Being OK with doing nothing: How to mentally survive 2020–21
Millions of people are having a really tough time at the moment. Some have lost their job as a result of the pandemic and are suddenly experiencing a loss of identity and an intense feeling of ‘not being good enough’. Others still have their job or their role, but are experiencing skyrocketing levels of anxiety due to a total loss of control and sense of ‘normalcy’. Many people will be impacted physically by this pandemic and, tragically, some will die. But my sense is that, for most of us, our biggest challenge will be mental. I don’t imagine how anyone could escape this whole situation without at least a heightened level of anxiety. And plenty of people will be at the other end of the spectrum: they will feel completely overwhelmed. Many people will struggle mightily to adjust to the rapidly escalating situation and the sudden changes to their life (and the world in general) as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19). This video is for all of you who need a bit of support to get through this whole ordeal with your mental health as intact as possible.
All my love, Ross. xo
I’m Ross, and I’m bisexual…
September 23, 2020
By Ross Hope
The very first inkling I had that I was bisexual was while watching Astro Boy cartoons as a child in the ‘80s. There was something about his asymmetrical haircut, soft voice and big eyes that made me feel things beyond the realm of a regular six-year-old fanboy. Of course, at the time, I had no …
Giving up: the end of the ‘never give up’ mindset
October 22, 2020
By Ross Hope
Any path is only a path. There is no affront to oneself or others in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you. —Carlos Cataneda We are frequently told that ‘never giving up’ is the secret to getting what we want, doing what we want to do, and becoming who we want to …
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“The hurrier I go, the behinder I get”: 2020 is teaching us to slow down
October 22, 2020
By Ross Hope
The hurrier I go, the behinder I get. —Lewis Carrol [the White Rabbit], Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland In early 2020, the unthinkable happened. We stopped going to work, school, restaurants, bars, and shops. We stopped visiting anyone. Basically, we didn’t leave the house unless it was absolutely necessary. To try to protect ourselves and the …
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I went on antidepressants and the world didn’t end
October 22, 2020
By Ross Hope
Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. In Australia, it is estimated that 45 percent of people will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime. In any one year, around 1 million Australian adults have depression, and over 2 million have anxiety. —Beyond Blue, 2015 I thought it would be the end of …
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My ego made me do it: life as a musician in Iron On and Disco Nap
October 22, 2020
By Ross Hope
After the demands of the ego and its greed surrender, the struggle for fulfilment of personal desires lessens: life takes on a new zest like a breath of fresh air. —Swami Sivananda Radha In my early twenties, I started playing music in an indie rock band called Iron On. I had dreamed about playing in …
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About a book called...
How to Change the World by Doing Nothing
I’ve been writing a book since 2014. The working title for the book was How to Change the World by Doing Nothing.
At the core of it was the idea of learning to value yourself for who you are not what you do.
The manuscript is currently sitting at about 90,000 words.
But here’s the thing:
In the process of writing this book, I’ve realised that I don’t actually NEED to write it anymore…
READ MORELetters
Dear Former Self, Sometimes you have apocalyptic nightmares about enemy warplanes flying over Brisbane, ready to open fire into the streets. These nightmares seem strange to you, because the only times you’ve ever witnessed warplanes in action is during a Riverfire event—and they were undoubtedly ‘friendly’ jets. There were no bombs, no intent to destroy, …
Waiting for the bombs to drop
Dear Future Self, Last year I wrote to you about the day I met Anxiety and Depression, but we’ve never really talked about why all of that happened, have we? To be fair, I haven’t talked to many people at all about it. I’ve certainly never written songs or letters like this about it, mainly …
Continue reading “Everybody loves you when you’re bi, but I was learning to love myself”
Everybody loves you when you’re bi, but I was learning to love myself
— This letter was originally read out live on stage at The Zoo in Brisbane on Sunday 10 November 2013 as part of a Men of Letters event. It is now published as part of a collection of letters by Women of Letters, called ‘From The Heart‘, released December 2015. All proceeds from the book …
Continue reading “A letter to the woman who changed my life”
A letter to the woman who changed my life
Dear Former Self, I watched as you waited in that empty hospital room. I watched as time killed hour after hour and you wondered why it was taking so long, if something had gone wrong. I watched as you felt the depth of your powerlessness, as you realised that everything was out of your control …
The letting go
Dear Future Self, There’s this thing I’ve been grappling with lately: the feeling of ‘being enough’. And I’ve been wondering what it means to be enough—whether I am enough. I keep coming back to it. When I’m feeling anxious or depressed, or have an excessive reaction to something, there it is underneath it all. Over …
Continue reading “The value of self-worth: how much is enough?”
The value of self-worth: how much is enough?
Dear Former Self, Thank you for your letter about Anxiety and Depression: the cousins no one likes a visit from. I’m glad you travelled back in time, all the way back to those brutish cousins’ first visit in 2001. Sometimes revisiting the past in order to reinterpret and make peace with it can help the …
Continue reading “Anxiety and Depression (part 2): the philosophy of time travel”
Anxiety and Depression (part 2): the philosophy of time travel
This blog letter was originally featured on The Vine on 10 May 2013. Dear Future Self, You know how much I enjoy talking about anxiety and depression. I mean, where do you even start? How do you wrestle a bear? I suppose you would respond: ‘at the beginning’. Yes, you’re probably right, but delving into …
Continue reading “Anxiety and Depression (part 1): the cousins no one likes a visit from”
Anxiety and Depression (part 1): the cousins no one likes a visit from
Dear Former Self, I see you’ve been a little nostalgic lately? That’s no huge surprise considering what’s been going on in your life. Believe it or not, I still get nostalgic sometimes too—yes, even now. Every spring when smoke from the season’s first sugarcane fires wafts into the air, I’m taken back to the 1980s. …
Nostalgia Town
Dear Future Self, It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Having fun. So why is it that having fun can be such hard work? I think, maybe, I’ve always been like this, but I’m only now recognising the true extent of my ability to ‘kill the fun’ in my life. I’m not talking about the spontaneous …
Resident Killjoy and the perfect storm
Dear Former Self, I thought it was time I wrote to you about pain. Do you remember what pain felt like as a child, as a little baby? Your muscles grew, your limbs ached, and you cried. Your body doesn’t grow that way anymore, and yet you still hurt, you still feel pain, and you …
Growing pains
Dear Future Self, I’m writing to you to ask about success and failure. It seems to me that many people spend a great deal of time and energy—sometimes their entire lives—striving to succeed at something or other, and giving everything they can to avoid failure. Who can blame them really: failure is about as sexy …
Successfully failing