GET STUFF DONE

We’re delighted at Get Stuff Done to publish our first ever post written by a guest. Oliver Harsley is quite well know in Hull for being a local contributor to grass roots football teams, engaging regularly on LinkedIn and being a program contributor for Hull City AFC. I reached out to Oliver to see if he would write a post on his challenges and how he manages his own mental health and autism.

I’ve always been keen to ensure that I keep on top of my mental health. Most of the time, I’m quite successful with this as I feel very happy with how my life is going and I’m satisfied with what I do within my various voluntary endeavours. There have been some instances where I‘ve lamented my lack of full-time employment and overall place within the world.

The latter mindset only manifests itself on a sporadic basis. This is placated and eventually dissipates away through keeping myself focused on what I enjoy doing. Ever since discovering a love of writing, this has played a huge part in giving me a real sense of purpose in life and a great way to express my thoughts and feelings. I always have a good feeling whenever I write as it sparks my creativity and keeps my mind occupied.

As a teenager, I struggled to comprehend my mind and how it worked. I wasn’t able to grasp how to deal with certain emotions such as anger and frustration. It led me to have some down periods where I really didn’t feel like I was going to achieve anything with my life. I used to compare myself to other people and then brought myself down due to not doing stuff that they were doing. This only made it even worse for my mental state.

However, I was able to overcome this malaise through the fantastic support of my family and close friends. They helped me realise that I was valued and had a lot to give when afforded the opportunity to showcase what I was capable of. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of being a volunteer in local non-league football which has put me in contact with lots of wonderful people. It’s had a transformative effect on my ability to speak to people and the confidence I have within myself as a person.

That’s not to say that there haven’t been occasional wobbles during that time. I’m guilty of overreacting to small and trivial things and then making them out to be so much bigger than they actually are. It brings me down and sucks all the happiness out of me when it happens as I become so angry with myself for even reacting in that way. Thankfully, it doesn’t occur that much because I’ve worked on taking everything that comes with more thought before suddenly going into a full blown rage.

As of now, I’m in a very good place with my mental health. I’ve grown so much as a person since my teens when I was someone who was lost and didn’t properly know who they were. I had to wait until I was 16 before I received an official Autism diagnosis. After doing so, I made it my mission to not let it prevent me from being able to achieve anything that I want to do. It’s definitely been an interesting and challenging experience thus far, but I wouldn’t change anything because it helped shape the person I am today.

Oliver Harsley.

I also asked Oliver what techniques he uses when he’s feeling a bit down, what works for him to raise his spirit?

“It’s a bit cliché, but basically listening to music that I really like or watching a favourite film to just zone out and be in a place of comfort“

Thank you so much Oliver for contributing such a valuable post. Oliver wouldn’t take payment for writing this post, instead he asked if we could make a donation to The National Autistic Society, which we are doing. If you would like to make a donation to such a worthwhile charity then please follow this link https://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/donate