In 1994 I became quite mentally and emotionally distressed, dropped out of university, and fled London, Ontario to begin a multi-country walk-a-bout that lasted until 2001 travelling west across Canada, a brief time in the States, Mexico, and then Belize. I spent half of that time living in my car and the streets. During that time while in Canada I was hospitalized for mental illness against my will on numerous occasions. My diagnosis depended on who you talked too, varying from one doctor to the next; or, as in the majority of cases, my diagnosis and proposed treatment were never communicated to me, the treatment being forced upon me. In the fall of 1999 I left Canada for Mexico, and later Belize, with no intention of returning, in large part to avoid what I perceived to be persecution and mistreatment under the country’s mental health laws and its institutions. After suffering near starvation and malnutrition while walking across Mexico and living in Central America where I resided in the streets and abandoned thatched huts, cars, and homes, I admitted defeat and returned to Canada in the late fall of 2000 weighing a mere 100 pounds. The hospitalizations resumed.
Shortly after my return to London in 2001, I was hospitalized and received the flavor-of-the-week diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia. This remains the working hypothesis. At the time of this diagnosis I was told to lower my expectations for life, that I would never work again, that I would never be able to create and sustain meaningful relationships, and that I would be on disability for the rest of my life. I quarreled with the psychiatrist over the diagnosis, treatment was again forced upon me, and I vehemently rejected the prognosis.
Since receiving that prognosis I settled in London. Not without challenges and temporary set-backs, I spent 6 years working as a limo driver, three years with one of Canada’s largest banks, and six years as a landlord of a duplex I bought. In 2009 I acquired my professional license as an American stock broker by passing the series 7 and 63 exams, the third hardest professional license to get in America behind doctor and lawyer, and found work in London with one of America’s largest brokerage companies. I remain employed by this brokerage. I continue to enjoy rewarding relationships with my family and numerous friends and a comfortable middle class lifestyle while volunteering in the community. I have every reason to expect much out of life.
As the product of an intelligent and articulate, highly functioning person who has managed to succeed in life despite the challenges of a serious mental illness, my writings here offer a window into some of the unique experiences in the journey of one man who dropped out of the system to land on the streets and into foreign lands, and then dropped back into the system to rise again.
My name if BJ Thompson and this is my blog.