This article popped up on Perth Now and I felt compelled to write given that it addresses issues I’ve often thought about for many years.

As I was reading this article I could see elements of myself in subjects of the story.

Note: I as a write this it is with the benefit of hindsight.

My parents split in late 1985 when I was nine which made my mum 28. I remember hearing the fight when they split when it was revealed that my father cheated on her with the next door neighbour in the caravan park. Little did I know my childhood would never been the same again.

I remember the next day me & mum talking my youngest brother for a walk around the caravan park in his stroller and her explaining to me that they were no longer going to be living together etc.

So at 28 my mum is a single mother of 4 children and one of them in a newborn. So one can imagine the anxiety that would have flooded her as it would have for any normal person. (She did receive a formal diagnosis later in life)

I feel as though I gradually took on worries & anxieties without realising it. I think it is safe to say I internalised my issues because I could see mum having a lot to worry about herself and I believe that behaviour is still deeply ingrained in me to this day.

I think I internalised, my sister & brother externalised because they had a dysfunctional relationship with my father and my youngest brother turned out pretty normal.

I think I am going to end this here because If I keep writing I could go on for days.