Natalie Brennan

of which it was impacting Alice, we could have been more equipped to maybe, and this is reflection, you know, to maybe have changed the course for Alice.

I guess she was just, she was an easy child and she cared too much about what other people thought.

Yeah.

And she did.

She genuinely cared for other people and she judged them by her own standards and her own standard was one of empathy and kindness.

And...

What was really odd and looking back now is that when Alice entered secondary school, I think she went in there with this viewpoint that, oh, that's it, I'm out of primary school now.

Everything's going to be better.

And then only learned that, you know what?

This is a tough old life.

It's a hard life.

It's a hard walk.

And I think that hit her.

And she almost began this path down, well, am I going to have to meet this with hardness?

We would say to her, you know, you can't choose somebody's actions, only your reactions.

And so I guess her new fallback and safety net was, you know what, maybe I'll let the kindness slip a little bit.

The only problem was that she turned that harshness toward herself.

Yeah.

Yeah, and it is reflective.

She was, yeah.