I’m a little disappointed. I spent a lot of money on a bottle of perfume recently, bought the large bottle thinking it would be something special, and it just doesn’t seem to smell the way it should. I’ve contacted the manufacturer directly and received a polite but unhelpful response. I’ve also complained to the shop where I bought it.
It feels like all I ever do these days is complain.
Then again, sometimes complaints aren’t really complaints. Sometimes they’re just people trying to be heard when something isn’t right.
On a more important note, I finally received a response regarding the complaint I made about the mental health service. I’ve been contacted and asked to provide feedback, so now I need to sit down and write a list of my experiences and learnings as a carer navigating the mental health system in my community.
As for the perfume, I could take it back to the store. They could compare it to one of their tester bottles and work out whether there’s actually a problem with it. But to be honest, I don’t know if I can be bothered. There are only so many things a person can chase up at once, and right now I have bigger things on my mind.
Despite my frustrations, I am also very aware of how fortunate we are. Mental health services are far from perfect, and carers often feel unheard, but at least we live in a country where those services exist. In many parts of the world, people facing serious mental illness have little or no support available to them at all.
So perhaps that’s where I find myself today — frustrated, grateful, tired, hopeful, and still learning that sometimes advocacy is just another part of caring for the people we love.
The Lady in the Back Row 