My rookie era: after my panic attacks, woodworking became the one good thing I could count on

Nick Buckley cuts timber at the Victorian School of Woodcraft in Melbourne. Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/The Guardian

I had my first panic attack on New Year’s Day 2022. In the months that followed I experienced more of these episodes and increasingly craved serenity. Woodworking emerged in my mind as a place I might get some reprieve from the new psychological maze I was stumbling through after a traumatic event changed how I experienced the world.

The call of the timber was undeniable. I landed on the Victorian Woodworkers Association in North Melbourne for its price, emphasis on craft and the pedigree of its tutors. Here I was able to take an open class that let me make whatever I wanted from day one.