Yes, life is hard, but we still have lots of control over living a good life.
Its common these days for people to look at different occupational groups (including building and trades) and say that working in that profession causes poor mental health.
This seems well-meaning on the surface, but it does people a disservice. It can send the message that we will not have good mental health until someone else (it’s usually the government) fixes what’s wrong with our industry.
This reinforces an outdated idea about our mental health, which says that you can’t be happy until someone high above you has made life comfortable and stress free.
While there are most definitely problems and dynamics in all professions that need to be fixed, our mental health belongs to us individually, and no one else. One of the biggest predictors of having good mental health is feeling we have some control over our life. This is called agency. When people make us believe that we don’t have agency, that’s going to be bad for us.
What sort of agency do we have? Here are a few choices that can be made by anyone that will increase or diminish our agency:
- How do we interpret what other people are doing. Do we see them as just trying to do their best with what they know, or deliberately out to get us?
- What sort of mindset do we cultivate, a growth mindset or fixed mindset?
- What kinds of people do we spend time with. Positive and supportive, or negative and destructive?
- How we spend our spare time, doing things that are enjoyable, challenging and good for us, or just scrolling on our devices?
- Are we identifying our unique strengths and using them to help others, or not?
One example of someone who lived in the most appalling situation, is holocaust survivor Edith Eggar. After surviving the death camps, she is still alive today at 97 years young and has been a successful psychologist all her working life. She has the philosophy that no one can take away your ability to think for yourself. And that belief gives you immense freedom to choose.
“What are you going to do about it? I believe in the power of positive thinking—but change and freedom also require positive action. Anything we practice, we become better at.”
― Edith Eger, The Choice
At the end of the day, people who feel mentally strong and mentally healthy are more likely to effectively challenge problems they see in ‘the system’. People labelled as victims are more likely to give up and ask to be rescued.
Changing ‘the industry’ is like turning an oil tanker, doable, but it’s going to take a while and need lots of top-down energy. Having personal agency is like driving a speedboat, although you’re a bit vulnerable, you have lots of options for quick and effective manoeuvre that the oil tanker doesn’t have. And when lots of small boats move together they can lead to powerful results. This is called bottom-up culture change, which is what Live Well Build Well is all about.
If you want to see examples of builders and tradies boldly taking control of their situations and living well and building well subscribe to our YouTube channel and listen to their stories.
