Animal Counselling (Giraffe Sketch)

It’s time I spoke out about my problem.

I can’t cope anymore.  All my friends are laughing at me and it gets so embarrassing. I get a terrible spinning in my head and my legs turn to jelly. Geoffrey, Georgia and Gavin don’t have this problem.  My best friend Gary has tried his best to support me but I’m not getting any better. I’m spending so much time at the waterhole, and my wife doesn’t seem to understand. She’s got her head in the clouds.  I’m running out of solutions.  My diet is terrible too; I’m forced to grab what I can but it’s all lower quality.

The first step to recovery is acceptance, right? Well I accept it.  

My name is Gareth, I’m an 18ft tall giraffe, and I suffer from vertigo. I know we come to these meetings to share our stories and it’s time I shared mine.  You’re all at different stages of recovery and I’m proud to call you my friends.

It feels like I’ve had the wool pulled from my eyes and I see now that my vertigo is ruining my life. Susan, you know exactly what this is like, the rest of the sheep in your herd are here to support you and you’ll overcome your anxiety in no time. Ellie, you’ve struggled with similar problems but eventually you’ve finally started to accept yourself for who you are and we’re all so proud of you. Your dieting days are in the past and I hope the rest of the Elephants appreciate how far you’ve come.

I know first-hoof what it’s like when you feel like you don’t fit in. Before seeking help from this Animal Counselling clinic, I would meet with the winged creatures at the river and act as a shoulder to cry on for Daphne the duckling.  She was self-conscious about her appearance and was worried she was ugly.

During my time learning to deal with vertigo, I bumped into Stanley. He’d grown up on the riverbank and was petrified of flying. As a consequence, Stan would spend his time reminiscing about his childhood with the other swans – back when he only needed to swim. We spent hours talking about life. Stanley was so down to earth.  

Maybe with the experience of how you’ve all dealt with your problems, the support you can give me, and the help of Martin the alcoholic monkey, I can get over my vertigo and return to the savannah with my head held high.