I come from a long line of reserved, conflict averse, people. I was brought up to worry about what other people thought. Quite simply – I wasn’t brave. Despite that, I did well in my career – I’ve run billion dollar business units, run 100+ person teams, all over the world. I had a good, comfortable life – happily married with 3 wonderful kids.

But I was doing what was expected of me, not what was meaningful for me.

Then something went really, really wrong.

On the 6^th of August 2018 I was at work, just getting started, when I was called by the hospital – my wife had been brought in and I needed to get there safely and quickly. I was taken into a family room near Emergency – none of my family were in it. 15 minutes later 2 doctors arrived. I was told that my beautiful fit 46 year old wife had been out for a run when she had a heart attack. She was found unconscious without a pulse beside a running trail. She was given CPR for somewhere between 20 minutes by a stranger before the ambulance arrived. They used the paddles and kept going with CPR until she arrived at hospital. They were unable to start her heart.

But they did keep trying. She was put on a life support machine to keep her alive while they tried to get her heart going.

It took them 24 hours to get her heart started . She was in a coma for 10 days, she was in hospital for 10 weeks. She had 7 operations.. It got worse before it got better. She survived but we did lose a part of her. She suffered brain damage and now has a number of health issues and requires a lot of support. That was very, very sad for her, for our 3 kids, and for me. It was the toughest thing I’ve ever had to deal with.

The challenges were enormous.  I was without my life partner for the first time in over 20 years. How was I going to be a single parent, sole bread-winner, look after homework, shopping, cooking, cleaning. I mean – I couldn’t even find 2 matching socks in the morning without help.

But all that stress and challenge led to a breakthrough for me. I learnt to harness the stress to do things differently. I stopped worrying about what could go wrong, and focused on what could go right. Rather than focus on what we’d lost, I focused on what we had. I had to get really, really clear about what was meaningful for me and I pursued it. I adapted. I was brave. Every day. I learned to fail. I learned to try again. I didn’t give up. I learned everyday bravery and I achieved things that nervous, shy, risk averse guy never would have considered even attempting.

Now more than ever, we all need help with wellbeing. The world has changed so we need to change and that requires bravery. Today,  In Everyday Bravery – I’ll teach you everyday bravery so you can face your fears and worries and feel fulfilled, authentic, confident and brave!