Road to Recovery: A healthy body is a healthy mind.

I’ve recently shared my own battles with mental illness, and I also set the scene of a transformative journey that was just beginning. As a progression, I’d like to share some of the techniques and tools I’ve been utilising as I traverse that journey. Today I’d like to share with you some of the physical changes I’ve made. It’s common knowledge that a healthy body enables a healthy mind, and the effect that exercise has on mental health is well documented. Continue reading

Mental Health Awareness Week: A chance to share.

I recently logged in to Twitter for the first time in 10 weeks, and in a weird twist of fate I saw “#MentalHealthAwarenessWeek” trending; this has prompted me to finally post something that’s been sitting in my drafts for a couple of weeks. If this helps just one person realise that help is available, and that things can improve, then it will have been worth it. Beware though, this may be a long one, and it’s also a bit of a tough one. Continue reading

A taste of my own medicine: My Mental Health, and My SSL Certificates

It’s with a great deal of anxiety that I write this post, and more will be explained in due time - but I’ve had to take a few weeks out to deal with a mental health crisis. During this time, a lapsed SSL certificate on my personal site is far from a major concern.. but it’s quite a potent analogy. Today I discovered that my SSL certificate had expired for Fergus In London - i. Continue reading

Pre-empting Tech Burn-Out and "Inconsequential Bullshit"

The term “burning out” is seemingly an every day one in some tech circles; with most developers that have been in the industry for more than a couple of years having a personal story of times where things have just been too much. Although the phenomenon would appear to be staggeringly (and disappointingly) common, there stills seems to be a lack of understanding over the basics - i.e the “how, why, and when”. Continue reading

Tech and Mental Health: What's going on?

Tech has a problem, and it’s not one that’s going to be fixed with higher-spec servers or the latest software, because this one is “all in the head”. I count myself quite fortunate to have worked alongside some great people in some brilliant environments, and often on interesting projects. There’s been one common thread that has been there throughout all the possible permutations of teams, environments, and projects though; and that’s the underlying question of mental wellbeing. Continue reading