This is an important topic, so I hope you don’t mind me posting it on the main channel. Mental Health affects all of us. Here’s a link to the people behind this week of information:
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I was quite naive to mental health problems until 2013 when my own went completely Pete Tong. Actually, looking back further, my mental health was on a tightrope for most of my life, I was just diagnosed in 2013. My diagnosis was anxiety with a side portion of depression. I think my story is a common one – bullied at school, lacked self confidence, felt like an outcast. Starting work in a bus depot as an apprentice mechanic in 2002 certainly did wonders for me, but those unresolved issues from school days were just lurking ready to take over my mind. By 2012, stresses at work were giving me physical manifestations of my mental health breaking down (sudden bouts of diarrhoea, sudden bouts of dizziness or even fainting spells, but these only happened when I was sat doing nothing, never when my mind was focused on something such as driving, watching TV, playing a game etc). My diagnosis in 2013 led to various treatments being tried, both in terms of medication and retraining my brain.
Nowadays, I'm much better. Still on medication twice a day (I did come off medication for a year, but I felt myself slipping backwards and went back on them). I seem to people who don't know me to be quite confident and outgoing, but I'm really not. I'm just very good at talking the talk these days, and TBH a saying a friend once said to me definitely applies to me now: "to be confident, you need to act confident".
I'm a big mental health advocate now. I'm an open ear for anyone struggling with their mental health, and I speak out against damaging things I see around me. I'm glad that mental health is spoken about more these days, particularly men's mental health, as us guys clearly need to talk about it more when you consider suicide rates. Thankfully I never attempted suicide, but I certainly thought about it plenty, but I'd have missed out on so many positives in my life had I done it – stuff like my wedding, my daughter, and much more besides. So it's a blessing to have so many groups now dedicated to helping men with their mental health struggles.
Mr and Miss HubNut – the reason I love HubNut is the honesty of your reactions to the vehicles you test and the things that you show. You are the kind of people the world needs more of – we are all trained to put a "face" on things whilst underneath "bricking it" as you say. Having a purpose in life is, in my view, the key and I think that many have lost that during the lockdown. I am blessed to have my family as my bedrock, but was single for a long time. Outwardly I was living the good life – new 911 every year, travelling the world, but inside there was an empty chasm. Belonging to a community and enjoying their support is a huge help and for many this was their working environment. Lockdown has meant that many have lost this structure and hence the rise in mental health problems, addiction and suicide. Having an interest outside of work has undoubtedly helped many and the resultant setting of (realistic) goals, whether it be working on a car or creating a piece of art can be, quite literally, life saving.
Driving weird old cars can help socially too, it is a bit of an icebreaker – you meet people who want to talk about the car and some of them even end up being friends.
I think the key to the success of your channel is the way you present – so natural that it feels like a friend is just having a chat with you. It feels very personal whilst being very informative – a difficult thing to do, but you seem to have mastered it! Please keep doing what you do!
Two honest people , what more can i say .
Ian you are very brave putting this out there. Your channel has kept me sane over the last few months. Take some comfort that in your pain you have been helping others immensely. Thanks for your contribution. There is nothing more beautiful than the imperfect. As far as I am concerned this channel is a celebration of that. Thanks again
This video has quite literally saved my life. No kidding, 'cos mental health-related "faults," as I prefer to call my personal reliability issues, aren't the stuff of jokes even though I'm a firm believer in taking the p155 out of myself on days of greater clarity.
Ian, you and your excellent family, both human and vehicular, should be proud of this fabulous channel, without which this rather odd, middle aged lass would find her life so much less manageable right now.
Please keep up the great work and don't ever stop showing us the silly stuff that Wish seems to enjoy sending to you.
Cheers,
Jaye xx👋👍🦄🏳️🌈
Sometimes i look at people or families and than i think : man look how happy they are.. look how successful they are.. look at their cars their house.. the amazing things they do in their life.. children looking intelligent and doing perfect. Mom and dad having nice jobs . And that’s making me feel bad about myself… that’s my mental thing.
Good and brave video. Not wishing to simplify things but I often find that depression goes hand in hand with tiredness/lack of sleep. Also, you can speak authoritatively on what's wrong with vehicles so diagnosis is good and you haven't had a mechanic's apprenticeship or access to loads of specialist tools.
I know one thing for sure, i really like your style of presenting, and your car reviews as well as road trips are straight up marvelous!
I have a very similar story to you. It’s called life as they say. Talking about this subject frankly, is so refreshing, thank you. I also have classic cars in NZ.
Thank you for so many lovely, often personal comments. I'm trying to catch up with them all!