PictureTree

There doesn’t have to be a ‘reason’ you can point to. Our minds are doing (and frequently not doing) a huge amount subconsciously and it's sometimes impossible to determine a root cause. The most important thing is not to add to the mental fatigue by focusing too much on what the cause might be. Try to make sure you get eight hours of sleep and take yourself out for some fresh air at least once a day. Your winter low/summer high thing sounds like pretty classic SAD so supplementing with Vit-D might help a bit (though simply getting out in the sun on those rare occasions it puts in an appearance is far more effective). What do you do with your time now that you’re retired? People who have had a busy work life often struggle with retirement (even if they spent many years very much looking forward to not doing the daily grind).

That looks like a fantastic bit of kit. I was thinking of doing some milling for a cabin building project I’m planning but might drop you a line instead (I’m in the same neck of the woods as you)!

No, not young. Pushing 40 and have obviously worked in other jobs. The problem is that whilst I’m pretty flexible there’s kind of a limit to how much anyone can go with the flow. There’s a big difference between accepting that work ebbs and flows and being told at the start of the week that you’ll be needed for another three weeks solid and then a few days later that there’s been a change of plan and you’ll not be needed the next day but probably a couple of days next week and then one day the week after that. I’m experienced enough to know the difference between tricky workflow management and dud planning/communication because that’s not industry specific. I slog away all day and I’m paying my way through the tickets and getting more experience so I’ll hopefully become a more attractive option for other operations in the area as I ‘level up’ which will allow me to have a bit more income security. The only concern is if, having done all of that, the expectation is that it’s OK to just drop a contractor who you’ve had booked well in advance.

For any of you out there who use self-employed guys/gals, what sort of notice do you give them about upcoming work and changes to work you’ve already asked them to do? I ask because planning my income around ‘we need you tomorrow morning’ and ‘we only need you for a few days next week instead of the X full weeks we said’ is getting a bit tricky, especially when I’ve put off other stuff.

Depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions probably aren’t more numerous now than any historical norm. They are just being talked about more and there’s an increased reluctance amongst many (particularly men) to just drown the sorrows with drink and drugs, though obviously plenty still do that as well! As someone who is fairly down to earth but has also done a spell in the loony-bin after becoming suicidal a few years ago, I can understand that it’s sometimes difficult to ‘get’ that a person might just feel bloody awful despite the fact things appear to be going fine for them. People fortunate to have been wired in a manner which allows much of the nonsense of life to bounce off them are sometimes in a situation where, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, they ‘…don’t know what they don’t know.’ This can be rather frustrating to deal with but by the same token you can also have a giggle when they express frustration at clients or new entrants to the trade etc not getting why the job isn’t as simple as it initially looks. From my short time working with arb guys so far, the stresses are pretty much the same as any other job/trade/profession I’ve seen. Everyone worries about where the work will come from next week/month/year, the bills are always painful, the workers/managers communication is dysfunctional, egos are bouncing off each other, clients don’t pay and make stupid demands… It’s always a complete scunner pretty much whatever someone does to earn a crust. The most important thing to do if you’re feeling crap is to talk to someone about it. Men are especially shit at doing this because we talk about problems to arrive at a solution. If we know that talking about a problem can’t result in a solution we just don’t expend the effort talking. Women have it sussed- they instinctively know that talking is a good way of just getting thoughts and worries out of your head. It stops them running round and driving you crazy.

Hi! I thought I would pop in and say hello and thank you to you all for providing this very informative forum! I'm an OLD (38) rookie just about to start training (I'm a lawyer and a photographer but want to do something more practical too) but have learned a huge amount from reading many of the posts here. Cheers, Jamie