Real Lives: Josh Quigley had an intense battle with depression. He is now cycling the world to raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention.

After an intense battle with depression in 2015 I lost all hope and felt I couldn’t go on living any longer. I attempted to kill myself by driving my car into a concrete barrier at over 80mph.

Miraculously, I walked away from this attempt with no physical injuries whatsoever. I knew I’d been kept alive for a reason and that I had to do something big with my second chance at life.

I believe I was kept alive to tell my story and to provide hope to others who also suffer with mental health issues or feel suicidal.

I’m now attempting to cycle around the world on a global campaign to raise awareness of mental health and suicide prevention.

I wasn’t a cyclist before this, but it is the scale of my challenge that I hope will inspire others

My journey will take me to over 80 countries on six different continents pedalling over 50,000 miles through Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, South America and finally North America before returning to Scotland.

By going around the world, I hope to find the meaning of life and achieve happiness within myself.

This is my personal and spiritual journey to overcoming depression and finding true inner happiness.

It’s difficult though.

I left Scotland on May 26th 2016. The one year anniversary of my failed suicide attempt, as a symbol of hope for all those who feel suicidal or have battled with mental health issues.

At the time I was under the false pretence that I could never live in Scotland and be happy.

I genuinely believed a lot of my problems lay in Scotland and that I needed to run away to be happy.

But after nine weeks of cycling having reached Norway I decided to return home.

I’d started to become really homesick.

Over time as I cycled I realised that Scotland never had anything to do with my problems.

All the problems were inside my head the full time.

I was starting to feel like I’d got everything I needed from the world cycle and it was all about helping others now.

So was spending six hours a day on a bike the best way to help others?

I didn’t believe it was.

I flew back to Scotland initially planning to see friends and family and also bounce some ideas around but then I made a very rash decision and decided I would be back in Scotland for good and announced it on Facebook.

Then something changed.

I had this feeling in my stomach that made me feel like I was making a huge mistake.

During my time back in Scotland, I was out over the weekend with friends, I didn’t exercise at all, I wasn’t eating healthily and come the start of the week I was feeling terrible.

So I made the decision to go back out to Norway and continue attempting to cycle around the world.

When I got back to Norway I felt so amazing again,

I feel like I really dodged a bullet and feel so grateful for this opportunity.

This cycle has allowed me to totally transform my life and feel happier, healthier and fitter than I’ve ever been. I’m not willing to give that up.

I need to remember why I am doing this and to the people who follow this looking for hope and inspiration.

If I feel like I can’t do it for me at times then I need to do it for others.

Holding onto that sense of purpose is so important and one of the great lessons of this experience.

I’m now in Finland and have just had a great day in Vaasa meeting with a local mental health crisis centre to hear about their work and share my story.

I wasn’t a cyclist before this, but it is the scale of my challenge that I hope will inspire others.

Through openly and honestly sharing my journey, I hope to educate and help others who feel suicidal and provide hope that after darkness comes light.

Follow Josh’s journey at tartanexplorer.com.