What a title, however i thought it really made sense when i decide to write a few words from the past 10 months.

As someone who is a bit of a health fanatic, i watch what i eat, done martial arts for around 30 years and regularly attend the gym the pandemic sort of knocked me off my normal ways. Some months i have been great, good eating, little alcohol, exercise 3 / 4 times a week. Other months its been a disaster, far to much alcohol, crisps, eating gone out the window – plus the best exercise i have managed is walking from my bedroom to my office across the landing. Weight has been a good one as well, up a stone / down a stone and basically my body not knowing whether it was coming or going.

It came to me i needed a bit of support and motivation, actually other people needed the same. I asked on our teams slack channel around setting a little group up calling it ” Fat Club ” – more of a joke as none of us are really that bad. Idea was to try and motivate each other, help with ideas around exercising at home or help with exercising outside. Also bouncing ideas off around nutrition. Most had apple watches, we started challenges with each other, partly to try and motivate and push each other….

Has it worked ? Yes and no, most of us have kept things going although some of us have good and bad months – me included. However what it has done is allow us to channel our energy to support each other. I for instance took up running, never done it in my life and successfully completed the couch to 5k back in August. OK i am never going to get a world record however one thing someone in the vCommunity said to me, ” Every run is a good run because you have done it “. Another person in the group bought the same running machine i have and again has completed couch to 5k, even done night running which looks so bizarre. I even tried hill running, however i will be honest it near killed me LOL.

The little slack group is still going, we are still supporting each other…….

Christmas is nearly here, i have got back into training and my mind is pretty positive. I thought about the attitude of new start in the new year however i decided i would make changes now !!!! by the new year i would be in a better position…….

We will see …..

What a year we have all been through, honestly if you had asked me about a Pandemic a few years ago i would have responded ” Not in my lifetime “.

It seems only yesterday i was on stage with some colleagues talking around mental health, some personal stories and then a Q&A session with Joe Baguley joining myself and Craig on Stage.

Conference’s this year have either been cancelled or gone to a pure virtual event, the UK vMUG moved to a virtual event – which i was really pleased about.

I was asked if i would record a 10 minute lightening session on Mental Health in the Pandemic to be shown on Tuesday 24th November ( day of the conference ) just before the closing keynote..

Honestly i prefer to stand on stage than either present virtually or record a session, but hey thats my personal preference.  We did repeat the session we presented last year at the London vMUG back in April virtually which got feedback and quite a few people attending on the day.

Anyway instead of repeating what was presented last year and earlier this year, plus only having 10 minutes i did something slightly different. The whole aim of the session was around trying to be more healthy, make use of the extra time we have in getting some type of new hobby. One of the key points was trying to avoid anything IT related and try something ” NEW “.

In case you missed the 10 minute lightening session here it is you watch at your lesiure. It goes without saying if you have any questions, need some advice around mental health please reach out to me on twitter @bonkeydave

As everyone is aware, across the planet the world we live has changed very drastically over the last few weeks. The hustle and bushel of daily life, enjoying normal social interaction; things like going to :

restaurants
going to the gym
going to the park
Socialising in general
have become very restrictive very quickly.

Most of us are now in the situation of general lockdown, forced to work from home and with schools shut meaning home life and the working environment has also changed drastically.

Its very easy to become isolated / feel alone and generally worried in the current situation as such its never been so important to support both our colleagues as well as our friends and family.

Some people are lucky to work for a company that has adopted digital transformation which allows us to work from home, others not and for a great deal of people job losses are present. If you are still working then we all facing new challenges some of which we have not faced before. We now need to adapt our working practices at home to reflex the current situation. Take regular breaks, make sure you eat and take breaks regular and more than ever put some structure around your day.

We all have to SUPPORT each other, pick the phone up, check in with a colleagues and have a chat.

Speak up if you are struggling whether this is to a friend / family member or a colleague or your manager.

Utilise any HR support services on offer for the region you are based.

Use the vCommunity !!! there are lots of people who would to have a chat.

Support yourself and support your family.

We are all somewhere on the continuum and where we are can change during the course of our lives

Whenever i present on Mental Health i always spend a good amount of time on this picture. I always explain that lets be honest not many people are Excelling, i am not here to say people aren’t. However with all the pressures of life ( yes its constant ) we are generally balancing between Thriving and Unsettled. Every now and again we may dip out big toe into Struggling however we will move back into unsettled.

A Prime example is myself, i have had a difficult 2019 and probably spent most of my time struggling and unsettled. This is not me in crisis, this is purely me having a bad year.

Few pertinent points on this picture :

• Mental Health is our emotional, psychological and social well being affecting how we think
• Mental Health is not a binary state
• The struggles of everyday life – divorce, illness, death of a loved one, problems at work – can have a big impact on your health
• Its natural to go through ups and downs in life. Sometimes you bounce right back and sometimes you don’t. Please remember this, its so important we have natural ups and downs
• Stress can be good for you, i get stressed before i am going on stage when i am public speaking. I prefer this as it means i am not over confident and always me to keep myself on my toes.

Tiny bit late i know, been meaning to put something on about this a few weeks ago. Well lucky enough to get a slot to present on mental health, every better it was a Community cross company presentation between :3 people from VMware

Myself Dave Marley (@bonkeydave) Simon Conyard (@virtual_simon) Michael Poore (@mpoore) from VMware and Craig Dalyrymple @cragdoo from BrightSolid

Joe Baguley (@JoeBaguley) made a guest appearance and then joining myself and Craig at the end for a Q@A session

Presenting on this topic is pretty hard especially when you have personal stories included. Myself, Simon, Michael and Craig as far as i am concerned did a grand job on the day. I even has a few customers in the audience so a first for me with that.

Feedback after the presentation has been great and heartwarming, it really does show the community understands the importance of Mental Health in IT and that we are all here to support each other.

We are back presenting at the London vMUG in April and then the Yorkshire vMUG in May so hopefully we will get good turn outs at the sessions on the day.