A selfie photo of me, James Gallagher, taken October 2020 in the kitchen at the office I worked from back then

I'm James

And this is where I'll share too-much-information...

I'm 47 and am in the process of moving away from Dublin to rural Co. Roscommon.

I work as a Product Owner & Business Analyst on the Customer Experience team in Dropbox. Dropbox's VirtualFirst approach to work is what has let me live in Co. Roscommon where I'm back with my parents and cat while I figure it all out. Or at least enough to navigate post-pandemic life for awhile.

I'm a big fan of tech so I spend a lot of time tricking around at various bits and pieces.

I've also been involved in cycling advocacy but I'm currently (July, 2023) at a stage where I'm fucked off with the general hostility to people who just want to cycle safely and lower their contribution to emissions. So my advocacy these days is mostly just keeping some of the websites running and thinking about how to get back into the actual cycling bit!

I really like my electronic dance music, in particular Frenchcore is my go-to at the moment but in general the harder styles are what I most enjoy.

That's kind of it about me .. the rest is optional reading if you fancy it. I've (over-)shared because I think there's value in being open about it. I will note that it's not complete in terms of timeline ... will add to it when I feel like it

CW mental health, alcohol abuse Show/Hide

I'm looking for a way to share this, initially I was tying it into getting back into cycling. This whole page just doesn't flow so I'm going with it ship it and iterate:

Picking somewhere to start the story

2006 ish

On reflection, this could start 5-10 years earlier but .. here we are. While living in Singapore, I was working on a project in New Zealand and "ended up" talking to a GP who made a diagnosis of depression and prescribed me Prozac. 8-10 days into taking it and I started to sleep better. This was significant as I'd been having trouble sleeping for several years. For a time (several years earlier), having a drink or two was quieting my mind and helping me sleep. By this time it's a good few more than two

2006 to 2007

I kept going as I was, more or less. Taking Prozac and still drinking a lot. The dysfunction was there but I was determined I was going to persevere and somehow it would all be grand. Turns out I'm very good at lying to psychiatrists. I took a break from my job for several months and returned home to Ireland. Thankfully I spilled the beans and made a plan to move back. That improved things for a short while but it didn't last long so I finished up and returned home

October 2007

I moved back to Ireland and set about finding a new job.

January 2008

Move to Galway

January 2008

When I got back into cycling as a commuter in 2008 it was supposed to be temporary; until I got my driving license. However, it clicked with me as a mode of transport, as exercise, as an enjoyable activity and as something that really had a positive impact on my mental health.
At that time my experience of having depression (diagnosed in 2006) was quite up and down but I generally felt a lot better from the daily commute. While things were looking up on the mental health front I hadn't hit rock bottom on the alcohol abuse side. I'd taken a break from drinking and felt that I was back in control.

May 2008

That lasted for awhile and then I crashed down pretty hard.

June 2008 to Today

The outcome from that involved talking to psychiatrists more and a visit to an alcohol counsellor who was 100% unequivocal in saying: "You're an alcoholic". Accepting that and gettting used to it has been something that has happened in stages and over a long period of time. It's only in the last 3 years that I've decided that I'm going to be more upfront about it and care less about how people react to it.

Anyway, I'm happy to talk about it

This page, About was written or updated on October 27, 2024