WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

“Never follow an unscarred General into battle”

Wise words indeed

“Mornin’, one sugar or two?”

I opened my heavy eyelids to this bright, friendly request only to be blinded
by the lights running the length of the ward. I felt so warm and
comfortable. The sedatives had clearly done their job. I just wanted to sleep.

“One sugar or two mate?” The persistent request returned.

“None thanks” I said turning over and pulling the duvet close.

“C’mon mate, they’ll be bringing the washing things soon.”

So this was how the day started in hospital.

“No sugar thanks” I said making a huge effort to come to and sit up.

And, as I lay there, in this brightly lit ward, warming my hands on the cup,
surrounded by windows showcasing the dark, cold morning outside, I started
thinking.

“What am I doing in here?”

As a younger man I had been a Senior NCO in the British Army and just 10 years before,
in the years of proper, impartial, effective, “without fear or favour” policing (although things were already beginning to deteriorate by the late 1980s which is why I chose, with great sadness, to leave after only 12 years’ service) I had been a highly successful front line Metropolitan (London) Police Officer.

I’d had, for me, the ultimate job! I was an Advanced Driver
driving high-powered marked and unmarked police cars in an anti-crime and
pursuit role. I had driven over 8,000 miles “on the blues and twos” (blue light
and siren) and successfully completed 16 high speed pursuits resulting in
arrests, all without a collision.

To achieve all this – safely – required a very high level of skill, strength and
resourcefulness; both physical and mental.

And yet, here I was, in a hospital ward having had a complete emotional
breakdown.

The reasons were many and in time, should we work together, I may well
touch on them. Not only to highlight the insidious dangers that can threaten
us all, but also to show how these dangers may be avoided by simply being
aware of them and then taking the necessary action.

Since then I have rebuilt my life from that hospital bed, surrounded by a cold,
dark world outside, to the man I am today. I have rebuilt it using the skills,
tools and techniques that I now teach. So I know they work!

My passion now is to help people avoid the pitfalls and mistakes that I have
made and empower them to design and build the happy, values-based life
they truly want.

On a wider note, the ripple effect of my work also helps healing in our
troubled world.