YouSaid · the spoken record

Dr Alex George

lines on the record: 145
first: 2021-07-19
most recent: 2021-07-19
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I would look back and I was depressed at low energy. My mood was poor, my sleep was disturbed, lack of interest in my hobbies and stuff. There's plenty of kind of tick boxes for being in that category. I said I'd had mild depression at the time, mild to moderate depression.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“For having a diet or whatever that people kind of see it as the role of exercise, all these different things. I'm like, but these things actually do matter because these things are not only keep you physically healthy, keep you mentally healthy as well. And that's where the book well came from. I wrote that book because I felt those are the things that no one taught me in school. And even at med school, you know, we focus on anatomy, physiology and pathology, looking at diseases and treatments, but we didn't do enough, in my opinion, about these fundamental things around sexual health, physical health, in terms of sleep, exercise, passion and purpose. A big reason we go to school surely is to find what our purpose and what we want to do in life. No one kind of gives you any tools, I don't think, to figure out what that is. I was lucky to find my kind of sense of purpose. I was kind of stumbled upon it, you know, based on some of my interests. And I was kind of lucky. And I really felt that those kind of bits, you know,”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Type A, you know, happy, forceful person to kind of go out and really make the most of each day. And I think I've learned so much from that. And I've learned from that throughout my time post university, but also I've learned about that in terms of what I think people kind of don't understand about health. And, you know, when I was working at Lewisham Hospital, I still work there now in A&E, so many people that I see, so many patients come in, and I realized that they've not been given the tools through education and school about understanding how to actually look after themselves. You know, we taught so much at school about maths and English and history and whatever, but no one tells you about why sleep is actually so important to your productivity, yourself worth, your happiness, that sleep is not actually a state of just being sedated, you're actually in a creative space. The idea that nutrition can actually help you feel better, not just like...”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“that you know that are good for you. You know, she's like, you've stopped doing all the anchors in your life that keep you feeling good. It's pretty wise for it, you're not a doctor. She works in the bank, but very wise woman, clearly. I'd like to think so. And she said, look, start doing those things again. So I thought you're right. You know, she'd make sense. I'll go for a walk every day so I get natural light and the benefits of being outside nature. Let's start exercising again. So I create an exercise routine. I was like meeting crabby and rubbish food. Let's start cooking again. I make my own food rather than just getting ready meals. And I was like, I'm not really connecting with people. So let's plan stuff to start making plans with my friends. And I also had an idea. I was like, well, actually, you know, to help me feel less isolated, let's call a different friend every day. Some people haven't spoke to you for years and just chat to them. And all these little things, all these micro changes added up within literally weeks to transforming how I felt. I got my Zaster Leviv back. I had my energy back. I was like, I'm back to that kind of.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Eating bad. I just lost myself in Taiwan. I became quite unhappy, and I kept really quiet about it. I didn't tell anyone because this is terrible. I was going to be a doctor. I need to be really, really strong. How can you be a caring professional if you can't take care of yourself? So I left it a long time, probably like six, seven months of feeling pretty damn miserable to the point where eventually I was like, I need to do something, but I was like, I can't speak to med school because they might think this guy we got off to hold him back or something. He can't be a doctor. That's not true and actually look back and think that was, you know, sadly that's a big part of the stigma and mental health, but that isn't true. But at the time, I felt that way. So I called who a lot of people relate to this. What do you do in a situation of trouble? Call my mum. And I said, you know, it's big outpouring of emotion. I was like, this is, you know, this was happening. I feel dreadful. And she said, well, look, there's a few things we're going to do. We're going to talk every single day and start speaking about the thoughts and the things you're having because I've beaten myself up a lot and about insensitive and weak and all this stuff. I was like, let's talk about this stuff. And secondly, let's start getting you doing the thing.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I think I don't think anyone in life lives an entire life of having just being happy all the time. Everything's great and having a period of being flat or sad or losing yourself. And I think my time for that up to date, I think was probably at university. I was at my fourth year, everything going great, studies going great. I was on for doing really well. And I actually was based, so I went to university in Peninsula, which is extra in Plymouth. But we do placements all the way around, that kind of peninsula. Yeah, yeah. And I loved my time there. But I got sent down to Truro to Hospital there. And I love the hospital of people. Everyone was fantastic. But I was kind of away from friends. I was in a place that I just felt quite isolated. And I actually suspect I'm probably just putting it on that as a place of reason. But for whatever reason, I just become quite flat and I lost interest in my exercise, stopped exercising my studies even, not my, I wasn't really working as much as I should have been.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This is it. You kind of hold on to your current situation because ultimately we always go, well, actually, my current situation, I'm in, I'm not in pain. I've got food and water. I feel okay. It's not that terrible. What if the next situation, whatever that might be, work or otherwise life or others? What if that is worse than my current one? We always fear the unknown. But it's like the, and I hope I'm quoting the right genius. I think it was Einstein that said that the... Is the definition of insanity is repeating the same action or it's roughly along the lines repeating the same action expecting a different outcome. One plus one is always going to be two. So if you're having that same outcome and frustrated with it, you have to change something in your equation to bring something different.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't know, changing your job, and you're really worried that you might start this new job and you'd be really bad at it and it's going to be so difficult every day. I'm just not going to be prepared or whatever. And you start the job and the first few days can be really scary. You might feel really uncomfortable and it's really challenging. But you will come back to that baseline for being okay. And if you look at relationships, people worry, oh, I'm in this relationship. What if I break up in this relationship and the next one isn't as good or I'm not as happy or regret it? I think I've really messed this up. What have I done? But actually your fear, when they actually do it, they go, actually, it was fine. I wasn't meant to stay in that relationship. You know, I was actually staying there from a place of fear and fearing too much rather than going, well, actually, if you stand to reason, you know, my current situation is far from perfect. I don't want to be in it. Why should the next situation be any worse?”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A lot of people are very afraid that the next situation they might find themselves in will be more painful or difficult than their current situation. But in reality, often you find that the change you're going to experience isn't as bad as you think it is. It's the idea of like, you know, the analogy of having a Ferrari on your drive, right? And you get your Ferrari and the first day you're so excited about it and you think, oh my God, I'm going to be so happy about this car and this is going to be every day when we're so excited about it. It's going to be incredible. I've got this massive house. Every day that kind of you return to the baseline level of happiness, what you're experiencing is pleasure, isn't it? So fulfillment, it's a pleasure. And that will come down. Obviously Ferrari after a certain amount of time. You might love it and I love my cars, but I'm not going to be jumping up and down every morning every time I see the car. It's eventually going to come back to the baseline. And equally, you know, people worry on the opposite end say you're really, really worried about.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's the whole idea around fearing less, I think. People are often, and I love psychology. I read a lot of, I've read Power of Now, the Secret, all the kind of classic ones, but I'm really into that kind of mindset theory.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I think that's the idea of because at the end of the day, the struggle of life and the challenges in life getting over them is what gives you that sense of reward. If you don't have a struggle, if there isn't any struggle, if life was completely easy, if you woke up with 50 million quid in the bank and there are no challenges at all, you'd be very bored, actually, I think. And I enjoy, there's always a balance. You have to balance it's all about balance. You don't want too much struggle because that's or too much hardship. And if A&E was making me cry every day, even clearly I wouldn't want to be there.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think you need to, I think self-development is very important and feeling that you're adding layers to your skill set or whatever. We're talking about medicine here, but it can be anything in life. I think that variation and variety is very important and feeling that you're pushing. Basically, you're feeling you're pushing yourself.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Do it a few times, it's fine. And you just, you just, every margin you gain, you get better at something. But it always happens. I mean, even consultants say have been doing it, been studying for between study and working for 15, 20 years. And they say the first day of the consultant, they feel like their first day at med school again.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Start as a first year medical student, right? And you've never taken blood in your life. I don't know to get in the needle into the vein, taking the blood test, right? Honestly, my hands shaking when I had to do the first blood test in real person. I thought, no, I'm out. I can't do this. I'm not made for it. I'm an imposter. What am I doing here? Get me out of here. And then, you know, you do it 10 times like, oh, that's fine. And then you build up. And then the first time, you know, when you're, say, a 50 med student and you're doing your first CPR on a cardiac rest patient helping out in recess in the A&E department, like, oh my God, this is too much. What am I doing here?”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, you know, but it's exciting as well. I think that's a big thing I've learned. I've learned to enjoy that feeling of being uncomfortable. My mum has a great saying, actually, and she said this for many, many years. And I love it. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. I think that's a really great point. I mean, you never are quite. I mean, it's an imperfect statement, but I kind of get that. It's like in hospital, for example, right? It's like in the hospital, okay?”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You just learn, don't you, from your experiences that you, even though it's a different uncomfortable zone that you're in, you got through your last uncomfortable zone and you came out stronger from it. And even if, and that's important, even if you failed at that time, you still survived it, you're still here, still breathing, you still get, you got up and you're going again. And that's important. That's the important point from it. And it's interesting hearing that I'm starting my business prescribed, which is very much smaller business, the bath bombs that we're doing, self-care, which is very exciting. But that's a very uncomfortable zone for me. I mean, I have surrounded myself with a team that have experience in different areas, and I recognize that it is an area that is new to me. But even with the right people around you, it's quite scary.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'll come through. I love that. I'll stand in the corner at the back corner out of the way so no notice me, but I appreciate you. Love I'll sound the corner at the back corner out of the I'll appreciate the part.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You learn every time you extend that boundary of the comfort zone, you've got a step further. I mean, what are you doing at the moment outside of your kind of comfort zone? What are you doing that's kind of pushing? Because I think it's important to share because people will look at you and think, oh, east guy is so successful in everything. But we all are pushing that boundary, right? Yeah.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't know. I think resilience and confidence are probably separate things. I think that was one of the first times I really faced properly in my life where I'd really failed and I had to kind of ask myself a question, do I give up? And I was like, I am not giving up. I'm going. And I think it was like, but I think that did give me confidence. I think if we're talking about that, it's like that resilience of going. I was like, wow. When I got the place again and I went to med school, I did feel more confident about that. I might not be confident to walk topless in front of people. Like on my knees were shaking and walking out on Love Island. But I was more confident myself that I was resilient. And when I went to med school, the great thing was, and I think this is why failure is so important, AI knew how painful it is to nearly mess out on something that means a lot to you.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Wow, so basically, I deplied the time if we go back to when I missed my grades. And this is where I think I learned about failure, which I think is very important. I'm talking about success, but failure is incredibly important. I fail by two marks. Obviously, absolutely gutted, didn't have my grades. What made it worse was me and my friend were going to Liverpool together. He was going to go to dental school. I was going to go to med school, best buddies all the way through. Like, can't wait. And obviously, like, oh, mate, sorry, you enjoy yourself. Yeah, gutted. So I had to apply again. Well, I had to actually remember sat down with my mum and she was very upset, as you can imagine. And I said, look, mum, it's fine. And I apply again. I get the grades, I do the interviews, do the tests you've got to do with the application. It's fine. I'll get in. And I believe that I would. I was like, I'm not going to give up. I corrected a few sentences on my course that I needed to correct to get the marks back up. I reapplied again, did the interviews. I got my place.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Very difficult. But, you know, I'm very grateful and I've taken it straight into a darker place there, but in a real positive, you know, I feel that the people around us can have such an impact on our lives and so much light has come from her life because of that. I continue to talk about as much as possible and we all celebrate her and her life. And I hope that I have taken a bit of her with me to do some of the things I'm doing now. And I hope that she'll be proud of some of it.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I told her that I loved her and that I was so glad that I knew her and how grateful I was really that she was my friend. And what I didn't tell her, which I said to other people, was how cruel the world can be sometimes. You know, you've got someone who's going to be a doctor and we want an amazing doctor as well, not just doctor, but an amazing one. And such a kind, genuine person, like how cruel can it be to happen to that person? But obviously in that moment, you don't want to say that. You know, she... You just want to instill that feeling of love and appreciation for them. But it was hard. What can you say? A lot of it's nonverbal. You have a hug and you just share that moment, don't you? But when you walk out of that room, it's like, wow, I'm not seeing her again. Very odd.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Situation because what do you say to someone who is dying in the next couple of weeks and they're so young and you had all this hope about them getting better? And I remember it's almost like I could go back to that moment so intensely because in that moment I was like this is the last chance I'm going to speak to this person. I need to capture every second of this. So it's almost like hardwired into my brain. But I really appreciated what she said. And to this day, even now, you know, Sky News this morning and stuff, which is, again, miles out of my comfort zone never, you know, I'm becoming more used to these things now, but miles out of my comfort zone, none of that stuff would happen if it wasn't for what she said to me. I don't think. I'd have just continued staying within that comfort zone, not pushing myself and protecting myself in a way, I guess.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's so difficult, and at that age, only 22 or 23 or something, whatever I was, it's very odd. It's very odd to have a conversation with someone. And we've experienced, everyone's experienced grief at some point. But this was the only and still is the only time I've been sat with someone knowing it was the last conversation. It's a very”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But that is why I went on that show. Because I actually was very resistant to it the whole time. And even to now the execs will say, I'm the one person that didn't want to go on the show. But I was like, I almost felt like I don't know what I believe and what you don't believe. But I was like, what would Freya say? She said, get on that show and do it. And that's why I did it.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“told she had a matter of weeks to live because she'd had the bone marrow transplant, it was now to the point where there was basically nothing could do. So we threw a big ball and a party to kind of celebrate her life to that point. And we all kind of said goodbye. So I went to a house actually to say goodbye to her. And one of the things she said to me before she passed away like a week or so later, it wasn't very long. She said, Alex, you're an introvert. I think you've got a lot of talent in terms of what you do and I'm very proud of the things you do and I think you've got a lot of potential in your life, but you sometimes shy away and I want you to go out there and say yes to things. Put yourself out of your comfort zone. Something's fair to say often in life I just keep myself in that comfort zone. Put yourself out of that comfort zone. You know, say yes, things, live your life. You know, I'm in a position now where I have to stop my life here. I want you to live yours. And that, I think, is a very long-winded explanation.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Unbelievable and how relentless she was. And even to the point where she's actually, you know, the university said, look, take time out clearly. We want you to recover and have time out. She said, no, I want to do my test. So I want to do my exam. She sat her exams in isolation, in an isolation cubicle in the hospital, which is just unbelievable and shows her resilience. Anyway, after a long period of time, I think it was six months or more, she actually had a bone marrow transplant, I think it was something in Germany that gave her the bone marrow. And she came out of the hospital and we were like, yes, you know, she's getting through this. And she even ran a marathon, something silly, like a month or so, a couple of months afterwards to raise money for leukemia research, you know. We're like just chill out a bit. And now she's like, no, I'm straight back to charity work. Fine. So then running into the next winter, we had a phone call again and she said, it's back. I'm like, what do you mean? The cancer's back.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Day or the day after. Anyway, a couple of days later, we had a Went to dinner and just sat us down and said, Look, you know, these bruises that I've had, I went to the doctor, had blood test taken, next day rushed into hospital. I've got leukemia, you know, and she had acute myeloid leukemia, which is a very, very serious, serious form of leukemia. And to put into context, it differs between people, but it can be a matter of short weeks from being diagnosed, a passing away if you don't have treatment really quickly. So it's one of the most aggressive and nasty cancers that you can have. So it's a huge shock to all of us. And she quite literally went to dinner and the next morning straight into isolation in the hospital to have nuclear chemotherapy, basically, a really, really strong chemotherapy. She was in there for a huge length of time, many, many months. And, you know, it was really hard to watch her, you know, her falling out, losing weight, you know, sweating in arms and feet and things like that from the chemo. And she was always so positive throughout the whole thing, a positivity was.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I mean, the reason that happened was look, when I was at university, and I loved my time at university. Mostly, I will come and talk about a little bit about a time that wasn't so good, maybe in a little bit. But on the whole, pretty good time. But in my second year at uni, one of my very, very good friends, Freya Barlow, who was, and it's annoying because sometimes you hear, and I don't mean it's indispectable, but you hear people talking about someone that's past and everyone goes, oh, they're amazing, they do this, and they do this and that. But honestly, like Freya was the most amazing person. She started like two charities by a second year in med school. She spent a summer's vaccinating kids and abroad and go to Africa and just doing a really amazing work. And very sadly, you know, well, I actually remember one week it was towards the wintertime. I'm trying to remember towards wintertime. I said, Fair, you've got some bruises on your arm. I mean, you're right. Yeah, a bit odd. I've got a few bruises. I'm actually going to see a doctor, I think, was the name.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Classic kind of introvert in that sense, but I, even though I'm not confident, I do think I'm very resilient and I think I'm very determined and I think that helps me a lot. Where confidence lacks sometimes my determination I think pushes through.”
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“No, I don't think so. I am confident. That's a good question. No, I'm not. I don't think so. Not inherently confident. I think I would always, if you put me in a party, if we were at a swanky party in New York that you might attend before the pandemic, I'd probably be the guy in the corner quietly chatting to one or two people. And just I wouldn't, I would certainly avoid centre of attention”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Outside that worked on this, but I think it's fair to say I was a big steer on that happening. And then someone goes, Oh, you didn't get enough. You've let us down. What you've done is terrible. You know, you shouldn't be there. Why are you in this role? Not easy. But I always go back to, and I think at the time when I came out, there's a huge, and I should say this, I've 95% amount of support. It's been unbelievable. It's always the 5% or the 1% or whatever that they get to a little bit. But, you know, now I've gone back to the idea of, well, actually, what are my values? What matters to me? And I go, well, actually, I believe that I am making at least even if it's a millimeter difference, I'm doing something. I'm doing something positive. And that keeps me going. And that's what stops me becoming down, I guess, from the kind of hate, if you like.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“About AEs, we just see injuries, cuts, and bruises and heart attacks and things. At least 30% of our workload relates to mental health. I think it's probably higher than that in reality. And I've really worked in that space. But obviously, since I was appointed Youth Mental Health Ambassador, since sadly my brother passed away last year, which kind of led to me focusing even more and I guessed the attention on it, which led to the appointment. It's tough sometimes when people go, well, oh, you know, you got 80 million for mental health support teams at school. Why didn't you get 200? You know, you've let us down. You didn't get 200 million. It's very hard, you know, and especially when I go, I'm very naturally very optimistic and positive person. When I came into the role, I was in the role and I was in it for about two or three weeks when I got 80 million quid. That's a lot of money. You know, at a time in a pandemic where the government's pretty strapped, we spent a load of money. I'm not just saying it's just me. We worked as other people within the group and the number 10.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's funny because of all the things I've had, I've had the full works of death threats and all this kind of stuff, particularly anti-Vex and things like that in recent months and stuff, that doesn't bother me at all, funny enough. I don't mind that. And people can call me ugly and say, look a certain way or, you know, they can call me what they want in that sense. And it doesn't bother me too much, to be honest. I've really been able to kind of, even though that was the kind of stuff that bothered me when I was younger, I'm very resilient to that now. What I think are more sensitive to now is when people kind of criticize the things that I'm working on that really matters to me, particularly the stuff around the mental health space, you know, when I've been actually working in the space for good few years before I even moved before 2018 when I was on Love Island, even before all that, I was really actively working with the charities. I was also, you know, passionate advocate in my space and A&E. We see a huge amount of mental health. One of the big misconceptions.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“He opened a criticism a lot, and especially now with the work I'm doing in the mental health space, it's tough. And there's a lot of people in the political space, people watching what's happening who will criticise you. And that is not easy, but you learn to deal with it and you build a bit of a thicker skin as well, I think.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I think so. It's about, you know, when you're talking about being an introvert and things and being sensitive, they're not necessarily mutually exclusive or necessarily come together. But I do think that it's about learning what you have and how to use that, use your strengths, you know, turn them into your strengths. I saw that as a big weakness, whereas now I see it as a great strength. And I think sometimes as you're growing up, you're unaware of what's good or bad about you physically or in terms of your personality types. And sometimes the things that you kind of very harden yourself about when you're younger, like being sensitive, I'm now quite glad of. Even though now, of course, it still leaves me open. You know how it is being, you know, known in the public eye, whatever, I hate that phrase, but I think it's an understood one. It obviously opens you up because...”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I understand people, and that allows me to get the best out of people. But back then it was a real target for bullies, I think.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I grew very tall very quickly. I was very skinny. I always had quite a bit of acne and stuff when I was younger. And I think, but mainly actually the main reason I think I was bullied was because I was sensitive. I am sensitive as a person. And I think things would get to me probably more so than I noticed my friends or other people around me. And I think that sadly sensitivity attracts some bullies at times. The moment doing a massive campaign with number 10 and Dan Reward around bullying and tackling that and a lot of the young people I speak to have experienced the same, you know, sensitivity sadly attracts that. It's odd because now I look back and think the time I thought that was a real weakness, but now I see it as a real strength. And I think my sensitivity has allowed me to be a better doctor. I think my ability to have empathy on my patients. I read people very well, understand when I'm in a team, even now whether it's in the hospital or the team that I'm working with or kind of from my management perspective or whether it's people working, you know, working with people at number 10. I read people very well.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Which cost my place at med school, which is actually one of the most painful moments of my life. And I think really, really a defining moment. Because at the school I was in, I wasn't in a great school. It was a perfectly fine school, but I wouldn't say it was like a really, really high achieving school. It's a state school. No one, I think, had done medicine for a couple of years, a good few years, potentially. Everyone's excited about this idea we've got a student going. And there was kind of everyone waiting for me to kind of open the results. And I was like, yeah, I've got two A's and a B, three A's and a B. Brilliant, I'm really glad about that, but sadly my two marks means that I can't go to med school. And I think that was a really defining moment for me. I was coming my first feeling of failure in a way. And I think all of that has come together kind of mold my attitude, I think, to life and to kind of working hard to wanting to achieve, to kind of appreciate.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“work and stuff and I was very frustrated actually at school a lot of the time I also had a very short attention span when I was in primary school I was put into a special needs class for a long time because well I don't know I think I had a short attention span maybe they were concerned about me I don't really know why that was a concern my mum actually went to school and said actually Alex is quite bright you know I think you'd be fine went back into the normal classroom and we kind of continued from from there in secondary school again struggled a bit with the written work and actually when I applied to med school the first time around I did all the interviews got my place I actually missed out on my grades a grade A and my chemistry by two marks”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I think when I was about 13, 14, I had a bit of an interest in science. I liked the idea of working in a career or going to career that had a sense of teamwork, a purpose, which might sound a bit odd as an introvert, but I still wanted to be that part of a movement, if you like. And that's where medicine kind of appealed to me. So I started kind of watching early shows of like this equivalence of 24 hours in A&E. Back in the day and really, it really kind of thought, it'll be amazing to be an AE doctor, the excitement, the adrenaline, that'd be so awesome. I love that idea of, you know, using science and medicine to save people. And I just started working towards that goal, really. I'd say that, again, school wasn't that easy for me for various reasons. I know now that I'm dyslexic. I didn't know that then. I didn't know it at school. Didn't know at university. I really struggled with my written.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I think when I was at school and as I was growing up, I think my parents were a big influence on my life. I think they instilled a lot of the values that I have. My mum was a big believer in that you should go out there and try and add value to people around you in the world and their focus was around what you achieve in terms of that rather than necessarily being trying to be really successful or make loads of money or whatever. And I think that instilled in me that sense of I want to do good or try you know I'm not sitting here thinking I have the same, I love cars, I love all these different things as well. I'm not saying I was trying to be some kind of save the world person but I had that kind of general thing that I'd like to go out and do something good if I could.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Wow, that's a deep question to dive us free into. Let's get in there. I was brought up and born and brought up in West Wales. I lived on a little small holding. My parents, not farmers actually, people assume that they'd be a farming background. My dad, a policeman, my mum worked in the bank. And I had quite a quiet upbringing, you know, in the countryside, two brothers, two younger brothers, school life for me, I think was up and down. You know, I was bullied quite a lot at school, a little bit in primary school, more so in secondary school. I was naturally, I think probably innately as well as my environment that I was in, I was introverted or became an introvert. I know there's a lot of conversation about are you born that way? Is it you molded that way? I think probably a bit of both for me.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Could hear in his voice instantly that something really bad happened. I just said straight away who's done it. It was weird. The whole world closed in and I can't explain it sounds very dramatic, but it was almost a spotlight came onto me in that moment. And I was like, no, it can't be. I just couldn't believe it. That's the thing about suicide or, you know, about when these things happen. It can happen out of nowhere. And for everyone around that person, it is that guilt that you carry, I think, forever. Ask yourself honestly, when is the last time you genuinely sat down and thought about what you want to do in life? What actually is your purpose? What makes you happy? And if you haven't done it in the last year or so, do it. We had a phone call again and she said it's back. What you mean? The cancer's back. What do you say to someone who is dying in the next couple of weeks? What can you say? A lot of it's non-verbal. You have a hug and you just share that moment, don't you? But when you walk out of that room, it's like, wow, I'm not seeing her again.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“From 200 followers on Instagram to 1 million in nine weeks. I just had tasted the failure so much that I wanted that success. One of the biggest things was going back to work. I went back to A&E. I am working in a position where I'm the recess department of a very busy hospital in A&E in London. The mortality rate with COVID is around 1%. I am seeing that percentage of people who are the sickest who are in the hospital.”
2021-07-19 · The Diary of a CEO · Dr Alex George: My Hardest Day In A&E, Family Suicide & Finding TRUE Purpose · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT