How do you get back up when life knocks you down?

Thanks for subscribing and welcome to the 'Getting Back Up' newsletter.

?A monthly dose of wisdom, inspiration and practical takeaways to help you look after your mental health when things go wrong.

?So let's start where it all began.

?5 years ago I was lying on my bedroom floor, in a room I was renting, in a town where I knew no one, trying to figure out the least painful way to end my existence.

?There is a whole story to how I got to this point. One which you’ll get to know as you follow me and what I do.

?But to cut a long story short...

?Deep down, I believed I was a failure, I didn’t matter, and I was completely unlovable.

?Enter Viktor Frankl...

?A Jewish holocaust survivor from WW2. Who had spent 3 years living in a concentration camp, where I believe only 1 out of every 26 people actually made it out alive.

?But despite all of that, went on to recover, live this incredible life and write one of the most influential books ever written called 'Man’s search for meaning'.

?Now, this wasn’t like the Christmas Carol where the ghost of Viktor Frankl visited me at night and told me that I could change my destiny if I wanted to.

?I was actually doing some research in my role as a Mental Health Nurse because I was becoming increasingly frustrated at people being diagnosed with mental health disorders for their understandable responses to perfectly normal things that can effect us all.

?But anyway...

?In his book, there was a line that to this day, I believe saved my life…

?And it went (with a modern twist from me)

?‘Everything can be taken from you, except your ability to choose how you respond, your ability to choose your own way’

?You see, as I read those words…it suddenly dawned on me.

?That the life I had been living...

?The life that had me miserable and on the brink of suicide.

?Wasn’t a life I had chosen to live!

?It was the only life, because of the things that had knocked me down, that I believed I could live!

?Yet, as I let those words sink in.

?For what felt like the first time ever.

?I asked myself...

?"What could my life look like...if instead of allowing the events I’ve experienced and the opinions of others to dictate the path I choose...I remembered that the one who has the final say in all this...was me"

?And here I am today…(With a huge gap of a story between then and now. Don't worry, you'll learn about this as well)

Using what I’ve learned from my personal story of recovery.

As well as seeing what works and what doesn’t from 18 years of Clinical experience assessing and treating some of the most mentally unwell people you can imagine.

To show people like yourself...

How to get back up when Life knocks you down.

In the hope that instead of settling for a life that has you one day sitting in front of someone like me asking...

“How the hell did I end up here?”.

You can respond to your setbacks in a way that enables you to learn, grow and become stronger from what you face...

And go build a life that better protects your mental health.

But before I leave you.

Ask yourself this...

Am I choosing my own way? Am I working to fill my life with things that matter to me and bring me joy and purpose?

Because if the answer is no...

Now's the time to start making changes.