by Gary McKendrick | Jul 21, 2017 | Blog
Did you know there’s over 6000 suicides in the UK every year? No, me neither. (latest published figure at 6188)
And 75% are male. With the highest number being men aged 40-44.
The most used method is hanging.
These facts are of course awful and it’s a staggering amount of people. And this obviously doesn’t include the number of attempted suicides or the number of people who self harm. Or the total number of people suffering from any mental health issues.
It saddened me this week to hear about the suicide of 41yr old Chester Bennington – Lead Singer of Linkin Park and father of 6. I was just saying this week to a friend of mine, how brilliant their latest album is (slated by their ‘elite old school’ fans of course).
41 years old – that’s my age. Blokes this age should be in the prime of their lives; the wild growing pain years are over, we’ve partied, gone nuts but now we’re wiser, more mature, secure, know who we are and what we want, surrounded by love, have kids (if you want) and doing something you love which provides a lifestyle you want.
Earlier this year, Chris Cornell ended his life (aged 52) and in 2014, Robin Williams did too (aged 63). People who are in the media are presented as being successful, loved, happy and have ‘made it’. Clearly they were in a very dark place and hiding behind a mask in public; they were also battling deep depression and using drink and drugs to cope. They have achieved lots but are clearly not happy or fulfilled.
We all have our own battles; it’s life. I’ve had mine and I’ll have more. My battles so far have included mental health issues and I got help. With this help, I also had commitment, discipline, desire and patience which resulted in leaving the dark place I was in.
I’m no expert but all I can say is – GET SOME HELP. Recognise that you are in trouble and shout out, just reach out for help. Reach out to me, friends, family or better still, seek professional help. This is a sign of strength.
by Gary McKendrick | Jul 19, 2017 | Blog
We’re all ‘busy’ aren’t we.
It’s the new stock reply to “How you doing, you okay?” – “oh yeah, busy”.
“Busy” is not a good thing to be. We all have jobs or businesses to run but we must be in control of our days and we must never forget our WHY’s.
Why are we working the hours we do, who are we doing it for? If you’re a family man (or woman) then you’re doing it to provide for your partner and your children; to give you and them a decent lifestyle. However we must not sacrifice our time with our loved ones – don’t neglect your partner or miss your kids growing up. Sometimes in peak season you may have to but don’t make it the norm.
I missed our Sophie’s Sports Day recently; at the time I believed I was needed in the office and only I could deal with a staff situation. However in hindsight, I was totally wrong, I made a mistake, it could have been dealt with by a senior colleague and waited for my input the next day. I felt bad about missing out on seeing my eldest take part in all the events; seeing the photos made me realise I had my priorities all wrong.
Family always come first. Schedule time for them; keep the appointments like you would a client and never let them down.
The Sports Day was a reminder for me not to fall into the trap of being “too busy”.
#getmorefocus
by Gary McKendrick | Jul 17, 2017 | Blog
Hating Monday’s = I hate my job.
If this is you then you seriously need to change things.
Assuming you’re going to work for 50 years (aged 20 to 70), then that’s 2600 Monday’s you’re going to hate. All these Mondays equates to just over 7 years of your life! Time is so precious, we should not be wasting it on anything that we dislike or be spending it with people we dislike.
Just think, at the end of each day that you’ve spent hating, that’s one less day of your life left – what a waste.
YOU have created this life that makes you hate Mondays. So why not create a new life. Do something you’ve always wanted to do. You can find a job which you enjoy, makes you feel valued, fulfilled and with people you enjoy spending time with.
So what are you going to do?
- do nothing and get the same results (ie I hate Monday), OR
- do something different and actually look forward to every new day
If the thought of anything or anyone in your life makes you hate, moan, feel sad, angry or negative in any way then now is the time to change this.
I’ve been there; I took action; things got better.
And I keep measuring everything going forward to ensure that nothing saps my time, energy or confidence.
#beincontrol
by Gary McKendrick | Jul 12, 2017 | Blog
Welcome to Gary’s world!!
I always thought having a website of your own name.com was kind of lame and a bit self indulgent but this was before I realised that I had something to say, a story to tell. My main business is as an Asbestos Consultant (see www.omega-asbestos.co.uk) and I’ve been doing talks and coaching under this brand. However the time is now for my own lame website! So lets do this, here it is, stepping away from Asbestos and into helping others as best I can; the next exciting phase of my own journey.
I will be pushing myself to write more blogs (ie non-asbestos related ones) and actually start doing videos; something I have only just started to toy with as I admittedly have a fear of doing video holding me back. So I recently reached out and got some help – we all need help sometimes, we all must constantly stop and think about where we are right now in body & mind, then think about where we want to be and what we need to do to get there.
Reflect, measure, tweak and GO. Make progress.
Don’t just allow yourself to ‘be busy’ or ‘too busy’ with life. Stop and think once in a while.
In the words of Ferris Bueller “Life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”.
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