Despair

Lee Roberson: ‘The greatest faith is born in the hour of despair. When we can see no hope and no way out, then faith rises and brings the victory.’

No matter how bad things got, and they did get fairly bad, I never despaired in my fight with cancer. However, I have known despair on various occasions. One of my lowest moments occurred in 1995, when I embarked upon an ill-informed venture in the music business. Over the course of six weeks, I went from being very affluent to having a £20,000 debt to my mother. For several weeks, I felt as though I was trapped in a black depression. I gambled everything on flawed information and appeared to have suffered a resounding defeat.

Thankfully, this was far from the end! Those desperate days signalled the beginning of an incredible journey, with many highs and lows. Five years later, I put on a festival attracting some of the biggest names in music attended by more than 35,000 people. I succeeded because my sixth sense told me to keep going when the world told me to give up. As a free spirit, I tend to be far less affected by the opinions of others, than most. Sometimes the darkest moment comes before the dawn. Despair, like any emotion is fleeting, and desperate moments should be used as a point of reference for when things eventually improve.