So, who is Lucy?

That's a good question I've asked myself!

I think if you ask any of my good friends they'll tell you that I am bubbly, kind, caring and outgoing. A year ago a good dose of 'wild' would have been thrown into the mix too. On the outset apart from the partying and drinking I'd like to think that all of these qualities still apply but over the course of the last 9 months I have been forced to dig a little deeper and can now also tell you that through some extensive soul searching I am a bit of a perfectionist, I have ridiculously high standards when it comes to pretty much everything I do and whilst I am outgoing on the outside it turns out that as a result of the breakdown, I'm fairly insecure on the inside.

So, a brief overview of my life so far (I'll talk more about how this culminated in the illness separately). My name is Lucy, I am 30 years old, I live in West Sussex with my wonderfully supportive Husband Ash, my 3 cats Pickle, Lilly & Jazzie and my 11 month old puppy, Poppy the labrador cross curly coat retriever. We are all living in a 1 bedroom flat (luckily we have a big garden!) and live just 10 minutes away from work. I work for a major UK airline as a Picture Desk Executive, sourcing images for our website which I absolutely love.

I have always worked in travel, I joined the industry in 1999 as a reservations agent where I worked for 4 years, I had the time of my life and made some life long friends, most of whom form my social circle today. I had a boyfriend from the age of 17 - 21, very dramatic as most young loves are but the relationship also taught me so much including appreciating those who genuinely make you happy. After a very turbulent 4 years, we finally split and I branched out on my own for the first time. I moved in with a colleague from work who had a room to rent and who in turn introduced me to Ash. We hung out as friends for a couple of months but after one drunken night in Key West, Florida I phoned Ash and told him I was taking him out on a date! He did resist, but I got my way and after one long lazy lunch on a Saturday afternoon in May 2002, I knew I'd found my soul mate. 8 months later we were married by Elvis in Las Vegas and nearly 9 years on I have to say I'm just as happy, if not more so!

When we got married we both quit our jobs and moved overseas, we spent 6 months in Spain with Ash's parents who had retired and we then headed down to Australia where we spent the best part of a year in Perth. Upon coming home in late 2004 we finally settled, bought our flat and found our feet in our current jobs which have enabled us to continue travelling in our free time. Getting the dog last summer has to be the last step on the commitment ladder before the patter of baby feet come along, that one I am still not 100% decided on!

So, things were ticking along nicely, yes life was a rollercoaster and although Ash and I have an incredibly tight relationship, there have been a number of outside factors that have caused huge amounts of drama, stress and upset. In hindsight my illness built up over a good 18-24 months (and I ignored all the warning signs), but I felt my world came crashing down around me one day last July. What has happened since then is a huge change in my attitude, my outlook on life and my desire to share my experiences, thank you for taking the time to read this and please feel free to share it with anyone you think may benefit from reading my story.