Who am I?
My name is Danny Dixon. I am a man. A husband. A brother. A father. A son. I am also a professional.I believe that we need to talk. Talk a lot more than we do. We're often running at such high speed and we need to slow down. Take in the scenery. Sh*t happens in life. More than ever, we need to share how we're feeling. Help ourselves. Help each other.
Mental well-being is an important topic. Men normally don't talk. Often until it is too late. This needs to change. I hope to change it. To help people to speak out.
A broad set of topics.
I have changed the name of this blog to talk about a broader set of topics. Topics that will resonate. Resonate because we see, hear and feel them everyday. Every sinew of our very being. Most of all, our minds. Positive mental well-being is a real asset. It needs to be nurtured. Managed. Protected even - from those who do not care for it.
The impact of life.
Mental well-being isn't only something for therapy. It is everyday life. The life we lead. The people we speak to. The way we think. All these influence how we're 'wired'. How we see the world. How we see ourselves.
One crazy life. One crazy world.
The 24hr news cycle and social media is infiltrating our brains; rewiring our neural pathways. Our sympathetic nervous system - the one that regulates our threat response - is constantly being stoked. Perfectionism is on the rise but we're not perfect. Tolerance is in decline yet we need it more than ever. We dispose of our things (and people) with ease and then wonder why we're lonely. We set standards that are unattainable and wonder why we're disappointed. We're so comfortable with others' mis-fortune that we call it prime time entertainment and wonder why people are much less kind.
The new currency of self-worth.
The rise in the currency of self-worth means that we have an irrational fear of the 'consequences' of being 'ejected' from the social groups we identify with - either our families, our friends or our work. Over the last 10 years, there has been a rise of more common issues of mental ill-health in our society such as anxiety and depression. This is no coincidence. We need to turn the dial down a little.