Is it Dangerous to Hero Worship?

Are you a hero?

Do you dream of being a hero?  Do you fancy the idea of saving someone one day?  Do you want people to say “wow there he/she goes, I wish I could be like him/her.”

It’s strange isn’t it, but we’re all capable of being a hero if the opportunity presented itself.  Imagine your child falling in a river, would you jump in to save them?  Most people would without thinking about it, it’s simply a reaction to wanting something more than anything else at that moment.

The traits we admire in heroes are often the traits we have in ourselves.  So if we are all capable of heroic acts, why do we put some people on a pedestal?  And why is this a bad idea?

The Suicide Card

The Ultimate Employee Threat

It was not exactly what I expected when I gave my first appraisal to a member of staff.  As a customer-facing receptionist she was turning business away with her utterly miserable facial expressions.  No matter what I did to cheer her up, she could never raise even a glimmer of a smile.  There was only one thing for it - we needed to have an official chat.

This was new to me, so I did my research on the best way to do this and asked her to come into my office.  With guidelines in hand I started the discussion.  I thought our conversation was going fairly well until like a bolt of lightening she said “I want to commit suicide.”  Horrified and in my naivety, I tried to get her to tell me what was wrong.  She continued with the ways in which she was considering ending her life. 

Age is no barrier to having fun

“We started the society because it’s hard for older ladies to meet new people.”

Whilst in a restaurant in London this week I saw a table of ladies swathed in purple clothes wearing red hats over beautiful white hair.  Some of the hats were functionally warm, others were various shapes of a trilby and one rather flamboyant lady wore a red flower and feather in her hair. 

They were giggling like schoolgirls and totally oblivious to people watching them.  They didn’t give two hoots; they were having fun.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I approached and asked who they were.

Consider carefully before you call yourself a carer

Or does it matter?

I have been talking to quite a few medical specialists lately and they all have one thing in common.  They feel genuinely sad that people call themselves carers before anything else.   They hear time and time again, “I’m a carer now you know” or “yes I’m a fulltime carer” or simply “I’m the carer.” 

If we are caring for someone, what’s wrong with being called the carer?  And why are the medics sad? 

People are not their illness

There is so much more

An older lady entered a new doctor's office.   Six months previously she had been diagnosed with a terminal illness.  She was efficient and organised with her ​​lists of medication, medical events during recent months and more ........  her CV.

She handed over the papers and the doctor looked shocked.  He glanced at the CV whilst putting it to one side saying "I will look at this later, let's talk about your medication". 

The Simplicity of Successful Business

Lessons from a 100 year old Paperboy

© cascadenews.co.uk

Mr Walter Sharp is a 100 year old paperboy.  His motto is “if you keep walking, you’ll keep living”.

Totally inspirational, but I began to think of other reasons why he is a surprisingly alert centenarian and what this means to the newsagent and newspaper who employ him.

Is Stand Up Sexist?

What compels us to want to make people laugh?

It’s one thing saying something funny in the moment, but to deliberately write, rehearse and deliver material with the sole intention of making everyone listening roll in the aisles laughing conjures up a sticky web of fear and insecurities.  At best, failure means stony silence, at worst … no it doesn’t bear thinking about. So who are the most likely people to succeed at standup?

These are some of the questions I asked myself when I took a major leap of faith and volunteered to do a 5 minute stand up routine in front of an audience of professional speakers.

The comedic line up consists of 21 people, 15 men and 6 women.  Now there’s a clue.  Is it gender specific?  We don’t have to think very hard to note that stand up comedy is male dominated.  So why?