So here’s a story from A to Z…
For a long time, the Sydney real estate market was my personality. I bloody loved it.
My other loves are my friends, my family, and shiny cars.
I had a tough time growing up; I was relentlessly bullied at school, the death of my mother when I was 9 years old, and living with a family member who had significant mental health and drug issues. Another big issue I faced after the passing of my mother was that my father had no coping mechanisms, and essentially left me to raise myself.
I struggled with anxiety and depression. Masked mostly by sarcastic humour and a fashionable armour.
But in 2010 the first really big pivot in my life happened. I was in a dead-end job, living in a crappy rental, broke, and after a devastating breakup, I was suddenly single! I was so effing depressed and distraught. I went to see a local therapist but didn’t really get the results I needed. Mostly she just told me to get over it. After a series of Facebook statuses that would give Adele a run for her money, I was referred to a Coach who offered me ten sessions, during which she promised me would change my life. I didn't believe her one bit.
What I can tell you right now, is that she did change my life. In the space of ten weeks, I had a new job that I was so happy about, and had met the man who I am now married to.
This is me, when I was a real estate agent, in case you didn’t believe me 😂
Through those ten coaching sessions, I learned more about myself than I had in probably the ten years leading up to that. It gave me the confidence to do things that I would have never done before, and taught me about how much I could control my life, which I thought was totally uncontrollable. Looking back, I realise now, that was the commencement of my journey to where I am today.
It kicked off a career that I loved, while I continued to learn more about myself, and during 2020 and 2021 I decided it was time to make another big change. A frightening concept! The first big step was tackling all the inherited issues from my family. The lack of coping mechanisms, the tendencies to ignore things, and really take the time to relearn how to be an adult. To drop all the luggage I’d been given. Admittedly it took a while for me to rip off the proverbial Band-Aid. But I looked back at the lessons I learned from my coach a decade earlier and realised I'd done it all before. And I would do it all again.
Through coaching, I’ve learned how to be more resilient, resourceful, adaptable and empowered. I feel so grateful to have been taught these lessons, and I know now that things can be better, and you don’t need to just accept things as they are. You CAN change them!
So if you’re a gay man in your 30’s (or a member of the LGBTQI+ family!) and this resonates with you, reach out, let’s talk about it.
Life is for living, and as my late stepmother used to say, “today is the youngest you’ll ever be, so bloody well get on with it!” 🌈
