Another year has come and gone. It’s quickly you find yourself scrambling to remember what happened when.
But here we are, farewelling another twelve months and looking ahead to 2019, hoping that the New Year will be even better, and bring us everything we desire.
Inevitably after a few weeks of goodwill and sunshine our best laid plans and resolutions often fall by the wayside.
We all had the same plans, intentions and resolutions this time last year. As the calendar year reaches it’s crescendo we reflect on the past twelve months, what we’ve achieved and how we’ve progressed as people.
As we consign the year 2018 to the annals of time, I reflected on some of the moments that I’ll remember from a year that I managed to fit a fair bit in to. Take a read.
Calling Roger: The Fed Express Rolls in to Perth
I’ve always wanted to watch Roger Federer play live. One of the great modern sportsmen, now winner of 20 Grand Slams and one of the most likeable people in any sport to go with it.
When the opportunity came up in late 2017 to broadcast the 2018 edition of the Hopman Cup, a staple of a sporting summer in Perth, I was never going to say no.
The crowds turned out in huge numbers. ‘Fed’ got on a ferry and went to Rottnest Island for a day. A selfie with a native ‘quokka’ quickly went viral on Instagram, raking in 540,000 likes in 24 hours and sparking mass interest in the holiday spot. That’s the power of the man.
His first match was the night session on the opening day of the tournament, against a little known Japanese player Yuichi Sugita.
As we were leaving our broadcast box at the end of the day session mid-afternoon, out strode Federer on to Perth Arena to have a practice session. I paused and watched for 2-3 minutes, and Federer didn’t mishit a ball.
Every ball went exactly where he wanted it to. The control of shot, the natural hand eye ability and smooth swing of the racquet, honed through years of practice and then dominance right around the world.
Sure enough Federer won that first match that night, which was expected and seemed a certainty from the moment he stepped out on to court for that practice session.
The crowd was in raptures with every incredible passing shot, every stunning winner and of course, that one handed backhand. I found myself in awe of the man’s ability to find winners from any position on the court, and get the ball back over the net.
INTERVIEWING ROYALTY: Attending a Roger Federer press conference at the Hopman Cup in January.
While I would like to think that professionalism took over and I called it without any fanfare or added enthusiasm, I’m sure a little bit of fan boy syndrome snuck in.
He would go on to win the tournament in partnership with Swiss compatriot Belinda Bencic, defeating German pair Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber in the final. Of course, he went on to win the Australian Open three weeks later.
The 30th edition of the Hopman Cup was declared the best ever, won by the best ever. Doesn’t get much better than that.
It topped off a pretty special first week of 2018, my first crack at broadcasting Tennis.
It was a long but enjoyable week, spent working with some great people in Joe Sasero, Brett and Darren Patten and James Sekulov. I’ll remember it for a while yet.
Our commentary team for the Hopman Cup, with myself on the left with Joe Sarsero, Brett and Darren Patten.
Skipper Goes Down with the Ship: My Year as a Cricket Captain
I always wanted to captain a cricket team from a young age. I love the game of cricket and have played it nearly every weekend in summer since I was nine.
But my want to have a laugh and have fun put pay to captaining my junior side, and I was the youngest in the team for the first few years of senior cricket so it was never in the realms of possibility.
Then in early 2017 the opportunity to captain for a handful of games at my cricket club the Willetton Crows came up. We had a dearth of experience and leadership in our second XI, and I put my hand up.
As stand in skipper we won just one of our last five games, hardly a flattering record but I enjoyed it all the same. When the new season came round in October, I was elected to captain the 2nd XI on a permanent basis.
Let me preface this by saying it was the wrong decision to put my hand up to skipper. While I felt I was the best man for the job I couldn’t properly commit to the position with work commitments and devote enough time to training and man management.
With a very young team we reached Christmas 2017 with a record of 0-7. Good in most games but let down by poor batting performances. A win felt like it might not ever come.
Then in early January, we got that elusive first victory in round 9 against Thornlie, and celebrated like we had won a premiership! Boy the head was sore the next day. But when you are made to earn something, you need to savour the success when it comes.
After 8 losses, we finally got a win in January against Thornlie!
Captaincy has many challenges. Your first thought is always about the team and what is best for any given situation. Your involvement in the match is almost an afterthought.
Take that day for example; I batted at number 9 and didn’t bowl. Classic park cricketer. I’m just glad my dad wasn’t there. (See ‘The Grade Cricketer’ on social media for the reference.)
The year was taking its toll on all involved. We all hated cricket, and wondered why we gave up our Saturdays to play it.
But one of the things I was most proud of was how we kept a brave face and had a laugh about our poor performance, rather than let it affect us.
We were one win and ten losses at the end of January, six weeks left in the summer with finals a distant and unattainable dream.
The prospect of captaining a team with a 1-10 record isn’t high on anyone’s agenda.
I’d tried every pep talk I could think of, the need to bat time and value our wicket and bowl and field well, only to see the same thing happen time and time again. I think that falls under the definition of insanity.
Then came round eleven against Hilton-Palmyra. The most enjoyable win of my career, but one of the most bizarre games of suburban cricket ever played.
We were struggling to put a team out on the park, with teams in lower grades than us at the club likely to feature in finals given first opportunity to pick a squad.
In what can only be described as a move of desperation as well as the opportunity for great humorous banter I asked my Sport FM colleague and mate Jarryd Marrell to play, as well as his good mate Ryan Dallimore.
Then at the eleventh hour we had a late withdrawal, which left me scrambling to find a replacement.
The options were a club veteran, a bloke in a moon boot, naming the late scratching and hoping he would show or playing with ten.
Of course being the master captain that I am (not) I chose to pick the bloke who was in a moon boot, Liam Pennington.
Keen as mustard to play (although later he admitted he put his hand up while hungover and almost immediately regretted it) ‘Penno’ as we call him rocked up on crutches, much to the bewilderment of our opposition.
That was after I’d rocked up 35 minutes late with new team mate Jarryd in tow wondering what he’d got himself in for having shared a ride with a stressed out captain driving madly around the southern suburbs.
The pre-game warm up began with the team helping the skipper get the gear out of his car as I apologised repeatedly.
Meanwhile our opposition were happily warming up, knowing the team they were playing was bottom of the table and their captain was running around like a headless chook.
We won the toss and batted, and of course to continue the theme of the day and season we got rolled for 86.
I top scored with a mere 18, Jarryd got 17 as the SportsDrive team shared a telling 9 run partnership that ended when yours truly slapped a wide half tracker to cover. Sakes.
But by stumps our bowlers had taken five wickets and Hilton had crawled to 5-25, and a win seemed like a genuine possibility.
‘Penno’ took a catch at second slip, still wearing his moonboot to give Jarryd’s mate ‘Dal’ his first wicket for the Crows.
Back we came for the second week, and sure enough we rolled the home side for 57 to win an incredible game of cricket.
The SportsDrive team en route to week two v Hilton!
We tried our hardest to get beaten outright by slumping to 3-10 batting again, but thankfully we steadied and saw out the day.
The madness of the pre-game on the first week was now a great starting point for a story with a happy ending, and the beers went down a treat once again.
All of a sudden not only did ‘The Two J’s’ have a great tale to share with the listeners on SportsDrive on Monday afternoon, but a great story to tell for years to come.
We finished the year in very good fashion, narrowly losing to finalists Cockburn and then winning our last game against Jandakot Park.
With the job all but done heading in to the second and final week of the game and our last match of the season, more than half the team went for a night out in Fremantle.
We were 2-90 chasing 130; surely we’d be right we thought. A few drinks and a hangover later we were heading to Jandakot wondering how we would be able to strap the pads on and get out there and play some cricket.
Pre-game featured half the team down on the floor with their caps over their eyes, the other half wondering what on earth had happened to cause us to be in that state. Classic suburban cricket life.
Sure enough we all sobered up to win the match and finished a long year with our third victory. We also sadly won the wooden spoon, and I finished my captaincy career in the process.
A photo of the four skippers for the 2017-18 season, Alvin Fong (left), me, Evan Pappas and Aiden Sloan (right).
Sport is pretty much my life, I’m lucky enough to talk about it for a living and have been able to play sports I love socially.
It’s great for bringing people together and making lifelong friendships, and while we struggled through the year we never once threw in the towel and gave up, and were rewarded with two great late wins.
That was the most pleasing part of my year as captain of my cricket club. Yes we finished last, yes we got beaten convincingly a bunch of times but we managed to have a laugh and stay together as a group and make some great memories. I’ll choose to remember it fondly.
A Few Days with ‘Fev’- Brendan Fevola comes to town
In mid-May I was lucky enough to be afforded the opportunity to MC five functions with former Carlton and Brisbane full-forward Brendan Fevola.
A strongly built old fashioned lead-mark-kick spearhead who won two Coleman Medals and kicked over 500 goals for the Blues over more than decade before an ill-fated season with Brisbane in 2011, Fevola was remembered as much for his off-field antics as he was on it, landing himself in hot water on several occasions after nights on the drink, notably at the Brownlow Medal in 2009 that saw him sacked by Carlton and traded up North.
He turned his life around by going on the reality television show ‘I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here’ a couple of years ago, winning the program and viewers over with his friendly and honest approach.
He arrived back in Australia as a reformed man, and his since reconciled with his ex-wife and became a father for the fourth time this year. He now works on both Melbourne breakfast radio and was a part of the Footy Show in 2018.
And then in May I was shaking hands and interviewing a former AFL footballer at various sporting clubs, hearing about his life and career first hand as he entertained crowds’ right across the Perth metro area, from Secret Harbour in the South to Hamersley-Carine in the North.
Interviewing Fev in front of 100 or so people at the Globe Bar in Perth in May.
What struck me most about Fev was that he was genuine. What you saw was what you got. No playing it up for anybody, he was exactly as you would expect.
He might rub some people up the wrong way but he was in his element at these amateur footy clubs talking to a bunch of suburban footballers about how he liked a drink or two and of course ‘kicked a few snags’ on a Saturday in front of 80,000 at the MCG.
What you realise more than anything when you speak to any so called ‘celebrity’ is that they are just as human as you are. Sure we put them up on a pedestal because of the life they have and the life they have lived but they are no different to your or I.
It was a busy few days but I got to share a few laughs with a great player and great character of a game that so many of us Australians love. And yep, Fev took the mickey out of me a few times for good measure.
Fev with promoter Josh Atkinson me after the final show in May.
The first time he did it I reckon I was shaking, by the end I realised it was all good natured banter. He came back for one more show in September and shook my hand and asked how I’d been.
After some well publicised troubles in life he’s in a good place now and it was great to meet him and share a few yarns with some good natured people. Big thanks to Josh Atkinson for the opportunity.
As sports commentator Gerard Whateley once said famously on radio; ‘It’s the Brendan Fevola Show; starring Brendan Fevola.’ I was just happy to be there to introduce it.
Two J’s Becomes One: SportsDrive
For 18 months, Sport FM listeners drove home listening to the two J’s. Monday to Thursday, 3 till 6. It was the most fun you could have on air without being kicked off it.
Every day was a joy to go to work. It honestly felt like two mates just having a laugh and chatting about sport, and in reality that’s probably what it was. With some lame puns and horrible banter thrown in there for good measure too.
However; all good things must come to an end, and in July Jarryd handed in his resignation after five years at Sport FM, to pursue a career in teaching.
It was inevitable, it’s something Jarryd had wanted to do for a while and I had no interest in talking him out of it. While I didn’t want Sports Drive to end, I wouldn’t have been any sort of a friend if I tried to make him reconsider.
What started out as an on air partnership on a West Coast Eagles supporters show Toast the Coast in 2014 became a great friendship that will hopefully exist well beyond our time on radio.
We shared many great on air memories, both on Drive, Toast the Coast and later calling the WAFL for two seasons.
Broadcasting can take you to some great places, and across the 18 months we did the show together we went to Mandurah, O’Connor, even spent a day out on the Swan River (which we both rated as one of our broadcasting highlights) and of course day after day to the Sport FM studios in Hamilton Hill, often carpooling there as we live around the corner from one another.
It was always such a relief in an industry that is often known for being volatile that I was working with someone who had your back and was your mate rather than just an ordinary colleague.
It made the tough days easier, and there were some in the latter months and weeks of the show but we managed to get through.
Thankfully the listeners warmed to the two of us on air and we had so many loyal listeners who would call and text in regularly.
While the show was always about sport and the sporting topics of the day we managed to inject some of our personality in to it as well, which the listeners also seemed to enjoy.
The banter was always plentiful, whether it be about my inability to dance or my freakish skill of picking up an injury in bizarre fashion, to Jarryd’s love of Ed Sheeran, looking like a 12 year old and spending too much time in front of a mirror. The listeners got on board with all that too.
It’s always hard to say goodbye and start a new chapter, and while the last show on July 26th was an emotional one for both of us it was also a celebration of the product we were able to produce and enjoyed putting together so much.
I’ll always remember and cherish the memories of Sports Drive with the two J’s. I hope those who listened will too.
JM and I at the 2018 Sandover Medal, which we were lucky enough to broadcast for a second straight year.
Sheed from the Boundary: The Day the Eagles Won the Flag
‘Sheed from the Boundary. Needs to be inch perfect… he is! Sheed’s kicked the most impossible goal!’
‘They’ve got a brand new stadium, a big one. And they’re going to put a big flag up there in a moment, because the eagle has landed, they’re the premiers, for 2018!’
Those two lines of commentary, from Brian Taylor and Bruce McAvaney will live long in the memory bank for every West Coast Eagles fan.
The 2018 premiership triumph by the Eagles over Collingwood by five points was one of the great Grand Finals, and one of the great premierships.
West Coast headed in to season 2018 expected to finish well off the pace, some experts predicting a bottom four finish.
But after a first up loss at their new home venue Perth Stadium, the Eagles won their next ten games to head in to their bye to be top of the ladder.
While injuries to key players and the season ending suspension of Andrew Gaff in the second half of the season hurt the club no end, they did enough to finish in second spot and earn two home finals.
A thrilling qualifying final win over the Pies in a game I was lucky enough to witness first hand gave them a preliminary final at home against Melbourne, who were brushed aside with ruthless and brutal ease to book a spot in the big dance.
Then it seemed like it was all for nothing. After 22 minutes, the score read 30-1. Josh Kennedy missed a sitter in the first minute; the Pies kicked the next five.
It was 2015 all over again. Watching it at a mates place, it was like a funeral for those first 20 minutes, talking about how good it had once been but now it had all come to an end far too soon.
Late goals to Willie Rioli and Kennedy made the scoreboard look more respectable, but teams just don’t win Grand Finals after being down by 5 goals. Particularly without stars Nic Naitanui, Brad Shepperd and Gaff.
I left to watch the rest of the game at the cricket club. The second quarter was a real arm wrestle, by far more of a genuine contest. Two goals the difference at the half. Again, you can’t give a five goal head start.
Then came the third quarter. The man who epitomised the Eagles change in fortunes in 2018 was Jack Darling. For so long a finals flopper, he had one kick to half time.
Then in the third term he sprung to life, took six marks and kicked a goal. She was all square at three quarter time. All of a sudden it was doable.
Then hearts sank again in less than a minute of the last. Collingwood kicked two quick goals and pushed out to a 12 point lead. But West Coast had never given up all season, and proceeded to quickly regain the momentum.
By now every kick, mark, handball and bump, every bounce of the ball was being ridden by everyone in the room, everyone in the state. Everyone in the country.
West Coast were squandering their chances in front of goal. But dominating field position. Surely the winning goal would come.
Five minutes left, Pies in front. Four minutes left, Pies in front. Three minutes. Then came the moment.
Adam Treloar kicks Collingwood inside 50. Jeremy McGovern, playing with injuries so severe he shouldn’t be out there, takes a superb intercept mark.
He turns and kicks quickly without a moment to pause and consider and hits Nathan Vardy, the replacement in the team for Naitanui on the chest.
He swings around and kicks the ball to a two on two contest at half forward. Liam Ryan, a spring heeled small forward who twelve months earlier we had been calling in the WAFL, leaps in from the side to pluck an extraordinary grab.
The Eagles have numbers forward. The clock is ticking. The crowd is roaring, the room is screaming. You can’t hear yourself think, I can only imagine what was going through Ryan’s mind.
Ryan plays on and kicks the ball in to the right forward pocket, where Willie Rioli blocks Brayden Maynard to allow Dom Sheed to take the mark. The mark stands, despite protestations from Maynard and the Pies fans in the crowd.
Sheed is just inside the boundary, 35 metres from goal. It’s a tough kick on any day, let alone with less than two minutes left in a Grand Final when you’re trailing by less than a kick.
Sheed goes back quickly, so that if he misses he gives his team time to mount another scoring challenge. The moment of his life, the moment we all dream about as kids in the backyard with your siblings.
He stares it down, and kicks one of the great Grand Final goals. The room goes dead silent as the ball leaves his boot, eyes fixated on the ball as the drop punt soars towards goal. Then an almighty roar erupts, and it hits us. The Eagles are in front with a minute and a half to go.
ICONIC: Dom Sheed celebrates the premiership clinching goal at the MCG in September.
West Coast get the clearance and get it forward, eventual Norm Smith medallist Luke Shuey kicks the ball long to the goal square. Jack Darling is there, on his own. A chance to put the exclamation mark on the game and his own season.
Of course, we all know what happened next. What sticks in the memory is that a long time cricket team mate of mine leapt in to my arms as he thought Darling had marked he ball, the game about to be won.
My eyes never wavered from the television, and I sadly informed him that the mark had been dropped and it was a ball up at the top of the square instead. I’ll always remember that with a chuckle.
No one in the room heard the siren when it sounded. We saw the clock disappear and the celebrations began in earnest.
I was 13 when the Eagles won in 2006. I thought another premiership would come in a year or two. It took twelve. I will savour this one even more.
One of the great Grand Finals, and one of the most incredible premiership triumphs. The Eagles were the kings of the competition again, by far their greatest flag.
Kings of the Big Game: West Coast celebrate their 4th AFL premiership at the MCG.
Remembering Grandad
Death is an inevitable but sad part of life. But in my 25 years on this planet, I’ve thankfully had very little death in my life to deal with.
My Grandmother on my mother’s side passed when I was very young, and one or two other people I knew well have passed away, but that’s about it.
In October, I lost my Grandad. He had been unwell for a lengthy period of time, and sadly at 78 years of age a bad illness often means the end is near.
Born in South Australia on the 26th January 1940, Ian Philip Landsmeer moved to Perth with his wife Kay and young family in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s, where they built and established a life in the wheat belt town of Bencubbin.
Eventually they moved closer to the big smoke, an hour out of Perth in Northam after both Gran and Grandad retired.
Sadly Grandad’s illness meant he needed to be closer to a medical facility, so the decision was made to move to Midland in his final few months to give him the best chance of recovery.
He was always a big figure in my life, there for advice and with a sharp wicked sense of humour when the opportunity presented itself.
While Gran always did most of the talking much to Grandad’s displeasure at different times, you sat up and listened when Grandad had something to say.
He survived a massive heart attack in his 60’s, recovered sufficiently and was then able to travel around various parts of Australia and even abroad to New Zealand in his later years.
We visited him on Australia Day this year, for his 78th and ultimately final birthday. It was a great day with nearly the entire family, our cousin Joel joining us via Skype from Switzerland.
Grandad had a huge smile on his face and loved the fact all of his family were there to wish him a happy birthday. That’s the memory that I’ll keep close, a healthier Grandad enjoying the company of his family.
He went in to hospital in late September with a viral infection, which became worse and worse to the point where the doctors said he would not recover. We all visited him in hospital during his final days, and had our chance to say goodbye.
He passed away at twenty past three on Monday October 1st. I was on air when he left the world, having said my final goodbyes the previous afternoon. It was tough, but you knew he was in pain and he was ready to move on to whatever comes next.
I was able to pay tribute to Grandad the following day on air at the end of the show, something the family chose to replay at his funeral. It was harder to hear it a second time than it was to broadcast originally.
It was a sombre but fitting farewell, for a man who loved his family and friends, enjoyed a drink or two in his younger days and loved his model trains in his latter ones.
At my sister’s wedding in November we left a seat for him next to Gran, with his cane in tow. He was there with us all in spirit.
Wherever you are now, we love and miss you Grandad.
A Family Photo from a few years back- Grandad is on the right next to me and Gran.
Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne: Calling Cricket on the Road
When I first started at Sport FM in 2017 I was asked what my broadcasting goals were. I said as a starting point I would love to call the WAFL on Saturday’s in winter, and call the Sheffield Shield cricket during the summer months.
I ticked those goals off far earlier than I anticipated within a month of one another and it was a dream come true.
I called one Shield game at the end of the 2016-17 summer, and then last season called the five games WA played at home at the WACA.
However, I hadn’t yet been lucky enough to call the games interstate and experience broadcasting cricket around Australia at many venues that host Test match cricket.
Having expressed my interest I was granted the opportunity to call home and away games for the Western Warriors in 2018-19, travelling to call interstate games alongside former Australian Test fast bowler and Sheffield Shield winning coach Wayne Clark.
After two home games to start the season we headed to Queensland and Allan Border Field in Brisbane for my first interstate assignment.
People probably wonder what the difference is between calling games interstate as opposed to at home, and while it’s still a game of cricket played on 22 yards it certainly has a different feel to it.
You’re in a foreign environment, out of your comfort zone a little bit staying in a hotel and not sleeping in your own bed while in a different time zone.
I was also calling all day on my own with Wayne as expert comments, rather than doing the regular 20 minute stints with a changeover. You have 30 seconds respite during the ad breaks, then you’re back in to it.
The first game in Brisbane, my first trip to that part of the world was played on a very flat wicket in hot and humid conditions, but I loved every minute of it.
The game seemed destined for a draw from it’s early stages, and there is only so much serious straight talking you can do when you are on air for six hours a day so we found ourselves talking about all sorts of things, from the national drone racing championships to horse racing at Sandown.
Dunny and I after the first interstate trip- not the tidiest workspace!
But it was an incredible experience and a wonderful challenge for a broadcaster in his early days of calling cricket on the road.
What I didn’t like about calling at Allan Border Field was that we had to walk down a hill from our hotel to get there, and in the humidity I was knackered and sweating bullets before I got to the ground!
To top it off we got invited in to the rooms for a beer afterwards, and went out for dinner with Adam Voges and Geoff Marsh during the match.
It was great just to sit there and listen to three former Aussie cricketers talk about the game, with the same passion and enthusiasm they had when they played. Some of the best conversations are had over a quiet beer when no microphones are present.
Two weeks later we were in Adelaide, which out of the three interstate trips was my favourite so far.
WA chased down over 300 in the fourth innings to win, and I got to broadcast a Shaun Marsh master class from the Adelaide Oval, which is every bit as good a ground as people say it is.
On the morning of the fourth day I was lucky enough to be invited up inside the Adelaide Oval scoreboard, an iconic part of the famous venue. It was a superb experience and the guys up there do a great job, working long hours on hot days to keep a bit of tradition alive.
At the Adelaide Oval in November, my favourite interstate trip so far.
One bloke told me he was a Port Adelaide supporter and got to watch his team play every second week without paying for a membership, but it gets tense and not much is said when he’s working with his mate on Showdowns, who is a Crows fan!
The view inside of the Adelaide Oval scoreboard.
Then just a few weeks ago one of my career highlights so far occurred when I got to broadcast at the MCG, which has been a long held goal of mine. While you realise it is just another stadium, it’s an incredible place and so many iconic sporting moments have occurred there.
On the first morning before play began I found myself sitting outside in the MCC members area, watching the last two minutes of the 2018 AFL Grand Final on my phone as I looked out on to the hallowed turf trying to imagine it all over again.
As Wayne (Dunny as he’s known) told me I’d reached peak nuffie status, but that’s just me I guess!
While the match was a tame draw, I ticked another item off my bucket list. I would love to be back in the years to come to broadcast a Boxing Day Test, or a big AFL game in front of a huge crowd. But this was still a mighty fine experience for me.
Entry to the MCG Media Centre, named after Victorian media identity Ron Casey.
Dunny is a ripping bloke who has been a great deal of help to me already. He doesn’t take himself too seriously and is always keen to have a laugh, particularly at my expense.
I wondered whether the generational gap might be a concern when it came to on air chemistry, but those fears were soon extinguished. You certainly get to learn a fair bit about someone when you go away on trips like these!
I’ll round out the first season of interstate calling in February/March by heading to Sydney and Hobart, and while it’s a fair break before the Sheffield Shield resumes I can’t wait.
Sitting in the broadcast box at the MCG in December.
One Last Reflection
At the start of the year I wondered whether 2018 could surpass 2017. While it probably didn’t, it’s come pretty close and I’ve loved the opportunities that have come my way. I have a great job and get to work with some great people.
That doesn’t mean you don’t have some down times.
In April I gave up drinking for the best part of three months, not because I felt like I had an alcohol problem but because it was leaving me feeling really blue, really flat the following day. Not just a hangover, but feeling pretty down about everything.
It played a part in me behaving in a way I was not proud of and lashing out at some people that I really care about. I was ashamed of my behaviour in hindsight.
I don’t feel like I desperately need a beer and wouldn’t call myself anything close to an alcoholic, but like many young Australian males I like a few beers with my mates in a social setting. However for a while it became too much and I made the call to have a break from it.
I never seriously contemplated giving up drinking and I’ve returned to having a few beers and I feel fine. But I’m glad I was strong enough to say enough is enough and have a break for a while.
I went through a pretty rough patch in June and July but thankfully came through the worst of that and hopefully those times are behind me now. The cold and dark of winter can leave you feeling very isolated and alone sometimes and it felt like the walls were closing in but I came out the other side of that a stronger person.
Thankfully we live in a world now where you can admit to feeling a little down and not being in a good place and not be judged poorly for it. I encourage all other people to do the same with people you love and care about. Ask people if they are okay and be prepared to listen and help those in need. That’s what friends and family are for.
A Photo from the Landsmeer Family Christmas Party.
2019
So what might 2019 hold? Who knows? At first it will be more of the same, but hopefully I will continue to give myself the best chance at a long and successful career in a job that I love so much.
A couple of weeks off have been good to recharge the batteries, catching up with friends and family. I’m looking forward to getting back in to it and attacking the New Year with vigour.
I’m 26 in April so it might be time to start being a little bit more of a mature adult and think more intently about the next stage of life. I swear I just turned 21, but the joint that I had my 21st at has been gone for nearly five years!
I’ve got a great support network and some great mates who I know will always be there at a time of need.
I know everyone says: ‘this will be my year’ but I’m really hopeful that 2019 will be mine.
May 2019 be the best year yet for all of you. Thanks for reading, and hope you continue to listen in on the wireless.
JL 🙂