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 think because my relative died suddenly & unexpectedly quite young, it’s given me even more anxiety around it.

I don't worry about the fragility of life for myself. Of course I want to live as long as I am able to enjoy life, and see my grandchildren grow up, but if death came suddenly tomorrow, I would not know about it. MM spoke before of wanting a sudden death and in that respect he is quite lucky.

I think the worst part of this is the impact it has on the people left behind. I lay awake last night unable to sleep imagining how MM's poor wife and children must be feeling. In fact, I know how the children are feeling as I lost a parent in a similar sudden manner.

I also couldn't sleep for feeling a bit cross with MM. How can a man make a career out of teaching us how to live well, yet himself do something so dangerous as to result in his own death? I don't mean to bash him, and as a 60 something myself who would have sooner joined him on his walk than sit with his wife on the beach, I find all the suggestions that he was too old to be hiking laughable, but the bottom line is, it was too hot for exercise and he really should have known that. So I suppose what I am saying is, life needn't be as fragile as the circumstances of MM's death suggests. With the greatest of respect to the man, he did take a risk.

We all make bad decisions sometimes.

There was a long-running thread on a crime forum a while back about a young family who'd gone for a hike in the US only to be found dead near the end of their route. People speculated that they must've been poisoned or set upon or lost. But no, it was 'just' heat exhaustion, not enough water taken with them, and a poorly chosen route given they had a dog and a baby with them. They'd done many walks before - but on this day it was over 40 degrees and there would've been little shade on the way back up through the rocks. Our brains can only take so much heat, regardless of how far we think we can walk. One bad decision is all it takes. :(

I don't think my Dad meant to die by falling from a cliff when I was a teenager. But there was always the knowledge that he'd die young and in stupid circumstances.

I have the right to be angry over that, but I simply can't be arsed.

So Dr Moseley, may you be resting peacefully, and may your closest loved ones find some peace. Goodnight.

Most people who live in very hot countries don't go for walks in the midday sun. I don't think holding an umbrella over your head while you walk does much to keep you cool either. A wide rimmed hat would provide shade and at least with a hat your hands are free. He probably would have been fine if he was young but he was 67 and probably had cardiovascular disease.

Any thing can happen to anyone at any time you just have to not focus on it too much and get on otherwise you’ll be alive but you won’t be living.

I've found it very thought provoking too. Had exactly the same thought....he said goodbye to his wife on the beach to walk home and that fateful decision has changed everything for them forever. I've found it extremely sad, too. I've watched/listened to lots of things he's produced over the years and I've always thought what a lovely, clever man he is. I also signed up to his diet plan a month ago and it's been a revelation. RIP Dr Mosley.

I think because it has been a high profile media sorry about someone we "know" it makes it worse.

When I rationalise my shock to this I realise people have accidents on mountains all the time - get lost, slip when running or taking selfies. Some die, some get rescued - we just don't mostly hear about it. Also people die from accidents at home and again we don't get a drip feed about it from the media. Life is risky but anxiety shouldn't stop you live your life to the fullest.

Look mate, you're gonna die. Question is, do you want to live first?
You can't waste your life away worrying about shit like this.

I can understand that. I lost several friends in tragic accidents (unrelated) in my early twenties. And it left me feeling that real desperate sense of not trusting I would live from one day to the next. And news stories of tragedies would compound that feeling.

It took me years of processing to gain a more balanced perspective, where I could recognise the importance of not taking longevity for granted and of always ensuring my loved ones know they are loved, whilst also feeling able to start to plan for the future rather than living a somewhat hedonistic existence

Oh gosh that must be a tough way to lose your dad. I'm sorry

Just to repeat, for the hard of thinking. Had he taken either of the direct routes he'd have made it, despite the heat and whatever he was carrying or not carrying. His judgement was sound in that respect.

Don't be, he was an arse hole.

Thank you though.

I think the point is that he could have used the phone to navigate and/or to have called much earlier for assistance when he realised he was lost and overheating.

The emergency began to develop long before he collapsed.

Agreed.

It's so easy to criticise but we all probably make terrible decisions from time to time and are lucky to get away with them

I was totally fit and healthy. Resting heart rate of 48, could run a 5km in a reasonable but not brilliant time, cholesterol normal. Used to travel for work, walked the dog every day and loved it, in an executive job and the breadwinner in the family.

And then I got Covid and never recovered. I still can't quite believe it happened to me but I'm essentially disabled now. I can't walk the dog because I can barely walk to the end of the road. Most days I'm completely housebound. My life has been turned upside down and no one knows how to treat it. No one.

I tell you what though - I'm delighted I lived life to its full before that happened to me. If nothing else, it should be a lesson to you all to live life more as you don't know what's around the corner!

I find it quite comforting actually, as weird as that sounds. I'm very sorry for his family and understand they and his friends have had an awful few days and I wouldn't wish that on them, or indeed my own family and friends.

But to die on holiday with my partner and friends, with not too much knowledge of what was about to happen? Having achieved professional success and with a long and happy relationship? And having enjoyed pretty good health right up to the end? I think there are much worse ways/stages of life to go and I kind of find it comforting that that kind of death might be on the cards rather than a long drawn out, fearful one.

Get yourself a geolocation oojit and always check in with someone who knows your plans and will raise the alarm if you don't call at the end of the day to say you're home or in your digs.

Can you reframe it, OP, that MMs death might have done some good?

For example, I'm off to Crete in a couple of days. I am notoriously bad at remembering to drink enough water and for wandering off for a stroll without telling anyone. MMs death means that I am ABSOLUTELY going to drink water, take water with me everywhere I go and make sure that I don't go off without someone with me.

It might save MY life, knowing that someone medically trained could make a mistake and die. So there's that.

Yes I think that’s a good way of looking at it

He seemed ok in the first village. He was striding along and had an umbrella and water. He wasn’t an idiot. He had a backpack and seemed to have a purpose.
It looks like he may have taken the wrong turn out of the village and got lost. We also don’t know if he had something unrelated happen like a medical incident not to do with the heat.
If the not feeling well thing is true, maybe it was a sign. And it would have happened anyway.
So I think it’s sensible to prepare for things - don’t go out in extreme heat. Take water. Take a phone and back up battery and have a friend track you etc But that won’t prevent a heart attack

You don't actually know that he would have been alright if he had taken a more direct route in the heat.

I hear this a lot. Men can find a partner if widowed pretty easy but apparently women will be alone. It is probably harder as an older woman, I agree. But why the assumption?