Is this my beautiful life?
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley September 25, 2015
Author Jessica Rowe
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ISBN: 9781743318362
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
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Website: http://www.allenandunwin.com
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Jessica Rowe graces the television screens of the nation daily as one of the hosts of the popular show morning television show, The Studio.
But behind the sparkle, the wit, the love of a debating the daily news items and flawless personal presentation, there is a person who has worked hard in her career, has done the hard yards in her personal life, faced difficult and devastating times when her burgeoning career was derailed in spectacular fashion, but never gave up following her dream.
Mental health issues have always been a component of Jessica Rowe’s life growing up with her mother being diagnosed with bi-polar disorder; a condition which she and her sister had to learn to be able to manage as their mother would slowly drift off into despair and isolation until, with therapy she was able to return to a relatively normal, everyday family life.
As a teenager, Jessica worked hard at school achieving her goal to be able to study Communications at Mitchell College in Bathurst, where she majored in broadcast communication. Her long term aim was to become a famous foreign correspondent; star quality at the very least!
She travelled Europe taking a year off from her studies, where she modelled for a catalogue, learned much about life and eventually returning to Australia to complete her degree. She then moved into the world of television as a receptionist at Wide World of Sport on Channel Nine, then a reporter, followed by weather girl on Prime TV and journalist for Nine News.
Her career moved forward and brutally backwards. She eventually met the man she was going to marry and have children with, Peter Overton. From here the story changes to look at their battle with conception, her post-natal depression, the confronting of issues faced by many women who have been a career based before their children and the despair, anxiety and self- doubt that can be part and parcel of becoming a mother in a world filled with too much information.
Talking openly and freely about the massive changes and challenges in her life, she gives heart to many mothers facing similar issues of trying to balance their families, careers and community expectations, all the while beginning to realise that there is no such thing as the perfect life, family and career; it is all about compromise, loving your family and fitting the jigsaw puzzle together in the best way possible for everyone concerned.
It is refreshing to learn that these glamorous looking people we see on a daily basis do have to cope with the shopping, children’s wants, needs and demands and somewhere in the mix their and their husband’s desire to be able to enjoy it all.
Her story is funny, brutally honest, heartbreaking and enjoyable, and presents one single and definite fact that, no matter how perfectly you are trying to cope with everything, when thigs start to go wrong, and more often than not they will, it is OK to ask for help.
She and many others have reached out for the right sort of help and by doing so, have found a way back to good health, discovering along the way that you do not have to be the perfect everything to enjoy to your life, but a person who is able to say at the end of another busy day, well done, you, pretty dammed good!