So, here we go! My first attempt at writing a
'Blog'. It seems to be a very useful way to communicate information with people
so let's get started.
You may be reading this because you received an invite, or you may have just come across this from random searching or have been recommended to join in, whatever route you took, welcome :-) I hope that you find these writings useful and helpful.
Just to begin with a little personal background; it may help frame the context of what I say and help you understand where I am coming from.
The intention here in this blog is to share ideas that can help as many people as possible, including you if appropriate, in a number of ways; in three ways specifically.
It is said, and I tend to agree, that there are two main issues that keep people awake at night worrying; 'Health' and 'Finances'. Actually, I want to amend that, because I have decided to make it three. I reckon that also 'Relationships' are high on the list of concerns that cause people to worry. Or if not to worry, they certainly consume a great deal of energy from emotional and thinking reserves!
The theme of this blog is to offer 'Solutions' to address these issues from a number of directions. I know from personal experience that these three issues have been for me 'problems' at times and for anyone finding that they can relate to that, I hope to assist with your own personal journey to find your way through the maze to a better place and quicker than you may otherwise do.
I’m admittedly a ‘fixer-upper’. My main career has been in mechanical engineering and much of that has been ‘Problem Solving’ and ‘Fault Diagnosis’. I fully accept that sometimes, people do not want to be ‘fixed’ and often don’t want their ‘problems fixed’. Also that the route to getting ahead often requires dialogue and for people to have opportunity to ‘talk-through’ their issues and to discover for themselves the solutions they need. So I’m not claiming to be a ‘cure-all’ and if you need conversation, then look me up and I’m more than happy to listen and chat if you’d prefer. The nature of this media is limited in that all you can do at the moment is to read what I’m writing; hopefully you may find some nuggets that will be minor keys for you to advance on your own journey.
Bear with me whilst I share a little about ‘good old me’, I’ll try and be brief, and I am only doing this so you understand and can hopefully relate to who I am and see both the limitations of what I can offer and also the positives that I may be able to bring.
From an early age I recall the amount of conversation that was devoted to coping financially in the family. Mostly I was eavesdropping on conversations between my Mother and my eldest sister who lived nearby and with whom our lives were intertwined. I can remember the obvious stress that was a constant struggle for them and have always wanted to be a solution provider, initially for my family and now as the decades have past and that is less significant, in the lives of those who have need.
During the years, in addition to my working career, I have sought to grasp opportunities when presented to earn some extra money. This has included a number of 'Off-Piste' activities such as running a 'Tea Swindle', selling insurance, selling double glazing, 'Street Market trading', running a garage, baking bread, buying and selling cars and a few others that I probably don't remember right now.
My working life goes back to growing up in the Devon countryside working for my Mother alongside my brothers and sisters on the land and the property that my Mother owned. Then I worked on the farms locally cutting grass, herding cows, driving the tractors and other labouring. My first 'real' job was a school holiday job in an ironmonger in the local town but at 15 I joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) to do an Apprenticeship which was to shape most of my working career experiences.
Having lived a socially isolated lifestyle living in a relatively remote house buried deep in the woods of South Devon and apart from school involved relating only with close family, leaving home at 15 was a shock.
What was more of a shock was that on my first visit home, the house had been sold and the new family home was in effect a building site and not occupied by anyone, as my Mother, gaining her freedom as her youngest of five left home had re-entered the workplace and was an 'Agency Nanny' caring for the children of the rich and famous in their homes wherever that may be around the world.
There really was no going back. And returning to the Apprenticeship College after that visit was accompanied by a realisation that I was trapped.
My Apprenticeship Training was however interspersed by visits to my sister's farm in Devon whilst I took my final examinations to complete my state schooling; not something that was particularly fruitful unsurprisingly. So at that stage it was extremely beneficial that I had already been accepted into the military, as I would not have made the entry qualifications if I had waited until after my poor exam results were known..
After two years at the military boarding school, my 'Service' began in the 'real' Air Force and I was posted to a number of RAF stations before purchasing my discharge and re-entering 'Civilian Life' having served a total of seven years as man and boy.
Health issues were a matter that I grew up being keenly conscious of due to my Mother who was coping with five children on her own, had suffered an injury during our childhood that affected her for the rest of her life and that changed ours too. In her efforts to be more effective in growing the produce on our land, vegetables and fruit which formed the main part of our diets, she managed to hire a mechanical engine 'Rotovator' which she valiantly used to dig up and turn over the ground intending to plant in areas that were too hard to dig with a spade and fork. However, in using it she damaged her back, twisting her spine and slipping a disc at least.
Aware that if she chose to have an operation to correct the problem that the children would have to 'Go into Care', she was fearful that we may not come back and that it would result in the dissolution of the family, so she chose to manage with the difficulty, soldiering on over the years with a frequent needs for bed rest.
Relationships? Well, as you probably have gathered by reading this far, my Father and Mother's relationship broke down with disastrous implications for us all. It actually happened during and around the time of my birth, so I was born into a troubled relationship environment and was parented by a single Mum. Perhaps it's no surprise that I married one!
Do you see perhaps where I'm coming from? Do you see the strong 'drivers' of my life experience which now motivate me to seek ways to challenge and defeat the foes that afflicted my early life and now afflict so many others around the world?
If so, then come back again and I'll be seeking to move on from here, maybe we shall be companions on the journey into the future together? ......... see you soon :-)
You may be reading this because you received an invite, or you may have just come across this from random searching or have been recommended to join in, whatever route you took, welcome :-) I hope that you find these writings useful and helpful.
Just to begin with a little personal background; it may help frame the context of what I say and help you understand where I am coming from.
The intention here in this blog is to share ideas that can help as many people as possible, including you if appropriate, in a number of ways; in three ways specifically.
It is said, and I tend to agree, that there are two main issues that keep people awake at night worrying; 'Health' and 'Finances'. Actually, I want to amend that, because I have decided to make it three. I reckon that also 'Relationships' are high on the list of concerns that cause people to worry. Or if not to worry, they certainly consume a great deal of energy from emotional and thinking reserves!
The theme of this blog is to offer 'Solutions' to address these issues from a number of directions. I know from personal experience that these three issues have been for me 'problems' at times and for anyone finding that they can relate to that, I hope to assist with your own personal journey to find your way through the maze to a better place and quicker than you may otherwise do.
I’m admittedly a ‘fixer-upper’. My main career has been in mechanical engineering and much of that has been ‘Problem Solving’ and ‘Fault Diagnosis’. I fully accept that sometimes, people do not want to be ‘fixed’ and often don’t want their ‘problems fixed’. Also that the route to getting ahead often requires dialogue and for people to have opportunity to ‘talk-through’ their issues and to discover for themselves the solutions they need. So I’m not claiming to be a ‘cure-all’ and if you need conversation, then look me up and I’m more than happy to listen and chat if you’d prefer. The nature of this media is limited in that all you can do at the moment is to read what I’m writing; hopefully you may find some nuggets that will be minor keys for you to advance on your own journey.
Bear with me whilst I share a little about ‘good old me’, I’ll try and be brief, and I am only doing this so you understand and can hopefully relate to who I am and see both the limitations of what I can offer and also the positives that I may be able to bring.
From an early age I recall the amount of conversation that was devoted to coping financially in the family. Mostly I was eavesdropping on conversations between my Mother and my eldest sister who lived nearby and with whom our lives were intertwined. I can remember the obvious stress that was a constant struggle for them and have always wanted to be a solution provider, initially for my family and now as the decades have past and that is less significant, in the lives of those who have need.
During the years, in addition to my working career, I have sought to grasp opportunities when presented to earn some extra money. This has included a number of 'Off-Piste' activities such as running a 'Tea Swindle', selling insurance, selling double glazing, 'Street Market trading', running a garage, baking bread, buying and selling cars and a few others that I probably don't remember right now.
My working life goes back to growing up in the Devon countryside working for my Mother alongside my brothers and sisters on the land and the property that my Mother owned. Then I worked on the farms locally cutting grass, herding cows, driving the tractors and other labouring. My first 'real' job was a school holiday job in an ironmonger in the local town but at 15 I joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) to do an Apprenticeship which was to shape most of my working career experiences.
Having lived a socially isolated lifestyle living in a relatively remote house buried deep in the woods of South Devon and apart from school involved relating only with close family, leaving home at 15 was a shock.
What was more of a shock was that on my first visit home, the house had been sold and the new family home was in effect a building site and not occupied by anyone, as my Mother, gaining her freedom as her youngest of five left home had re-entered the workplace and was an 'Agency Nanny' caring for the children of the rich and famous in their homes wherever that may be around the world.
There really was no going back. And returning to the Apprenticeship College after that visit was accompanied by a realisation that I was trapped.
My Apprenticeship Training was however interspersed by visits to my sister's farm in Devon whilst I took my final examinations to complete my state schooling; not something that was particularly fruitful unsurprisingly. So at that stage it was extremely beneficial that I had already been accepted into the military, as I would not have made the entry qualifications if I had waited until after my poor exam results were known..
After two years at the military boarding school, my 'Service' began in the 'real' Air Force and I was posted to a number of RAF stations before purchasing my discharge and re-entering 'Civilian Life' having served a total of seven years as man and boy.
Health issues were a matter that I grew up being keenly conscious of due to my Mother who was coping with five children on her own, had suffered an injury during our childhood that affected her for the rest of her life and that changed ours too. In her efforts to be more effective in growing the produce on our land, vegetables and fruit which formed the main part of our diets, she managed to hire a mechanical engine 'Rotovator' which she valiantly used to dig up and turn over the ground intending to plant in areas that were too hard to dig with a spade and fork. However, in using it she damaged her back, twisting her spine and slipping a disc at least.
Aware that if she chose to have an operation to correct the problem that the children would have to 'Go into Care', she was fearful that we may not come back and that it would result in the dissolution of the family, so she chose to manage with the difficulty, soldiering on over the years with a frequent needs for bed rest.
Relationships? Well, as you probably have gathered by reading this far, my Father and Mother's relationship broke down with disastrous implications for us all. It actually happened during and around the time of my birth, so I was born into a troubled relationship environment and was parented by a single Mum. Perhaps it's no surprise that I married one!
Do you see perhaps where I'm coming from? Do you see the strong 'drivers' of my life experience which now motivate me to seek ways to challenge and defeat the foes that afflicted my early life and now afflict so many others around the world?
If so, then come back again and I'll be seeking to move on from here, maybe we shall be companions on the journey into the future together? ......... see you soon :-)
