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Hello there, welcome to my next podcast. To be honest with you today, a few little bits

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and pieces that I really want to talk about. One of them being today, World Mental Health

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Day. Now mental health, it does tend to affect most people, whether that be yourself having

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issues or whether that be somebody else that you know having issues. And honestly there's

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not really a great deal that I can say on that except one, if you're struggling, there's

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always people out there, there's always somewhere for you to talk and the best thing you can

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do is talk. I know it might not always seem it, but bottling things up is only going to

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make things worse. There's people out there, there's charities out there. I'm not one that

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has got all of the answers, I've not got all of the phone numbers, but onto Google and

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there's places out there, there's always somewhere where you can talk, there's always somewhere

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where you can get help. And you know what, if you personally are not struggling but you

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think somebody might be, just ask them if they're okay. It's not difficult, just to

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hello mate, how you doing? How's things? Give someone the opportunity, because sometimes,

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not all the time, sometimes that's all it needs is for someone to open the door to give

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that person that's struggling the opportunity to get things off their chest. Maybe that's

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going to help them. But that's enough about that for today. Onto the MS side of things.

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I am still waiting for my MS nurse to be in touch, so I'm still not quite sure what's

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going on in terms of treatment. It would be very nice if I was to get that information

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soon because quite honestly, the sooner I can get onto some form of treatment, the better.

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Because at the moment, it's just me struggling away and trying the best I can every day.

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Yeah, okay, there's no miracle treatment, there's no miracle cure, but hopefully I can

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sort of slow the progress a little bit and get myself on a bit of an even keel. Because,

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again, from my point of view, things aren't easy. I'm having a good few issues in terms

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of mobility and staying on my feet, but I'm trying my best, waking up every day and fighting

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along because no matter what, I'm not giving in to this. Not a chance. MS has got a fight

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on its hands and do you know what? I'm getting ready to put the gloves on. When I put them

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on, we get in the ring. And then me and the MS, we scrap it out. I'm not one that gives

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in easily. So good luck MS, good luck. I'm wondering how everyone else is getting on

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because the weather's turning a little bit now. It's getting a little bit cooler. So

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I'm just wondering if with the weather changing, is that helping anyone? Because again, it's

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a known thing that extreme temperatures can cause you an issue with your MS. I know in

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the summer, me personally, I love the sunshine. Absolutely love it. But I did find it was

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quite draining for me. I'd go out in the sun. Again, I'll never stop doing that. But I'd

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go out in the sun and yeah, I'd get incredibly tired, incredibly fast and it would make moving

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around really difficult. I'll be honest with you, it wasn't easy at all. But still, I cracked

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on. I gave it a go and I was out there. If you've got me on Instagram, you'll see that

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I was out in the garden doing the gardening, which again is something that me personally

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I found is actually really helpful. Really helpful. It gives me something to do, something

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to keep myself ticking over, something to move about. And being as I'm in my own garden

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doing it, if I do fall over, at least I'm on my grass. It's a bit softer and there's

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not too many people around to see it. But yeah, I mean, I was out in the garden yesterday

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actually. The sunflowers we've got getting to the end of their life for a year. So I've

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harvested the seeds. I've got those locked away nice and tight ready for next year. There's

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no way I'll use them all because there's hundreds of seeds that are just waiting ready to be

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used. So yeah, not all of them are going to be used and I'm not one that's going to eat

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them. I know there's people out there that do eat sunflower seeds for me personally,

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not something I'm going to do. But again, out in the garden doing what I needed to do

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yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I suffered for it a little bit afterwards, but it was

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worth it. It was worth it. I just need to work out what I'm going to do with the garden

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next year because there's a few bits and pieces where I want to put some new bits in. Not

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quite sure yet then. But it means trips to the garden center. I can't help it. I love

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the garden center, but shh, don't tell anyone. In terms of how I'm currently doing as I've

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said, I really am waiting on this information for treatment because I could do with it.

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And as I've said, I'm struggling a little bit mobility wise. It's not particularly easy

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currently. I've got a lot of pains in my legs, in my back, my left forearm. It's something

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that's been going on now and then over the last few months, but it's really been a little

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bit more recently. I've got a pain in my left forearm and it shoots all the way down and

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makes me make a fist. My middle finger of all fingers curled up and it just uncontrollably

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twitches. It only lasts a few minutes, but I tell you what, it's quite uncomfortable

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and it's something that's happening a little bit more often. So I'm just trying to find

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a way around that. But yeah, as I say, that's currently the sort of things I've got going

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on. I will say that again, anyone that's got me on Instagram and anyone that's listened

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to previous podcasts will know my mobility scooter, Eleanor. Yes, I'll let you guess

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where the name come from. It was a good film. She really has been a bit of a lifesaver for

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me because again, I wasn't really able to get out and about much if we needed stuff

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from the shops. As much as I wanted to go, quite rightly, people were saying to me, look,

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you just can't manage it. Now I can. And with regards to that, I was a bit embarrassed

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at the start. 39 years old using a mobility scooter. Do you know what, that embarrassment

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has long since passed and it's been replaced with pride because, okay, I'm 39 years old,

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I'm riding a mobility scooter. But do you know what, if I didn't ride that scooter,

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I'd be stuck not being able to do anything. And I was riding that scooter home actually

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the other day. Been at work. Weather had been a bit ropey. It had been hammering down to

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be honest with you. So I put my waterproof poncho on which covers myself and the scooter.

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And as I'm coming home, I get to a point where I need to cross the road. So I'm sat waiting,

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looking and as I look to my left, there's a car sat there, there's a lot of traffic,

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there's a car sat there. And this woman, she's sat in the passenger side of her car. And

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I literally watched her point at me and start laughing. Now part of me thought, do you know

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what, oh wow, is that what people think of me? Within a few seconds, that changed to,

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yeah, okay, if that's what you're thinking, you crack on. Because quite honestly, I could

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not care less. This is me, this is what I need to do to get around. And do you know

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what, all I did is I gave her a thumbs up. And within a second or two of giving her that

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thumbs up, that smile on her face went and she turned around and looked the other way.

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Do you know what? I ain't embarrassed. Neither should anyone be. We do what we have to do

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to keep ourselves going. Never give up. No matter what, never give up. Because there's

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so many things that you can still do. It's as simple as that. I'm genuinely not one of

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these that's ever going to say, okay, I'm done. Not me. And anyone out there that ever

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feels like things are tough, well, I saw a little thing online and do you know what,

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it was a good little saying. And it's a case of no matter how dark the night is, that night,

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that darkness is always going to be followed by light. And we can always come through that

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night time and start seeing the daytime. There's always something somewhere that can show you

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that no matter how bad things are, things will get better. Things will get better. Me

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personally, the old me, if somebody had been pointing and laughing at me, actually I'd

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have got really self-conscious over it. Nope. Nope. Not playing that game. Not playing that

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game at all. No reason for me to be self-conscious about something that I need. Something that

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actually gives me an ability to be me. Because that's all I want. I just want to be able

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to be me. I think that's all any of us want personally. Now, what I will say, I know this

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is a bit of a different podcast to be honest with you. I just wanted to sit and talk. Not

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so much thought out. I've not actually thought about any of this content at all. I've just

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sat here and spoke about things that are going on in my brain. Things that I actually wanted

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to talk about. And it's helpful. And I will say that doing this podcast in general is

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incredibly helpful. It gets things out of my head. It gets them out in the world. I've

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said it so many times. I look at that download count creeping up and the level of pride is

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just unreal. It really is. So thank you all again. I'll say it again. Thank you all again

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for downloading and listening. Because honestly, I just want to get my story out there. I want

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to be able to feel like me talking about my stuff actually might help others that are

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struggling to talk about things themselves. So again, thank you all. Massive, massive

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thank you all. And it is incredible to see that there's people all over the world downloading

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me sat talking. Well, believe me, I'm going nowhere. I've got every intention of making

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this podcast last. I want to make this out there for everyone. I want to try and help.

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I want to give people an opportunity to listen and say, do you know what? I've been through

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something similar. Or I want people to listen and go, actually, this guy is going through

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a bit of a rough time. And I am. I'm honest. I am going through a rough time. Things are

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not easy with DMS. It really isn't. But do you know what? I keep that smile on my face

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because that's who I am. So I want to be. And again, I do not give in. I want my life

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to be a happy one. And you know what? It is. I've got great family, great friends. And

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this condition has picked me for a fight. We fight. It's that simple. Right. I hope

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you all have a great day. Thank you all again for listening. It is massively appreciated.

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And I will talk to you all again soon. Have a great day. Bye bye.