07.The important mentors who made my Epileptic Journey possible. (Article 5 of the history of my epilepsy.)

Niels Burchardt Overgaard 

As early as 1974 I run across Niels for the first time, and it was through his brother Jörgen in his home on Johannes W. Jensen Allé, situated close to the Zoological Garden in Copenhagen. I had just moved back to Denmark from Gothenburg and was about to take over responsibility for the Danish subsidiary of Brio. The Overgaard family ran a print shop and a cardboard box factory and was a supplier of such printed packaging for our factory that made board games. The Pharmaceutical Industry and Brio were their prestigious clients, and Brio accounted for an important part of their total turnover.

I learned over the years to know the whole family well and kept my contacts long after my Brio employment. It appeared very quickly that Niels was special, and although he radiated  talent and sharpness soon I was entrusted that he was the family's black sheep. For many years, he had no control over his anxiety and neuroses so when he got anxiety attacks, self administration of alcohol became during certain periods his painkiller and then Niels disappeared from the company and sales increased in the inns and taverns, where he steered his course.

Gradually, I took the side of Niels partly due to my own hidden epileptic problems but also because his father Walther Overgaard asked for help to review the future organization of the family company which during his leadership had been profitable. One step was then to develop the print shop manager Niels to take greater responsibility for external sales and key customers. Especially in a sober state Niels was deeply knowledgeable having first-class education from Denmark's leading commercial printer faculty and with a natural aptitude for sales and with a representative image. Niels got qualified sales training and his subjective well-being increased in the new more comprehensive and constructive role in the company, and so his alcoholism was held in relative control.

It was only after my LA stay that our friendship developed, and we got to know each other. Niels changed partner about as often as I did and the same pattern was repeated with our home exchanges. The difference between us was that I held my anxiety, my neuroses and my epilepsy, in check by Tegretol while Niels during certain periods drowned the pain in alcohol. Thanks to Niels solid economic background, this sometimes led to absurd situations, such as when he on one occasion when he was drunk bought a grand piano of DKr 75.000 and at another time he bought some Hereford beef cattle. In both cases, without having planned where he would place the acquisitions, which in both occasions led to hilarious situations.

The fact that Niels during these years was an active private pilot, both in and outside Denmark, and was a deep-sea diver, shows the width of Niels talents and interests and of course of the risks he took. He was, moreover, as a young man, a gifted boxer and trumpet player and everything he attempted, he had a natural talent for. Anxiety gave him though no peace to develop or enhance his talents.

From 1987 until this day Niels has been a recovering alcoholic and has himself chosen never to touch booze. It's been and is a tough struggle with much humiliation and much anxiety to get through, which he has passed thanks to AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) whose support he received and which he has rendered by developing himself, with the help of his  insights, into a very skilled and highly respected therapist in the treatment of alcoholism in Denmark.

Although Niels is alcohol free he has kept his good humor and his contagious Danish smile that in too many Danes unfortunately is associated with ingestion of one or more Tuborg or Carlsberg. We have supported each other and given our subjective well being a kick many times, and we have a contract since 1982, that we in 2032 shall go to Paris and visit the ‘Les belles femmes’ there and investigate whether there is anything left of our charm. More than half the time has already elapsed. Agreement shall be held. Niels has, by the way, the original contract in his wallet.