What I See with Peter Fiorenza: How my nervous breakdown helped me find peace, patience and perspective

At this time about three years ago, I was very much looking forward to a break from work. Long service leave, in fact. Little did I know, my health was about to seriously head south. In this column, I have previously documented about my nervous breakdown and how it literally turned my world upside down. In brief, it was in the middle of COVID and understandably I had a lot of nothing time on my hands, but for some reason, it spiralled out of control, to the point that I couldn’t look after myself. Waking up from terrible dreams, not eating, and believing I was suffering from a severe ailment. Eventually, things became far too difficult, and my family made the big, hard decision to put me in the care of professionals. And thank God they did. Today, I believe I am in an even better place than I was before this worrying episode. Thankfully, the care and attention I received allowed me to stop, slow down and get in touch with the real me — a me I am so happy to be now. For the past 2½ years, I have felt mentally and physically better than I ever have in my life. Despite the work I put in to dealing with it, I suffered from deep-rooted anxiety — something that certainly affected my wellbeing, but I didn’t know how I felt was not the norm. I do now. For 52 years I struggled but didn’t know it. Yes, I’m on medication, and possibly will be for the rest of my life. But, I reckon that’s a very small price to pay for stable mental health. Several years on, and I’m just starting to see the difference. I don’t tend to worry too much anymore, my patience seems to be infinite and I tend to have a balanced mood (most of the time). I now accept and understand my shortcomings, along with those of others. And I truly, understand that life is a gift, not a race and the only expectations I need to satisfy at the end of the day are my own. Most importantly, my interest and confidence in humanity has grown immensely. My family who cared for me through those dark days, in retrospect, was simply amazing, along with the doctors and nurses who were always there — not to mention my friends and work colleagues. Why am I reliving the past? Well, in recent years after my experience, I’ve become more in tune with what might be going on. I’m perceptive to the fact that we all have our crosses to bear. And I now fully understand the saying: “The sun will always come up, again, tomorrow.” Peter Fiorenza hosts Sports Shed Saturday from 9am to noon and Fiorenza on Sunday from 10am and noon on Radio MAMA