Sometimes in life you’ve just got to take the scenic route. Or more accurately if you ask me, the bumpy, travel sickness causing, windy long that four times as long. But either way you take, the easier nicely sealed road or the one less travelled – you’ll get there eventually.

So, my 21st year has been a rollercoaster to say the very least. Here are some of the good times and the bad.  My 21st year – a summary.

One camping trip to New Zealand with a great bunch of mates.

Two nights in hospital – a frightening but necessary experience.

Three new housemates ready for our first apartment in 2018.

Four batyr meetings – 3 for speaker development and 1 being herd program.

Five cake stalls at the library.

Six hours of Jam in a Jar charity photography.

Seven Harry Potter books (read at least 10 times over… It’s my anxiety reliever ok!)

Eight different psychiatrists seen. 7 hours spent in ED. 6 Mental health workers – nurses & social workers. 5 prescriptions to fill a month. 4 new medications tried. 3 Psychologists. 2 GPs. 1 dietician. Jeez this adds up as you’re shuffled around…

Nine thousand dollars raised for kids in Nepal.

Ten minutes sharing my story with my mates from college.

Eleven kilometres walking from Coogee to Bondi and back.

Twelve House Committee meetings a semester that saw lots come through - an overseas trip, a kayaking race, a music concert, many a bake sale, movie nights and LGBTQIA+, ethno cultural, women’s, disabilities and mental health representatives introduced into a brand-new diversity and inclusion portfolio.

Thirteen months spent organising volunteering in Nepal.

Fourteen hours of class a week in second semester.

Fifteen hundred words written as an assignment on the ethics of prenatal genetic testing for down syndrome.

Sixteen hours of chemistry tutoring.

Seventeen. The number of hours one panic attack went.

Eighteen cousins to spend Christmas day with.

Nineteen friends to go to Nepal with.

Twenty thousand new friends on Story of the Mind.

Twenty-one years I’ve been alive. At times during my 21st year, I wasn’t sure if I could do it, but I’m glad I’m here in this moment.