Feeling sorry for myself

Today I ache - I sympathise with the students I have taught this week as they are probably in a similar state although most of them may enjoy knowing that I am suffering for a change as opposed to just making them suffer. I have been averaging 3-4 hours teaching a day and managed to cram in an hour and a half photo shoot yesterday morning before my daytime lessons. I feel a bit like someone has been punching me in the stomach and ribs and I am not looking forward to teaching tomorrow. Luckily I have a day with no teaching today so my muscles get to rest. At least I know the cause of my muscle pain - too much exercise!

Well enough feeling sorry for myself - admin needs doing and will be done after I have written this blog. I find that writing this blog is actually providing with a nice break from my office work. I realise that I spend a lot of time in my blog talking about physical health and less talking about mental health which is just as important to overall well being. Of course we all experience stress but for some people this can spiral into depression and clinical depression but what is the answer? I personally have a big problem with anti depressants as I believe they are over prescribed and don't always work, they are quite often highly addictive and simply being prescribed drug does not address the cause of the depression.

A leading psychiatrist, Professor Gordon Parker, has announced today that many of us are not actually depressed at all but are just suffering from life stress which he believes is a normal part of living, he also comments on the problem of labelling i.e. once someone is told they have a condition it affects the way in which they behave and how others treat them. The World Health Organisation are about to launch their yearly report which features statistics on how many people in the world are suffering from mental health issues and the numbers are expected to have risen dramatically. So are we actually more stressed or are more people being wrongly diagnosed, and, of those being diagnosed are they being offered a holistic approach to treatment.

Whatever the truth we do know that physical exercise helps deal with depression so that is good news for me and my students! And talking of good news I have to mention this weeks National fireworks competitions - how amazing they were, click here to watch a video of them. Last bit of good news - Plymouth will be hosting the start of the transat race next year, it is great news for the city although my last memory of the start of the transat race was going out to watch it in a 14 foot dory in a 15 foot swell. This activity is not highly recommended and I am lucky to be alive to tell the story, I remember watching the larger boats return to the shore the sound as My friend Chris and I ventured further past the breakwater, it was a great adrenaline rush but in fact we were very lucky to return in one piece.

Well back to the admin chores - Have a great weekend and Stay healthy.

Sam x