You Are A Product Of Those Around You – The Climb #249

Wednesday 27^th September 2017

Today has been an exhausting day where I don’t feel I’ve stopped.
It’s not been helped by the fact that the day job annoyed me. Things are a bit stressful and I really resent the implication that the solution is for everyone to “just work harder”. The less said about that the better.
I think the reason it annoyed me so much is that it seems to suggest that we’re not already working hard. Yeah, because giving yourself mental illness is a great idea!
Grrr! It irks me so much that we think so little as a society about prevention when it comes to mental health. I know a ton of writer friends with issues. And maybe writing has fuelled the issues or the issues have helped fuel the writing, I don’t know. But I do know that it’s not healthy to be inside your own head for so long.
As a result – more out of fear that a mental health episode might impact my productivity – I take great care with mine. I’m still prone to bouts of anxiety but I try and recognise the signs and take proactive measures.
It seems so silly to me when we go to the gym and eat healthy to ensure our bodies don’t get sick, that we do so little to try and keep our minds healthy. I’m not suggesting that people with mental health issues have done anything wrong but with workplace stress at epidemic levels we could at least try and minimise that.
As a result, I refuse to work myself into the ground. I do my day job to the best of my ability, and then I stop working and worry about the important things. Given health scares, book stresses and more, I think I’ve done a good job to stop my personal life affecting my work. I expect it to be the same going back.
As a result, I drove away from the office dwelling, and got to training a little disorganised. We were supposed to be bringing the buckler stuff I’ve been doing together, but it sort of segwayed into a lesson on adapting techniques for personal style and adjusting them based on the opponent.
It actually ended up a very enjoyable lesson which I’m glad about, because it seemed like a hot mess at the start.
I have a lot on my mind at the moment so I’m appreciating the long car drives.
September was supposed to be the month that I chill and relax and instead there’s things brewing that are stressing me out. In a couple of days I’m supposed to be editing book 2 and yet I don’t feel ready. I want everything out the way so I can focus on this.
I saw something somewhere that said that people are a product of the people they surround themselves with, and it’s got me thinking that going forward I should stop trying to people please people who don’t have my best interests at heart. To be fair, most of my friends are awesome, but there are a few people I’m starting to think should occupy less of my headspace in the coming weeks.
If people are going to put deliberate obstacles on the things I’m trying to achieve (either out of selfish self-interest or jealousy) they really aren’t my friends.
The next few months are going to be an emotional rollercoaster and I really don’t need people adding needlessly to that.
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels. Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.