Level 100 window cleaning

[Damo]

Was trad 2001 - 2006. Fell of a roof 23/12/2006 smashed back and fractured it.

Got a job in call centre and just did a bit of part time trad. 2010 dad went to wfp. So I looked at wfp and thought. Yep. For me.

 

[Dave B]

Aah now i get what Lee is talking about on the utube vids when he says about your back

Still have problems with it then??

I slipped a disc 15 years ago but it can still give me grief in the cold

 

[Damo]

Urmmmm touch wood. No! If I over do work then it aches. Just like anyone else's. I guess.

 

[Dave B]

I had a fall years ago and fractured my tailbone cocyx i think it is spelt

Couldn't work for a couple of weeks and was around 28 days of pain

 

[Damo]

Had 4 weeks in hospital laying in a type of death pain contraption. Eventually the doctors agreed i could get out of bed and start to walk again. Took me until april to do it. Turns out i had fractured my back in 4 - 6 places with no long term damage. Had physio/special bed/ night brace for months.

I left the hospital 4 weeks having no fags, i got my mum to drive me to the shop to buy some. That was the lowest point of my life tbh, i was in massive debt, hated window cleaning after the fall, and the round was worth about £2000 in them days to sell. I hit the gutter in 2010. After all expenses my daily budget was around 5/6 £ a day to live on.

from 2010 - 2013 i literally had no life. I left AG with stage 2 anxiety/depression/sleep disorder and basically couldn't see the light. Then one day i decided to give up the fags, bit of drink i had, stop spending money on anything non work related and went for it.

I worked most days from 6am - 2 am. Cleaning, canvassing, leaflet dropping everything. Any way i could improve the business, earn more, work less, etc etc.

The van i built was a present to myself.

All i will say is, without window cleaning i wouldn't be here today to type this.

 

[TolishAPurd]

Had 4 weeks in hospital laying in a type of death pain contraption. Eventually the doctors agreed i could get out of bed and start to walk again. Took me until april to do it. Turns out i had fractured my back in 4 - 6 places with no long term damage. Had physio/special bed/ night brace for months.
I left the hospital 4 weeks having no fags, i got my mum to drive me to the shop to buy some. That was the lowest point of my life tbh, i was in massive debt, hated window cleaning after the fall, and the round was worth about £2000 in them days to sell. I hit the gutter in 2010. After all expenses my daily budget was around 5/6 £ a day to live on.

from 2010 - 2013 i literally had no life. I left AG with stage 2 anxiety/depression/sleep disorder and basically couldn't see the light. Then one day i decided to give up the fags, bit of drink i had, stop spending money on anything non work related and went for it.

I worked most days from 6am - 2 am. Cleaning, canvassing, leaflet dropping everything. Any way i could improve the business, earn more, work less, etc etc.

The van i built was a present to myself.

All i will say is, without window cleaning i wouldn't be here today to type this.

Bloody hell mate, you went through the wars. Often when we have bad times it makes us focus one one thing, I'm glad your focus went to something positive as it could have so easily been the bottle or drugs that got you as it does other people.

 

[Damo]

That's not even the tip of the iceberg mate. Tbh i shouldn't really be here, its a simple as that.

I came off depression tablets in 2011/2012 i think it was. Its taken me until now to deal with anxiety, insomnia the lot. I do get extremely angry when people in real life who i meet say something like " i could get a new van next week if i wanted to" Could you? Good for you! I worked my fingers to the bone trying to be the best i can. Yes like you say its just window cleaning tolish BUT there are so many "types" of window cleaners. There is no best one but i decided i didnt want to be part time, eeking by. I did that in the early years. A frirday when i was trad was based around £25. That paid for 20 fags, a takeaway, can of redbull and as much cans of fosters i could afford.

I am the happiest i have ever been in my life, when i look back to the low points it amazes me. I guess maybe this is why i try and help anyone and everyone. HmmmmmmmMaybe i aint obsessed with window cleaning lol Nah i could be lol.

There is loads more to it, a good friend of mine owed a similar amount of debt and the same reasons so we talk daily. My debt is next to nothing now. Any debt i have is good debt as i call it. Spend on a credit card, gets paid of same month.

It's really weird as my all time fav film is shawshank redemption. If i ever had a bad day/week/month i just picked one of these to get me through.

Get busy living, or get busy dying.

 


Crawled through a river of s*** and came out clean on the other side.

 


Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.




Anyway enough of the doom and gloom. You guys will start charging me therapy session money /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Jacob]

I think quite a lot have found windowcleaning after some turns in their life, because i have never heard of one leaving school saying: i'm going to be a wc.

I became selfemployed after getting depressed and fired, now 9 months in, the money is rolling in and i closing in on my target of 200 custys (got 140) this is the best dessision of my life /emoticons/smile.png

Must be level 20 good list btw :thumbsup:

 

[TolishAPurd]

That's not even the tip of the iceberg mate. Tbh i shouldn't really be here, its a simple as that.
I came off depression tablets in 2011/2012 i think it was. Its taken me until now to deal with anxiety, insomnia the lot. I do get extremely angry when people in real life who i meet say something like " i could get a new van next week if i wanted to" Could you? Good for you! I worked my fingers to the bone trying to be the best i can. Yes like you say its just window cleaning tolish BUT there are so many "types" of window cleaners. There is no best one but i decided i didnt want to be part time, eeking by. I did that in the early years. A frirday when i was trad was based around £25. That paid for 20 fags, a takeaway, can of redbull and as much cans of fosters i could afford.

I am the happiest i have ever been in my life, when i look back to the low points it amazes me. I guess maybe this is why i try and help anyone and everyone. HmmmmmmmMaybe i aint obsessed with window cleaning lol Nah i could be lol.

There is loads more to it, a good friend of mine owed a similar amount of debt and the same reasons so we talk daily. My debt is next to nothing now. Any debt i have is good debt as i call it. Spend on a credit card, gets paid of same month.

It's really weird as my all time fav film is shawshank redemption. If i ever had a bad day/week/month i just picked one of these to get me through.

Get busy living, or get busy dying.

 


Crawled through a river of s*** and came out clean on the other side.

 


Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.




Anyway enough of the doom and gloom. You guys will start charging me therapy session money /emoticons/biggrin.png

Damo, I just noticed you are in Bedfordshire. You didnt used to cover Cambridge did you? I picked up a new customer a few months back that said she lost her last windy due to the same circumstances as yours.

I must have seen Shawshank about 100 times, probably one of my favourites too.

 

[Damo]

Some parts of Cambridgeshire but not many mate.

View attachment 5877

 

[Jake]

@Damo full respect for your resolve and positive attitude, that is a very powerful testimony,

I'm interested to know how you personally beat anxiety and depression, was it just a decision of the will? Did you just say enough is enough?

And dis the synptoms not still arise daily?

 

[Dave B]

Good to see you have come through the other side Damo

You must be a resilient bugger

 

[Damo]

Anxiety was caused by working in a call center. As i worked 4pm to 1am (call center) then 10am to 3pm (cleaning) Becuase i worked horrible hours in a call center i could have maybe 10 seconds between calls or 30 mins between calls. You had to wait for a beep. That customer could be the nicest person in the world or just horrible. So i used to dread that beep. I used to have nightmares and night sweats because of the beep. I would be in shops and hear beeps and panic. I was eventually confirmed to actually suffer with anxiety and panic attacks. So they put me on happy pills. These pills helped to an extent but they turned me into a living zombie for a few years. I will just stare at the tv and dribble some times. I swear they were more of a sedative. They made my mood more even. Not happy, not sad, just meh! As i left autoglass this slowly got fixed. I then had another massive fear. Talking to people in real life, i had done 3/4 years daily over the phone so now that was a new challenge. I explained to customers i wont be able to look them in the face, i wont talk very much to start off BUT i will be the best cleaner you have had. I explained i suffer with anxiety and depression.

Depression was fixed by taking one day at a time. If someone actually said "it's all your mind, i would seriously deck them" Depression is a disease, its horrible. It hurts, it keep you up at night, it plays with your mind. It ruins everything. I lost count how many times i said right today is the day i will make a change. I had been cleaning a few years and i was climbing out of depression. Then one day i had a bad day, i sat in the van and made a list. Basically do i fight or give up. No matter what i did the list came ONE point more positive. It was another low point but i kept the list and pinned it to my wall. Every day i got up and read it. Each month i wanted to cross off a negative. So that's what i did. Work started to snowball. A supplier said i have a beautiful mind ( i know, weird eh) you look at window cleaning in a different light. So that was the turning point. Why be depressed, why be a sheep to the trade, why do everything the same as everyone. So each day started to get easier.

Do the symptoms still arise. Oh good question. Few weeks back we had a gearbox go on transit. That would normally cause no end of stress, worry, maybe tears or just anger.

Now i see every problem as a challenge. Right the gearbox is gone. HOW do we we fix the problem (not even my van dads).

A scary point was maybe a year or so ago. I turned out to be very bitter, very angry inside and just not a nice person. All i kept asking was why me, why am i depressed, why pick me. Why not a drug dealer, why not a thief. Why do i get stuck with this.

Because i have gone from the gutter to where i am now its hard not to be super happy and preach to everyone. I was guilty of this, even on here. It was basically i am right you are wrong. I have now managed to change that. I know the difference between fact and opinion.

Will i get depressed again? i hope not lol

And breath /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[steve garwood]

Admire anyone who can speak openly about depression and anxiety like you have damo

 

[Jake]

Very good to hear @Damo ,

Well done for pulling through

 

[Damo]

Anxiety in my opinion is worse. You can still watch a film, go out for a meal or a little drink if you are depressed. Try watching a film in a cinema with sweat pouring off your head, under your arms. The screen spins. You get up, knock over popcorn, drinks and sweets. You get stuff thrown at you and boo'd. Anxiety was more important to fix than depression. I could work depressed etc. I couldn't clean a 40ft window shaking with pain in my arms. Anxiety is bitter sweet. It must be like a drug. When you feel that anxiety release you feel it run through your veins. But the build up, my god horrible.

 

[Damo]

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE LOL

 

[Jake]

Anxiety in my opinion is worse. You can still watch a film, go out for a meal or a little drink if you are depressed. Try watching a film in a cinema with sweat pouring off your head, under your arms. The screen spins. You get up, knock over popcorn, drinks and sweets. You get stuff thrown at you and boo'd. Anxiety was more important to fix than depression. I could work depressed etc. I couldn't clean a 40ft window shaking with pain in my arms. Anxiety is bitter sweet. It must be like a drug. When you feel that anxiety release you feel it run through your veins. But the build up, my god horrible.

I can relate to that. It's a demon, literally!

 

[steve garwood]

Anxiety in my opinion is worse. You can still watch a film, go out for a meal or a little drink if you are depressed. Try watching a film in a cinema with sweat pouring off your head, under your arms. The screen spins. You get up, knock over popcorn, drinks and sweets. You get stuff thrown at you and boo'd. Anxiety was more important to fix than depression. I could work depressed etc. I couldn't clean a 40ft window shaking with pain in my arms. Anxiety is bitter sweet. It must be like a drug. When you feel that anxiety release you feel it run through your veins. But the build up, my god horrible.

Its quite ironic really that an anxiety attack did me a favour a couple of years back. My missus rushed me up the hospital and it was there that I was diagnosed with super high blood pressure (238/110). Thankfully I'm on good pills that brings it down. I still go the occasional anger management with my sister, something neither of us can seem to resolve

 

[Damo]

I know a few will cringe when reading this, i know a few will think that should be kept to yourself but i don't care tbh. My confidence is where i was when i was 16-20.

I have lost a few window cleaning friends along the way.

Everyone likes to see you do well UNTIL you do better than them.

I was literally laughed at on my last day of work by a few friends. Every now and then i drive past work as they Q up in traffic between 8.30 and 9am its amazing how many ex workers see my van and look the other way.

Once i have mastered the Eminem finger they will get that. I kid, i kid.

 

[TolishAPurd]

I know a few will cringe when reading this, i know a few will think that should be kept to yourself but i don't care tbh. My confidence is where i was when i was 16-20.
I have lost a few window cleaning friends along the way.

Everyone likes to see you do well UNTIL you do better than them.

I was literally laughed at on my last day of work by a few friends. Every now and then i drive past work as they Q up in traffic between 8.30 and 9am its amazing how many ex workers see my van and look the other way.

Once i have mastered the Eminem finger they will get that. I kid, i kid.

Call centres must be just about one of the worst most demoralizing jobs I can think of. I'm sure its fine if your hearts in it and you want to work up to supervisory roles and the like, but the thought of turning in every day and being a punchbag for the public seems like a nightmare. I used to work a lot of customer service jobs growing up and the **** you would get off people even when you've been nothing but polite and helpful. Its probably why I am so intolerant to moaning customers now. It feels amazing to just fk a customer off when they get awkward, maybe I enjoy it a bit much now./emoticons/biggrin.png

Never compare yourself to other people or their achievements mate. You'll have your days when life doing good, but one wrong turn can easily bring you back down again. And likewise this applies to them. Sometimes you're the pidgeon, sometimes you're the statue. Never judge peoples success on what they own either as lots of people surround themselves with nice gear, but its all borrowed. 'Big hat, no cattle' as they say. Just do your own thing, celebrate your own successes, and eliminate those people from your day to day thoughts. It may be good initially to stir up a bit of passion and give you focus, but eventually it can eat away at you, because what happens when they turn a chapter in their lives and end up overtaking you?- it puts you down again and you end up being that guy you mentioned that doesn't like people doing better than you.

Well done for pulling through it mate, just try and forget about it and don't let it become a part of your future or identity.