Allow me to introduce myself

Hi, I’m Solas, born and raised in Co. Wicklow, Ireland. I lived in Edinburgh, Scotland for many of my adult years, but illness forced me to move back home to my parents in 2018. 

In the summer of 2022 I, somewhat spontaneously, bought a 20k home in Italy.

In October 2023 I drove from Ireland to Italy, solo, car camping my way through France and down Italy. 

When I say car camping it ended up being a nightly game of Tetris with my belonging, clearing a little space for me to sleep.

When I planned this driving move I expected to do this trip with 2k in my bank account but since life always brings challenges I ended up leaving with only €400 in my bank account. Not ideal and anxiety decided to come along on the trip with me, but you can read more about that here.

The car and I made it in one piece although we were both a little shaken up from the adventure.

I am now settling into my “winter” home in the sun. writing this as some of the stray cats that have adopted me are snoring away beside me.

I didn't originally plan to spend all year here I thought winters here and summers in Ireland but I’m really in love with life here so who knows, watch this space to find out. I can guarantee there will be many car camping adventures as I love variety and freedom in my life, and I’m hoping the cats will want to come along too. 

I wanted to take this time to introduce myself to you and share a little about my story so far.

I live with multiple chronic illnesses. 

Depression, anxiety and PTSD for decades now. 

Chronic Fatigue fi got in 2017 after catching a flu virus.  

I got diagnosed with Diabetes around my 18th Birthday. It's not type 1 or 2 but a genetic type called Mody3. 

It's been my "easiest to live with illness" but I lost control of it in the first lockdown and am still working on getting it back under control. For years I could manage it with diet and exercise but Chronic Fatigue squashed that. I then controlled it with just half a tablet but now I’m on 4 tablets a day and 3 injections. It's been hard to accept. My mind keeps wanting me to get back to taking fewer tablets and no injections but really all that matters is I keep my blood sugar balance.

Living with multiple illnesses is like trying to juggle while doing everything in life. I feel like I’m always about to drop a ball, or am trying to move slowly to pick one up without dropping another.

I am lucky that my mental health is easy to manage. Don't misunderstand me, I am not free of mental ill-health but I have tools that work fast in supporting me to feel like I’m getting back to being me. This has not always been the case I have been forced to drag myself through life with the heavy burden that comes with mental illness. I've had dangerously low dips, life threatening ones. You can read more about that here.

My chronic fatigue is quite mild these days thanks to years of focusing on, adjusting and adapting my way of eating, moving and living. I’m now at a point where I exercise regularly and plan and get to go on adventures but for a time I was bed bound, unable to eat solid food or hold my own head up. It has been the most life altering illness. But I would still pick it over mental illness any day. Nothing is worse than living with a demon in your head.

And all of this lived experience, as a child of an alcoholic, growing up feeling unloved, unliked and very confused, to decades of life being interrupted by illness. Time and time again having to stop, recover and then overdo it as I try to “catch up” on where I thought I was meant to be in life. 

I believe that all struggles bring gifts. You might have to search for them but you will always find a gift.

This windy road led me to create Solace Forest to be a safe, embracing space where I can support and guide those who want to bring more attention, and conscious love back to their relationship with themselves.