We Can’t Guarantee Our Future

Life is fragile and this week’s shocking helicopter crash which killed the owner of Leicester City FC brings this into horrific reality. Sky News reporter Rob Dorsett was there, and he wrote this summary of events:

Rob Dorsett Sky News

Twice, in the space of two-and-a-half years, I have seen the football world left speechless by events in Leicester. On both occasions, it was my job to find some words.

The first occasion was on Saturday, May 7, 2016 when little Leicester lifted the Premier League trophy. It was tricky to adequately express the unbridled joy felt by so many, without sounding trite – how do you avoid sounding trite, when the ultimate underdog had triumphed so spectacularly? But really – it was a delightful job. An easy job.

A horrific accident

The second occasion was on Saturday, October 27, 2018 when the club’s owner was killed in a helicopter crash. Reporting on that has been a very hard job. Impossible to convey the hurt felt by so many.

And – of course. One man is at the heart of both stories: Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

I was in the King Power press room, still evaluating the post-match interviews after Leicester had escaped a drab game against 10-man West Ham with a draw, when West Ham’s press officer mentioned there was a rumour outside that a helicopter had crashed outside the stadium.

There were no survivors

I called my cameraman – Dan Cox – who simply said: “Rob, I saw it come down”, and my heart sank. I immediately ran round the front of the stadium, and saw the emergency services flocking towards the corner of the North Stand.

As I got there, I could see a huge ball of orange flame, and plumes of thick, grey smoke spiralling into the sky. The helicopter had come down on the outskirts of the staff car park – car park E – less than 100m from where Dan was putting his camera kit away.

The fire service quickly put the flames out, but it was instantly obvious to me that there could be no survivors. My background as a news reporter has taught me to watch the body language of the emergency services: once the fire was out, none of them was rushing towards the crash scene. There was no one to rescue.

Life is Fragile

How fragile life is. There is not guarantee for any of us that we will wake up tomorrow morning. Just look at Glenn Hoddle who was celebrating his 61st birthday at BT Sports and he had a heart attack. In Glenn’s case it looks like he is making a full recovery which is great news.

But he may not have been so lucky, and he could be paralysed or dead. I believe it is important to be aware of this reality and to make the most of each day we have. Very often after life changing situations like Glenn had, people change the priorities in their lives.

Priorities change

They often focus more on their health and their relationships with the people nearest to them. They take time to appreciate the simple things in their lives like the autumn leaves, the sunset or the happy children playing in the park.

By making a conscious effort to appreciate the good things in our lives, we can start to find moments of pure joy. It’s in these moments where there is no stress or pressure just a sense of being in the moment non-judgementally.

Mindfulness

This is called Mindfulness and is something which needs to be practised. We can only do this for a few seconds at a time but if we do this regularly we have many moments of joy and happiness each day.

If you wait for tomorrow to be happy then tomorrow may never come – so do it today and every day. I started practising this about 5 years ago and each day I have lots of moments of joy which makes me happy no matter what is going on in my life.

A good week

This week I had my second telephone coaching session with my new client and it was a great session. I have had some good news with a booking for January and have also confirmed a meeting with someone I have been chasing for quite a while.

Thoughts for the week:

1. Do you feel that you are invincible and will go on forever or do you fear for the future?
2. Do you go through the day working hard and not thinking about the here and now?
3. Do you think you will be happy one day in the future when you have…………..?
4. Try being Mindful today, stop for a moment and appreciate something around you.
5. Work on this everyday and soon you will start to feel joy on a regular basis.

Well that’s it for this week, have a wonderful weekend and stay positive.

Warmest regards

John

Off the Wall – How to Develop World Class Mental Resilience available here
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