To find what’s happened to Michael Mosley quite anxiety provoking

[Glasto73lover]

It’s that idea of never really knowing what’s going to happen- the idea that we walk such a fine line in life. If you think too much about it, you probably wouldn’t leave the house.!

A close family member died suddenly and tragically a decade ago - literally dropped dead at home age 48 - something went pop in their head. So you genuinely don’t know when your time is up.

It’s that idea of a chain of consequence that can go so horribly wrong too- people always say ‘oh but you could get hit by a bus’ - stuff like this actually makes me really anxious. So many what ifs.

For Michael Moseley - a chain of probably inconsequential decisions may have led to his death- not having a phone on him, choosing to undertake a walk that in the U.K. is nothing but in that heat, was devastating and probably caused his death.

It makes me anxious that I won’t know if I am making those decisions - am I making sense? I think as I have got older, I have become more anxious and risk averse (thanks menopause) and as a result, you could end up not leaving the house. How do you choose a sensible approach? Not too much risk but some!

But I also want to live my life too!! I guess I find incidents like this quite difficult!

I guess always having a phone, not undertaking walks in intense heat in an unfamiliar place etc are the common sense points that will come out of this tragedy.

Aibu to find it anxiety provoking tho?!

I dont get scared about it with death but definitely choices that lead to a miserable life (abusive relationships, bad breaks ups etc).

I've recently had a life changing thing happen to me that in some cases means people can die or be left severely disabled .
Yes , anything can happen at any time , but until that ' thing ' happens please don't worry about it as it will marr you living your best life .

I know exactly what you mean op. I’m in my 60’s and it has hit me really hard even though I only vaguely knew of him.
Unfortunately a friend of mine also died unexpectedly recently and it brings it home how close it might be.
Sorry I have no answers, hope you are okay.

I feel absolutely furious with him. Quite unreasonably as I don't know him. Why did a medical doctor think it was OK to go for a long walk in 40 degree heat at the height of the day with one very small bottle of water and no phone????
He wasn't young either. He was 67.
Sheer stupidity.
Now his wife is on her own for her whole retirement. He won't see his kids marry or have children.
Older single women as I know very well often get abandoned by their married friends after the husband has gone. It takes time but in couple of years she will be lonely.
The utter stupidity of the whole thing made me feel sick and depressed.

Yes I know what you mean too. I have been thinking about him and what happened at the back of my mind all day. I’m not going to read any more about it now unless it’s just a headline on the news as I don’t think it’s healthy to analyse it too much.

I recently had a sudden health scare which was a near miss and a close family member has too and is still seriously ill. I know awful things can happen at any time. It’s very sad what happened to him and maybe even more so as although he was ‘older’ he was fit for his age and a doctor of course. None of us is invincible though.

Yes, I did have that thought too. It’s just all so pointless isn’t it and futile. I think that’s what started my ‘what if’ anxiety

Try reframing your thoughts. Marvel at how many years you've managed without such an incident. Use it as an excuse to life life fully and do the things you really want....and don't tolerate bullshit. My dm is plagued by anxiety and would rather sit at home avoiding things she'd enjoy than take the risk of a bad event happening doing something she'd love.

I’m sorry to sound cold but this incident was a case of you play silly games and you win silly prizes.

Going for a walk in an unknown place in extreme heat without the correct resources or enough water and without a phone!

You're not alone @Gettingbysomehow it was just pure idiocy. I honestly don't know what he was thinking.

Getting hit by a bus, something going pop in your head, going to sleep and not waking up. Yes I can see how the not knowing aspect of it is a bit anxiety inducing.

But everything about MM's escapade is just... stupid.

No it doesn’t fill me with anxiety .. it makes me cross that a highly intelligent man could do something so nonsensical.. he paid a high price and now his poor family have to pick up the pieces 😩

You could die in your house of obesity from never leaving the house.

I am going to continue my solo hikes in various countries including Greece. With my phone and not too remote.

I think his death is a brilliant illustration of the fallacy, that he built his own career on no less, that we can take control of our destiny quite easily.

In reality, it’s a lot more luck than judgement. Some people face far greater challenges in their life than he did. Yet it’s seen to be ok to blame people for over eating while his bad decisions are going to be washed over.

Same as people who get injured skiing get a lot more sympathy than people who get injured drunk. Ultimately, both are just trying to have fun with the hand life has dealt them.

My DH is 64 and honestly he doesn't think that he is even slightly older or more vulnerable. He acts like he is 30, doing "daft" things like really vigorous games of tennis/football in the heat of summer.
They think they are invincible.

Some of these posts are in very poor taste. This is a man who did absolutely everything he could to live a long and healthy life - far more than most of us do. Something obviously went terribly wrong last week, none of us know what really happened.

I hope you've got the perfect diet and exercise regime @Gettingbysomehow , you wouldn't want people publicly criticising your stupidity if you don't live to a ripe old age.

Op, I think you have to separate the bolt out of the blue, entirely chance-led incidents (such as becoming caught up in a terrorist attack) from those you can influence through personal control and by reducing risk. The former is a small number, a grain of sand on a beach.

You can directly affect your chances by taking small, important steps. Like stopping smoking, eating healthily, and not hiking in midday sun over rough terrain with no water and no means of contact. I'm really sorry for his family that this happened, but he was a doctor who made a series of significantly risky decisions that unfortunately led to his death. Unless he suffered another bout of amnesia of course, which I suppose is possible.

What I'm saying is, you will start to find your anxiety improves once you realise that there's actually a huge amount of control you can take to reduce the risks.

To be fair we don't yet know exactly what happened to him. If he had a heart attack, he could have been dead instantly and having a phone would make no difference.

Incidents like this are rare. I don't think it's worth worrying about something similar happening to you or anyone close to you. You can take sensible precautions, like not exercising hard when you know it's too hot for you, but it's not worth spending time worrying about hypothetical situations because situations like this are both rare and random.

Yes I thought much the same. In a way I think his medical knowledge and his writing/ presenting sort of led him to over estimate his invincibility.
That said we all do stupid things from time to time and get away with it or not.

I'm kind of with you on this one. Mad dogs and Englishmen 😢

@Whatafustercluck

What I'm saying is, you will start to find your anxiety improves once you realise that there's actually a huge amount of control you can take to reduce the risks.

This is the key to it all really. Yes, of course, freak events happen that are difficult if not impossible to avoid. But for most of the time, we have it in our own power to mitigate risks by using common sense, and not being blase/arrogant and doing insane things where the consequences are entirely foreseeable and to a large extent, avoidable. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!

I absolutely agree. Far more likely that he was feeling a bit ‘off’ and decided to go back to the villa without disturbing his friends and wife by saying much. Probably just thought he’d be better off out of the sun. Along the way he likely had some medical event and the rest is very sad history.

RIP MM, I loved Just one thing and will certainly keep some of them up for a better life.

I feel the exact same op

Am the vast majority or people don’t have accidents and don’t die suddenly when young. That is not to say these things happen, and they are tragic when they do. But the chances of it happening to any of us is very small indeed.

Well, to be fair, he was walking at lunchtime, the hottest part of the day, in almost 40 degree temps, with "a" bottle of water and no way of contacting anyone. He got lost, confused by dehydration and collapsed it appears.

I'd say that whilst unintentional, it was misjudged and quite risky and he sadly paid with his life.

As a solitary walker this has, indeed, given me food for thought.

I've had numerous "getting- lost-and-ending-up- scrabbling- up-a-tiny-goat-path-on-the-side-of-a-cliff" moments. Nobody's going to find you if you're in the undergrowth way off the path.
You do hear about lost walkers, quite regularly. I did a 14 mile walk on Exmoor last weekend (which also involved getting spectacularly lost, ending up with barbed wire cuts and a dozen ticks 😳), which included a massive cliff on the coast path- a nearly sheer drop of 200m. When I got back to the campsite, the farmer took a great deal of relish in telling me about the lone female walker who disappeared there recently. "They had all the helicopters out, but it took them three days to find her body at the foot of the cliff" 😪.

But what can you do, other than take reasonable precautions? Walking gives me such joy, and statistically the chances are that it will lengthen your life rather than the opposite.

I don't really like the holier than thou posters sneering about how stupid MM was. We all make mistakes, and my guess is that he never meant to walk that far. Got lost after Pedi perhaps, dehydration kicked in, he started to get confused...?