Gum on My Shoe

Here are the rules: Put the logo on your post Thank the blogger who nominated you Write 5 facts about yourself Nominate 5 to 10 bloggers Thanks to my friend jenasauruswake for my nomination! Five facts about me (no one said they had to be interesting): I once banged my big toe in the shallow end of the swimming pool. I naively anticipated sympathy from my wife Pam: it took her about three days to stop laughing! Favourite nicknames include Marty, Hairy and Fluffy. Right now I am drinking a bottle of Guinness West Indies Porter. I am never more than 12 feet from my mobile phone. I ran a JRR Tolkien fan club called Middle-earth Reunion for ten years. Now to nominate five of my fave blogs. In no particular order: Moody Mu: www.moodymu.com Marla and Kasha: theglobalsunriseproject.com Gabe Howard: gabehoward.com Anne Goodwin: annegoodwin.weebly.com Johnny Two Hats: hashtagenjoythelittlethings.blogspot.co.uk  

I was deeply honoured that Sherry Joiner , renowned painter and author of Sherry Goes Sane: Living a Life with Schizo-Affective Disorder , chose to paint my portrait — and blown away at the result! I asked Sherry for a few words to accompany her painting. Here’s what she said. To a fascinating person, Martin Baker, an inspiration to many in the field of mental health. I enjoyed painting a portrait of you. Thank you for appearing from the UK to sit for me while I painted. Even though you were invisble and we had never met before, a photo brought me closer to you and we connected on my masonite board. More people should meet like this! Thanks again! Sherry Check out Sherry’s website and blog at artsandwritingbysherry.com .

Fran and I are delighted to appear in the Summer 2015 Carers edition of mental health charity Mind ’s Membership News magazine. “ My situation is unusual in that I live 3,000 miles from the person I care for. Fran and I met on Facebook; we like to say that the internet means no one is too far away to be cared for, or to care. Fran has moved through episodes of mania, depression and debilitating fatigue, and while she has local friends and a great team of professionals, I’m the person she is in most direct and constant contact with: the one she relies on to be there day or night.” Martin  

i’m flat.. the result of too much good going on.. this is what always happens.. the hypomania everyone loves me.. the jokey.. the push push push to be a part of life with all my friends.. the being involved in everything that’s going on.. running to catch up.. the overspending of energy that can’t be caught up.. to...the flat.. the no one loves me.. the everyone is doing everything fun and not inviting me.. the i can’t get out of bed.. the i can’t stop eating.. or drinking.. this my friends.. is the joy of bipolar.. and there are so many more words.. Fran

Some of you will have seen these fun (and scarily accurate!) emoticons of us, popping up here and there on our social media. A friend asked Fran what it was all about: “As you know, Marty and I are writing a book about how to be friends with one who lives with bipolar disorder, and we are actively bringing awareness to mental illness and to reducing stigma. Skype has invited us to be Moment Maker Ambassadors in the Social Good category. They made these cartoons for us for fun and to celebrate.” The Skype Moment Maker Ambassador program brings together people from all over the world who use the Skype voice, messaging and video call application in fun, innovative, creative or socially meaningful ways. Living 3,000 miles apart as we do, technology is vitally important to us. Without the internet and social media we would never have met and I could not support Fran as I do if we were unable to keep in ongoing contact. It is not too much to say that the interne...

This article first featured in a very successful fundraising campaign for Maine-based mental health non-profit Family Hope ( www.familyhopeme.org ). The power of family and friends’ encouragement and support when someone has a mental health issue cannot be overestimated. Even though Marty and Fran live 3,000 miles apart, their friendship has blossomed over the past four years. Many of us don’t know what to say to someone who may be living with the effects of their illness, but the truth is we don't have to know the “right” thing to say. Marty’s gift to Fran has been his calm, constant presence, his willingness to “be there” for her no matter what. Please take a few minutes to read about these two amazing people and the power of their friendship. Donna Betts, Executive Director, Family Hope Kindness is the key Marty and I met four years ago on a mutual friend’s Facebook wall. She wanted to take her life. We didn’t want t...

I reached the pinnacle of a successful engineering career after a chaotic childhood, a rape, a cult experience, a violent marriage - only to plunge headlong into losing everything I’d gained. Mate, family, home, work, dog gone. Health gone. 1994. Major depression. 34 years old. I no longer knew who I was. I did not know how to go on. Frantically clawing my way I tried to regain my health, spending over $10k, desperately following any advice given. It didn’t work. Nothing worked. I lived in the Maine woods for a year. No running water. No electricity. No TV. No Radio. No books. No journal. Only dancing naked in the rain, snow angels under a full moon, watching frost freeze on the window pane. I was sleeping but no beauty. Twenty hours of unrefreshing sleep a day found my baseline chronic fatigue syndrome. The pain of fibromyalgia remained unrelieved. The cherry wallpaper was no consolation. Maddening. I moved to an island. Peaks Island. Living in the old generator shack that once ran...