Mental Health
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Webcams With Wandering Backgrounds Are Utter Nonsense
Somewhere in a meeting room, a group of very pleased-with-themselves tech people decided that what video calls really needed was a camera that stalks your face around the frame like a budget Spielberg shot. Auto-framing, eye-tracking, magical “keep you in the centre” nonsense. Clever demo. Terrible experience. The sort of distracting and annoying thing that…
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Mental Health Isn’t Entertainment – The Raw Truth
I’ve just written about my own brain and how it works. Or doesn’t work, depending on the day. ADHD, depression, anxiety, the whole bloody catalogue. And I kept it raw because that’s how it needs to be. But here’s what’s been winding me up lately. Mental Health Isn’t Your Next Binge-Watch Turn on YouTube. Open…
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When Every Day Feels Like Work – Living with ADHD Burnout
When Every Day Feels Like Work and Nothing Feels Like Progress! I was scrolling through one of our group chats this morning and seeing what people are up to. One mate’s done a parkrun – he’s getting into shape, doing brilliantly. Others are talking about their Saturday plans. Shopping. Hanging out with family. Going to…
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What Happens After Andy’s Man Club Ends at 9 O’Clock
Monday night. Andy’s Man Club. A dozen blokes, maybe more, in a circle. Serious stuff gets said. Real stuff. And then it’s 9 o’clock, and everyone heads home. Except it doesn’t always work like that. Not for me, anyway. And from what I’ve heard, from other facilitators and even some members, not for others. Sometimes…
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Am I Depressed, Stressed, or Just Having a Crap Day?
You know those days when you’ve barely lifted a finger yet you feel like you’ve been run over by a bus? Sick to your stomach, completely drained, brain fog thick enough to swim in. And the worst bit? You start wondering if you’re just being a miserable old git, or if something deeper is going…
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When Kindness is Monetised, it’s not Kindness. It’s Business.
There’s a strange irony in how compassion has turned into a commodity. Once a human instinct, kindness is now a marketing strategy, wrapped in mindfulness quotes and branded hashtags. What used to be something we simply did for one another has become something that’s bought, sold, and packaged as “wellbeing.” The kindness industry is booming,…
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A Year of Opening the Door at Louth Andy’s Man Club
We’re moving soon. The room we’ve been using at Louth Andy’s Man Club has served us well, but it’s getting tight. We’ve been getting a dozen or more men through the door regularly, and the space just doesn’t have much give left in it. On top of that, there’s some uncertainty about the building itself…
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Senior Moments or Undiagnosed ADHD in Older Adults?
Do you ever (or regularly) find yourself walking into a room and forgetting why you’re there? Do you often lose your keys, miss appointments, or feel like your brain is permanently stuck in a thick fog (or pea soup as my lovely wife calls it)? Is It “Senior Moments” or Just My ADHD? For many…
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The Small King Effect – When Petty Power Wrecks Your Head
I’m not easily confused by tech. I’ve been using online platforms for over twenty years. I fix websites for a living. I spend half my life investigating how systems behave. When Petty Power Wrecks Your Head And yet, every so often, I run into that person: the bloke with a tiny patch of power who…
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The Car Park Moment That Matters More Than You Think
It was a Monday night. Just before 7pm. Cold. I was outside, doing the sweeper role at Andy’s Man Club. The sweeper role is exactly what it sounds like. You’re out front. You’re the first face someone sees. And more often than not, you’re the reason a new man doesn’t just drive straight past and…