Unlocking Happiness: A Journey of Recovery and Transformation

Exploring Mental Health, Trauma, and Self-Belief for Personal Growth and Happiness

09/07/2023 Video Podcast, Podcast interview with Rob Hosking

The following are excerpts from my 09-07/2023 Video Podcast, Podcast interview with Rob Hosking, where we delve into the inspiring story of Rob, a former frontline police officer who underwent a profound transformation after his traumatic experiences. Rob’s journey led him to become a motivational speaker, specializing in happiness and mental health. Through sharing his own struggles with depression and mental health, Rob aims to empower individuals to overcome challenges and discover their true potential for happiness and resilience.

Rob’s two main areas of expertise are happiness and mental health. He is a motivational TEDx Speaker on happiness, mental health, and workplace well-being.

1. Awakening from Traumatic Exposures: Rob’s path to enlightenment began during his last shift as a police officer, where he witnessed a suicide and tragically lost a colleague. These experiences forced him to confront his own mental health and happiness. This awakening became the catalyst for his personal growth and transformation.
2. Sharing Personal Experiences and Insights: As a motivational TEDx Speaker, Rob uses his platform to share his journey and insights into mental health, trauma, resilience, and self-belief. Through his vulnerable storytelling, he aims to break down barriers and inspire others to navigate life’s challenges with strength and positivity.
3. Empowering Others to Find Happiness: Rob’s mission as a trained mental health first aider is to help individuals discover what truly makes them happy and transform their lives. By encouraging self-reflection and providing tools for personal growth, he empowers others to embrace a happier, more resilient version of themselves.
4. Unlocking Potential for Growth and Healing: Through his transformative speeches, Rob invites his audience to embark on a journey of self-discovery. By addressing topics such as mental health, happiness, and trauma, he aims to help individuals rewrite their inner narrative and unlock their potential for growth, healing, and purpose.

Rob’s inspiring story serves as a beacon of hope for those facing mental health struggles and traumatic experiences. Through his motivational speaking, he encourages individuals to embrace happiness, resilience, and self-belief. By breaking down barriers and empowering others, Rob helps create a life filled with purpose and fulfillment.

The following is an excerpt from the interview between Ron Parks, MD, and Rob Hosking:  

Rob: Yeah. And I, you know, whatever it may be you may do, you could be running a business, you could be in a high-stress job, whatever it is, your happiness is intertwined no matter what you do in your life. So, you need to make sure that you don’t put your happiness off. You know, you could say, oh, I’m stressed, I’ve got a stressful job.

Or young kids, whatever it may be, and you’d be like, I’ll need to focus on everybody else for the next couple of years. Unfortunately, that’s not, that’s not going to work. So, what I promote in my talks is to do something for yourself each day. If you’re a business owner and it’s a new business, you’ll have to put a lot of your time and effort into that new business, building it up, but also make sure that you do something you love each day.

And that could be something simple like going out for a coffee or a lovely walk-in nature, whatever it may be. At the end of each day, just write down one thing you’ve done for yourself. Write down something that you’ve done for your happiness that day. And if you can do that, then suddenly, you know, you’re, you’re still focusing on you amidst all the chaos, depending on what it is in your life.

Yes, there will be chaotic moments in our lives, but. There, you know, 10 minutes of meditation, a yoga session, going out for a walk, whatever it may be. It can be as little or as long as you want as long as you do something for yourself. I think that’s the main thing. Each day, whatever you’re in, you can do something for yourself.

Ron: That’s terrific advice. But it is also like in journaling; you can put in some things for which you feel gratitude.

Rob: Yes. Yes.

Ron: And also, some things may be about where you’re helping others, where the focus is more about that, or at least that, you know, there’s a balance in there.

 I say anything that brings awareness or mindfulness, or insight into what you’re doing.

Rob: Yeah

Definitely. Yeah, definitely. And that’s the thing, like I’ve, you know, I’ve, I’ve gone through it. I advise people on what they can do to have their lives because I’ve been through an unhappy life, and I’ll tell you the story about how I got that. So, in the police, I was in for five years; I would describe myself as a functioning depressive. That’s the best way to describe why I lived my life: sleeping on my days off, not really having much of a life, and then suddenly working cold. I’d get dressed, get ready, and go to work. You know, work consumed me, and when I was outside of work, I didn’t live much of a life, especially for periods within those five years.

You know, my mental health suffered dramatically because I was in an unhappy life. I was living an unhappy life, starting with my career, and so many different aspects of my life made me unhappy. And as I said, it affected my mental health severely. And at the end of my police career, my last ever shift changed my life forever.

I witnessed a young male take his own life in the morning, and I was there for him as he took his last breaths in this world, and I was unable to help him. I, you know, was watching the blood spreading out of his life as he was losing his life, and I could not do anything. I couldn’t get to him because of the distance away.

There was a lot of it; he purposely crashed his on this big banking, and I couldn’t help him. But all I could do was watch. And it’s a very traumatic event to have, to witness. However, five years, sorry, five years, five hours later on the same shift, my colleague had a heart attack on shift and died, and my colleague had 29 years of service, one year left until retirement.

And this idea is what society would tell me: Don’t worry, you have a good pension, please. You’ll get a really great pension. All of a sudden, these ideas of what happiness and success were to other people came to my head, and I thought, tomorrows not promised. Why am I living a life today for a tomorrow that’s not promised? And it changed. It changed my life. It changed my perception of life. It changed my outlook on my own life. It was the biggest transformational experience to date that I’ve had in my 31 years on this planet. It was so transformational that it had to happen for me to open my eyes to what happiness was to me because I’ve just witnessed how, in two incidents, on the same shift, on the same day, how tragic and how short life can be.

Especially with my colleagues, like it was so close to home. You know, watching a colleague there having a hard time and dying. It’s so close to home that you think, wow, it changes. It can’t not change you. For me, it just changed my perspective, and after that, I decided to do things that made me happy.

Ron: It’s almost like you had it pushed you to, and, and a different level of enlightenment or, or just a more profound perspective about things.

Rob: Yep, definitely.

Ron: There is an effort in the mental health area now to sort of create experiences like in workshops, intensive things where people get a chance to break out of a sort of this miserable, durable mindset, well, we could talk for hours, especially start comparing the different experiences and things. But the important thing is that it’s a forward trajectory, and I, I think you realize there are a lot of things where there’s gratitude and being in a place where you felt you were providing service, but realizing there are many ways to be of service to yourself and others.

Rob: Yeah, definitely. And I would say that. For me, if you’re not thriving, how can anything you give thrive in your life? You can’t. You know, each aspect of your life can’t thrive if you’re not thriving internally, and that has to do with your mental health and your well-being. So, you must ensure that you are 100%, your well-being is up there, and all the rest of it will take care of itself.

Ron:

It was just wonderful talking to you, and I’m sure it’ll be a wake-up call and inspiration for those who tune in. Thank you.

The full video podcast and transcript of the complete interview are at: https://www.inmindwise.com/p/post-trauma-suffering-to-happiness

For full articles, transcripts, video podcasts, podcasts, references, and archives of prior works by Dr. Parks, go to www.inmindwise.com