The Diagnosis of Susan Boyle

- The Kooky in the Nest

It’s funny…over the months I’ve seen various headlines on my newsfeed about Susan Boyle. Stuff like: Susan Boyle is cracking-up; is on the verge of a break-down; is sucking her thumb; is crying; is in the Priory recovering; is Boyle-ing over; is having a meltdown.

And I’m sat here wondering, if there’s not a touch of the…One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, regarding the press coverage of Susan Boyle. In as much as, she seems to me to be the only one that’s acting NORMAL! - Given her meteoric overnight rise to fame.

I’m not a huge SuBo fan; chances are, I will never buy her music – it’s just not my thing. However, I do LOVE watching her performances via YouTube and I am, like many others, enchanted by her story.

I’m not a trained psychologist, but I do remember getting my first proper writing job at Liverpool FC. I remember the feeling of complete exhilaration; knowing I was in the midst of a defining moment in my life. I remember being acutely aware that my ambition had been realized and I would never be the same again. The fact that I could ‘officially’ call myself a writer, and people may even refer to me as a “poet” was the most thrilling, numbing & terrifying cocktail of emotion I’ve ever felt. I suppose in part because, it meant I'd escaped 'the factory' that I believed was my destiny. It was as if I had been a slave (to that belief) and then, somebody came along and removed my shackles and told me to run – but overwhelmed with the freedom, I stood still – paralysed by the promise of my emancipation. I took to my bed for two weeks; that’s how long it took me to process my happiness. I suppose, when you check-it, it’s completely logical that when you do achieve a dream, it does indeed have a surreal, dreamlike quality about it.

There’s an old Arab proverb, “When you decide to dance with a bear, the bear decides when you stop dancing.” I was pretty up-front with Rick Parry and the Liverpool FC press office - I wasn’t interested in doing any television - all I wanted, was to write and be published. In truth, there wasn’t much press interest in little old me, and less still for my little old ditties. But I gotta give it to ‘em, the LFC press office were amazing…they never forced me to do anything I didn’t wanna – which was basically television.

If anything, I think Susan Boyle has dealt with her success well – much better than I could’ve done. And as for her 'kooky' personality, well, she’s always been completely consistent with that. So I for one, wish Susan Boyle the best of luck on her foxtrot with a bear. I hope it works out for you. If I were her friend, I’d tell her: live it, love it, sing it, but don’t spend too long in the asylum, cos they'll have you believing you’re crazy…in the fragile hours.

- Cheyelle Omar


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