Oh no, that cannot be possible, my first baby is still outside in the pram. He was right though. When I told my husband he seemed made up with the news. I had learned to knit for the babies, and was running my house better, and six months later I gave birth to a cute little son. He weighed six pounds and six ounces and was a lovely baby boy. So that was my new life, but my hang-ups were becoming more severe. I could not stop thinking about my hair, it would pull me down; I was so afraid of putting on weight, and that no-one would love me, as I did not love myself at all. I was my own worst enemy, and it is true, if you don’t love yourself, how can you love others? However my husband was rather ambitious and decided to sell this house and buy some property in Ainsdale, on the way to Southport. It was a fruit shop with a flat above. So off we all went, my husband and I and the three sons I had by then; and I was going to work in the shop. I could not cope with this change too well and I missed my friend who had taught me so much. This life was not for me and I felt the strain as I could not read or write too well. I would write on the window but always spelt things wrong, and the customers would enjoy telling me. It all had an effect on me, the shop was not doing well, and it started to lose money and went up for sale. It was turning into a ‘white elephant’.