Brandon Fairweather, the man who mastered managing health related anxiety shares his journey in a new book
Though anxiety is hard to beat, the author has found a way, a Fairweather way, to manage this psychological war fare that he calls the Hell inside our heads, controlling human beings and making them fearful and to doubt themselves.
By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor
Picture Credit: Photographs Supplied By Janine Daniel of JDoubledD Publicity
A majority of us would not survive what became his life from a young age right through into adulthood. He underwent a major heart operation at age 28. This is a result of a heart defect from birth. That has been fixed, and he then thought the tough times were behind him, as he focused on sports at his leisure time. He is am athlete who at school focussed on participating in school sports, such as country running, cricket and soccer. In adult hood participating in mountain bike. But the health trouble were not over after all. He was in 2023 diagnosed with cancer. This is after a misdiagnosis a few years earlier.
But he has survived both tragedies. The congenital aortic valve defect was fixed through the open heart surgery procedure that he underwent in 2011. Luckily it was a success for the globe-trotting business executive, and so was the cancer treatment as it is now in remission.
But to reach this stage of the state of his health was not an easy journey as he had had several episodes that made him to mistrust his body. His biggest threat in his life, was anxiety that constantly stalked him everywhere, when he least expected, and all the time sent him into a state of doubt and deep contemplation, asking the question why him. But these mental and physical health challenges, did not break the marketing executive Brandon Fairweather, as he weathered both existential threats.
Though anxiety is hard to beat, he has found a way, a Fairweather way, to manage this psychological war fare that he calls the Hell inside our heads, controlling human beings and making them fearful and doubt themselves.
Indeed what Fairweather has experienced, constant anxiety, is something that all human beings at some stage in their life’s journey, are bound to experience. Experiencing anxiety of one form or another, of different intensities, depending on what kind of anxiety it is. Rather what the underlying source of it is. Such as finance induced anxiety, such as when bills remain unpaid and income becomes elusive. But, sometimes even having a lot of money, for some people, they face anxiety as well over their wealth. However the health issue, such as the ones Fairweather faced, is the one thing that most people are unable to manage.
Of course anxieties caused for example by issues such as unpaid bills is a minor issue in the bigger scheme of things, as compared to existential complications, such as failing health. In fact anxiety is a constant factor in daily human existence. In fact depression or anxiety is a predicament that humans face at some stage in their lives. Luckily some of them are ephemeral. For example being broke at one point in one’s life, is not a permanent phenomenon. After all humans since money has been introduced as something representing some sort of value, often comes and goes, and come back again. But health anxiety is something else.
Therefore overcoming two threats to your life -correcting a birth defect and fighting cancer at such a young age, is something else. That is why Fairweather’s story of a brave determination to live and thrive in business and family life (he is married to Alison, his teenage love that matured into a marriage, and they have two sons Joshua 9, and Duke 13) and despite these challenges, is something that must be shared by all and sundry, who find themselves having sleepless nights due to life’s challenges.
Such as health issues for example money issues. What I especially like about this book, is that it is not preachy, but rather tells the story of how one men overcame challenges in life. That way, it makes it easy for a reader to navigate its pages, and still want to read more. Instead of depressing you because of the weight of the subject the author’s is tackling, you want to read more and learn from his personal experience. And fairweather in this book, shares tips on how one can try to manage your own anxiety, using these practical tips in the book.
What makes the author’s story so authentic is the fact that he does not shy away from declaring a privileged upbringing where money and want was not an issue in the Fair wealher household as he and his brothers were brought up. And according to him he and his siblings lived ä sheltered life.
“I must however state that I was raised comfortably in a home with love and resources. Our parents looked after us well, giving even more than we needed. My father was successful in business. He made money and post money, but we lived well, very well,” he told CITYLIFE/ARTS in an interview held at the stylish coffee shop and Café, De Baba in Melville this week, Thursday, 11 June 2024.
The interview happened against the backdrop of the launch of his debut book –you guessed right: The Hell Inside Our Heads, which was launched on the same day at Exclusive Books Sandton.
The Hell Inside Our Heads, is an must-have book, as the author traces his journey of his struggle with anxiety due to health issues affecting him from a young age into adulthood, told articulately beautiful. Fairweather does not only tell his struggles with these often the terrible twins, psychological disorders of anxiety and depression, a universal condition that affects everyone at some stage in their lives. But he also offers a solution that one may consider to follow in trying to manage their own personal anxieties. Any anxiety for that matter.
“The first thing that one must do, is to identify the source of anxiety in order to manage this mental health issue. I do not claim to have beaten anxiety, what I have done successfully though, is to manage this psychological and mental health issue,” he stated.
I will not bore you by giving you all the details, such as the types of anxieties one needs to know and whether they are in fact affecting your life, as well as the guidelines, based on his own journey on how to manage anxiety. You will have to get the book and read for yourself slowly. However what I can tell you is that when I saw the list of types of anxieties in this book, I could identify immediately at least three that have affected me from time to time in my own life at some stage.
Identifying those anxieties pertaining to my own life, was quite liberating. It was indeed affirming. The last word though belongs to the author on this issue, who has this to say in the book about the phenomenon of anxiety and how if it find you unprepared, it is hard for those close to you to understand what your issue is. Such as when you have a panic attack and forced to spoil a party for everyone else.
“There are no wounds. No visible symptoms. Nothing to hint that while everyone else is enjoying themselves, you are climbing an invisible mountain….”
.The Hell Inside Our Heads, published by Tracey McDonald Publishers, retails at R290, and is available at bookstores around the country.