Chapter Six Refresh
Welcome to the “End of Chapter Resources Page” for Chapter Six of The Golden Albatross book. As a refresher, in the sixth chapter, I addressed the sad topic of my career-linked mental health problems straight on. I did not attempt to sugar coat those problems or otherwise explain them away. That was intentional. I did it in hopes that my story could help you, someway, somehow.
Maybe my story will motivate you to seriously map out your career options. That way you’re at least prepared if the Golden Albatross comes knocking on your front door. At a minimum, I hope it prompts you to consider alternate work-life balance paradigms, because as I stated in the chapter:
“Some jobs demand more than others on a routine basis. At some point, all jobs make demands that may prove too much for a person to take. I should have said “enough” in December 2012, but I had no alternative paradigm.”
The Chapter Six Demographic
Of course, the main demographic I hope to hit with my story in Chapter Six is anyone who might be suffering from mental health issues in silence. To those of you out there, I want you to know that you are not flying alone, like the albatross in the picture above. You are not broken, nor are you beyond help.
What you may be is injured, mentally, and like all injuries to your body, your brain may require professional medical treatment. If you fell, hurt your arm, and it started swelling, then you’d rush to the doctor, wouldn’t you? Just because mental injuries don’t come with easy to discern physical symptoms like swelling, it doesn’t mean you should treat the injury differently. It still hurts, doesn’t it?
Learn from my mistakes, you can’t just ignore a mental injury in hopes that it will go away. Nor can you stuff shitty emotion on top of shitty emotion into your proverbial rucksack, and expect everything to be fine. No one’s brain has an infinite ability to absorb injury after injury. No one. Human brains are not built that way. As a result, there is no shame in asking for or seeking professional medical assistance. Maybe, at the very least, some of the links below can help.
Mental Health Resources
If you think you need mental health help:
If you want to volunteer and help people with mental health issues:
If you’re active duty or a veteran who needs mental health help:
If you’re a veteran or active duty and you need inspiration or motivation to start:
Grumpus Maximus’s Mental Health and Work Posts
Podcast Interviews Where GM Discusses Mental Health and Work
Choose FI Interview:
House of FI Interview:
What’s Up Next Podcast Interview: