Me,Fishing & Bipolar

I’ve recently had the pleasure of writing a few thoughts for Bipolar Scotland’s “On the Level” magazine. It’s about how fishing consumes me for a few hours every now and then, and gives me a break from intrusive thoughts. I think all of us fisher-people will understand that, but the important thing to take away is that being in nature can have a massively positive effect on mental health.

For me it calms me down, or gees me up, whichever I need at that particular time. But there’s a sense of recalibration after a fishing session. It really focusses my mind for a while on what’s going on around me, doesn’t matter what I catch as it’s just about being there in that moment. While your mind is full of nature it forgets all the other crap going on, if only for a while. But those few hours of escapism fill the tank til the next time. It really is magical.

I got this tattoo a few years ago to remind me of good times on the river. Sometimes I need to remind myself that there’s plenty to look forward to in life. It’s a greenwells glory, because a salmon fly was too hard to copy! I just wanted a colourful fishing fly , life is colourful. It didn’t heal properly so is a bit patchy, but I like it that way as nothing is perfect. A good metaphor for all sorts of things

Please read the article below, i’d really appreciate it!

tight lines