I am a person who suffers from high anxiety and my anxiety levels are never higher than when I am driving, or at least they use to be (just ask my long suffering wife!)

We regularly drive from our home in Maryborough to Brisbane to visit relatives, a distance of approximately 300 kilometres each way. During these drives I would get very annoyed due to what I perceived as other drivers trying to cut me off, tailgate me to have me speed up, slow down after passing me and a myriad of other things that they do to me to on purpose to ruin my trip. This could heighten my anxiety no end.

As a wheelchair user I often find people walk across or stop in front of me causing me to slow or stop my progress which exasperates me no end, feeling that they are doing it on purpose. Or when waiting to use the disabled toilet, a person who appears to be non disabled has been using it is a source of annoyance as well. There are a thousand other instances that I know other disabled people will be able to offer and some of these are utterly disgraceful such as parking across pathways which make it very dangerous or impossible to pass, trucks parked in disabled bays for “just a minute mate” or businesses that advertise full wheelchair access – oh, with just one step!!!. These are some instances that definitely deserve our full wrath and are a genuine cause of anxiety inducing behaviour because these people are demonstrating behaviour that screams they just don’t care!!

Recently I have been studying the wildlife in our yard, I mean studying – we have lived here for 4 years and have enjoyed viewing a huge range of friendly and not so friendly wildlife which has been everything from educational, interesting, and humorous to downright scary but I have never really studied them and their habits. We are also blessed to have an undisturbed area of the large yard that is home to all sorts of trees and shrubs including large eucalypts and other natives. AS could be imagined, these are home to a lot of local wildlife; birds, lizards and other reptiles.

Studying the interactions between these creatures has taught me a lesson which I am ashamed to admit has taken me over 60 years to learn.

Take for instance the kookaburras. We have a family of 3 that we see regularly, they fly around, perch on the trees, laughing as they do and looking for a feed around the yard. These beautiful birds are natural predators of other native animals such as honey eaters and smaller retiles among other species. With the kookaburras sitting in the trees, honeyeaters and other birds will dive bomb them, trying to scare them away or make their life unpleasant I suspect however they have little success and the kookaburras will usually put up with the attack for a while and then fly away.

Similarly we have a quite large goanna that passes through our yard from time to time. Goanna’s are a known predator of birds and will destroy a birds nest and eat the eggs and this big reptile gets a full on assault from dozens of birds and it just takes it in its stride, continues on its way without attempting any retaliation.

Another unwelcome visitor to our birdlife is a large carpet python, when it is in the area the cacophony from the birdlife is deafening but this has little affect on this huge and rather beautiful snake who continues on its way.

The manner in which these animals behave when challenged by other animals has been a huge lesson for me; they do not appear to take it to heart or consider it a personal affront, they just carry on with their normal activities. The saying “water off a ducks back” rings so very true when thinking about the behaviour these animals exhibit. And I can feel this attitude is already making a difference to my life, to my outlook and to my attitudes.
This is something that has been staring me in the face for a long time and it’s taken me until now to realise it; but at least I have and I know it will change my life for the better.

About the author:

Bill is a husband, father and grandfather who lives in the central Queensland town of Maryborough. Bill is an ambulant wheelchair user following two failed surgeries and has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. He is very passionate about disability rights and social justice and was selected by Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN) to take part in the Emerging Leaders Program for 2024. Bill plays wheelchair basketball which he loves and serves on the committee of the club as Vice President. You can find Bill on X/Twitter @bilfulaAU