Shifting the focus of mental health

Shifting The Focus

Shifting the focus of mental health

So I started shifting the focus, I slowly started coming to terms with the fact that what I had was a mental health illness, rather than a physical one, which I can add that 2 years later, my thought process still questions it. Something I will talk about in another post.

For the first few months after being diagnosed with high functioning anxiety and severe depression, I felt great, a new man. It was the first time I had clarity in my mind, beforehand there was no room for any other thoughts. Completely full of worry and panic. It allowed me to focus on other things.

Plan in hand

Here I was, plan in hand, name sorted, initial business model agreed. Now, how do I launch it? Will it work? Is it a strong enough idea to be able to put out there? These were thoughts buzzing around my head. Well I certainly wasn’t going to let doubt creep in and as I am a pretty impulsive kind of person, I decided to just go for it. No looking back , full on into it.

I mean I’ve just come through the worst time of my life, what could possibly be worse?

In the summer of 2018, I started to fully concentrate on something that I had wanted to do years ago. I couldn’t bring myself to do it back then, as I couldn’t put my full effort and time into it. With the initial clearing of my head it allowed me the vision and capability to focus on this idea I had all them years ago.

Reading into things

As a youngster and into my early 20’s, I was mad on sport, mainly football but a lover of all sports. Also I loved how the human body worked, as a boy I would read books and books on the human body and how it works, illnesses and the like. Could this of been a contributing factor to my struggles?

So here I was an idea in my head, a new found sense of vision, a love for sport and a mindset that has always been to try and help others. I’ve always loved the thought of having my own business, especially a business were I can do so much good and help others. After swaying back and fro and many sleepness nights, Kickstarterz was born.

Helping others

I chose the name Kickstarterz as it resonated with me that not only was the purpose of it going to be Kickstarting young children into a healthy lifestyle, it was about kickstarting my life back into action. Other variations of Kickstarterz is to help Kickstart other people to, by hopefully inspiring them and also helping out communities and other businesses.

I mean my head had cleared for the first time in years, it went into overdrive. I wanted to reach out and help as many people as I could, in some way or another.

New year, new mind

In December 2018, me, my partner and children went to a beautiful log cabin retreat in the middle of nowhere, we spent the whole new year there. I used that time to put Kickstarterz into action by advertising on social media, just to test the waters and see what kind of response I got. I had fully done my homework the previous months by having a look around at other clubs in the area.

Well the response was great, within 3 days I had 8 people that wanted to try out Kickstarterz,  I was shocked that even 1 person was interested let alone 8. The first class was born. Would they like what I was to offer? Is there room for a business like mine? So many thoughts then started to enter my mind, but as I had this new shift in focus I never let it dissuade me.

Building something great

We went ahead with the first class, I was so nervous that this idea I had all those years ago was finally going to start. It was a massive success,  I felt unbelievable. Fast forward to the present and since that day when 8 people came to Kickstarterz we now have seen well over 2000 children use our services. I will talk more about Kickstarterz in another post.

So we finally launched it, successfully. I couldn’t quite believe it, I was doing something I loved, I was happy. Everything was good, then the doubts started slowly creeping back in my head.

Tomorrow’s post will focus on the re emergence of my thoughts and how I was better equipped to deal with them.

Don’t forget to read: Living with mental health

Shifting The Focus

3 thoughts on “Shifting The Focus

  1. Jonny, you have been very brave writing this. Just think how many others you are helping. Those feelings when you were ill were frightening, believe me I know!

    1. Thankyou Debra, it’s taken a long time to realise I had a mental health illness and also coming to terms with it. I do hope it can help others. I’m just happy I now feel confident enough to be able to share my personal problems. I’m guessing you have struggled with your own battles after having read your comment. I hope you are well and managing your personal problems? Thankyou for your comments. Take care.

  2. […] my next blog I will talk about coming to terms with it all. I will be peeling back the layers even more. Read […]

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