Award-winning garden creator, David Shortall shares his thoughts and feelings on how a sector renowned for its therapeutic benefits can take a harsh toll on those on the inside, and how you can mind yourself and those around you
“The customer is always right.” What utter rubbish! The customer has engaged a professional, someone who is trained and experienced to advise, sell or guide them to a successful outcome so why would they even want to be right? They expect you to be right, to dispense the right advice, and the customer is generally impressed or even gets a kick by being proven wrong. Yet I think the customer holds all the power in the horticulture industry in a lot of cases. Our profession is not valued. In previous issues of Horticulture Connected, this was proven in terms of salary and expectation in the National Wage Survey. Reading these had a long-lasting and depressing effect on me. The realisation of how little we were valued or worth compared to other professions was more crushing than any the lack of decent wage.
Is this one factor which should be considered to contribute to a deterioration of an individual’s mental health? I do believe it is.
We all left college or started in this industry full of youthful enthusiasm, convinced we were going to change the world, dispense our wisdom and make a lot of money. We believed in crowning the customer, under-promising and then over-delivering. It was great! Everything was a challenge and there was a buzz in being under pressure. Having no money and making things stretch was satisfying, frugality and innovation were something to boast about. We went to bed exhausted and satisfied. An awkward customer was a challenge to be conquered and won over. We celebrated with alcohol and fine food. The banks and the government told us we were great. If we had a pulse or were under 60 we were part of the booming economy rather than just a citizen.
The recession hit, family illness struck, relationships broke down, we were manipulated or swindled, the people we trusted let us down, they didn’t answer our calls, and they ignored our bills and statements. They overpromised and under-delivered. Suddenly it’s hard. It’s not as much fun anymore. It’s hard to concentrate on day to day business or the future. We console with alcohol and junk food. It’s hard to sleep these nights; alcohol helps, or a smoke or something prescribed, but then the morning is a real drag. The banks phone us and we don’t answer them, or private numbers anymore. We can’t talk about it to the family. Yet the whole industry is talking about it in a superficial way but nobody knows just how bad it is for me so I put on a brave face or a mask. From the outside, everybody thinks I’m great and an industry heavyweight.
“Men are not good at talking about problems. It’s very difficult or seen as a weakness, to tell your wife or partner that you are experiencing financial difficulties, feeling down or just that work isn’t enjoyable anymore”
I think I’ve seen it all in the last 20 years, and I’ve experienced quite a lot of it. I’m not sure I’ve ever been clinically depressed or suffered from poor mental health for any prolonged period but I think that most of us will admit that we have been near the edge. I am no professional and do ponder whether a chemical reaction that triggers an episode of depression or does an event or series triggers a chemical shift. Chicken or egg.
I’ve been teaching horticulture for 20 years and interacted with colleagues who have suffered from poor mental health. I can only speak from personal experience. One past student benefitted hugely from physical and practical work. The endorphins flowing the physical exercise, the repetitive action, the time to think while doing something satisfying and positive with a tangible outcome (such as weeding a large bed or tidying up an area) made him content and physically tired enough to sleep.
Is there a lesson for those of us who are bosses, or those of us who are loaded down with paperwork and dealing with customers? I always feel better when I get out on site and join in on the practical work.
A garden at Bloom this year by designer Padraic Woods hit the nail on the head, on describing mental health for those who actually suffer depressed states and those who do not actually claim to be suffering. The garden had a giant seesaw, which described the up and down moods of a family member, caused by bipolar disorder. Cleverly, it depicted the severe ups and downs that someone had suffered, being extremely elated at times and deeply depressed at other times. But it also showed that everyone is prone to times of elation and deflation, particularly people in the business.
So what can we do to mind our mental health when we struggle to take off the physical aches and pains? Aches and pains that often shorten our working lives when not addressed? Men, in particular, are not good at talking about problems. It’s very difficult, or seen as a weakness, to tell your wife or partner that you are experiencing financial difficulties, feeling down or just that work isn’t enjoyable anymore.
I am lucky as my wife can’t hold anything in, she regularly wants to talk about finances, life trials, troubles etc, which makes it impossible for me to bottle things up. It’s true, talking makes you feel better. Outing a problem releases stress. That’s talking, listening and sharing, not arguing!
When I’m really busy and I have too much to do I tend to shut down. I tend to not answer my phone, and I say to myself I’ll call them back when I have worked out an answer. When I get home I look at the laptop and think I couldn’t be bothered working. The mountain of work seems too much so I put it all off. I consider turning off my phone and having a beer to relax. Then I go to bed and can’t sleep. The solution is obvious. Write a list of actions and do them one at a time. The philosophy of a tidy mind is to put what’s on your mind onto paper and it’s out of your head. Your mood is lifted too and you feel motivated by it.
Mobile phones have ruined us all and the internet on your phone was the worst development in history. It serves to have us accessible constantly and is antisocial to those around us.
We take photos of us enjoying an event and post them, while those around us are all doing the same. We all look down at our phones and don’t interact. There is now evidence linking phone use to childhood depression. We are so accessible that customers are irate if you don’t answer or call them back instantly. This has to add to stress and in turn depression. Failing eyesight is the best solution for this. If you can’t see the screen you can’t see who is calling so you answer it anyway, therefore you deal with irate customers straight away and it doesn’t hang over you. You also can’t see Facebook timelines until you’ve made time to sit down and put on your reading specs.
Family support is really important to me. Even when work is really getting me down I know they will take my side, listen to me and tell me the customer is not always right. A friend once told me that he watched an argument unfold between a builder on site and the client whose house he was building. The customer said, ‘Don’t you understand this is my dream house, you don’t seem to care?” The builder who obviously had been around the block a few times said, “Well Mam, it may be your dream but it’s just a job to me.” He obviously realised that the client was not paying dream house money and that her stress was not worth him being stressed. Was he right or rude? I don’t know. I wasn’t there.
Being involved in associations, going to seminars or workshops or any continuous professional development courses can be of huge benefit to your business but it can also give you a lift, revitalise and motivate you. Talking to others at these events is sometimes more valuable than the itinerary. In the past I have talked to others I thought had it all worked out, only to realise that they had the same customer stories, the same frustrations and their calm and collected appearance was the mask of experience. Making connections through groups or associations can also lead to help and collaboration or advice on the end of a phone or even swapping or sharing of resources.
Do you get a buzz from pressure? Do you thrive on being busy? Are you motivated for the sake of getting the job done? Are you organised enough to under-promise and over-deliver for clients? Are you making enough money? Should you be the boss? Maybe you should consider the Eastern tradition of rotating the boss position among all staff. Or maybe just talk? ✽
 David Shortall is an award-winning designer, garden builder, lecturer and former Chairman of the Garden & Landscape Designers Association (GLDA). Mobile: 086 603 7893. Email: design@landscapediscovery.ie |
