We need to forget ‘resilience’. I’m not here to inspire you with all the trauma I've endured | Natasha Sholl

It is uncomfortable when the people we love are in pain. But we need to sit in this discomfort - it's the least we owe each other

The other day I was stopped on the street by someone who told me that during a particularly bad depressive episode in which she was hospitalised, she just thought of me and realised her life wasn't actually that bad. Um, thanks? I'm not sure if that comment was more or less offensive than the guy who told me he wasn't sure how I got out of bed each day". Cheers bro.

The short version is that in my twenties my boyfriend died suddenly while we were sleeping, nine years later my brother died suddenly at work and in 2022 our lives imploded (again) when my son was diagnosed with cancer and severe Guillain Barre Syndrome which has left him paralysed.

Natasha Sholl is a writer and lapsed lawyer living in Melbourne. Her first book, Found, Wanting was published by Ultimo Press in 2022