I’m sure as a teenager, peace of mind was not something you would write on your bucket list for things you wanted to achieve throughout your life.

In my teens I remember doing a very small bucket list, it went something like this.

• Become an architect.
• Skydiving.
• Travel the world.
• Become a millionaire.
• Marry a beautiful women and have a family.
• Have my own business.
• Own an Aston Martin.
• Build my own house.

Not once did I put on my list anything about health, spiritualism, living in the present moment, mindfulness, meditation, or peace of mind.

I suspect you would have done the same.  As teenagers we very often looked at the outside world and the accumulation of things and success to make us happy.

Fast forward 20 years

My life has gone from one knockdown to another with some great experiences mixed in.

At 40 my life got to the stage that I never cared any more about the Aston Martin, my own business or the skydiving. I wanted some needed time out, quieten my thoughts and just have some peace.

Now my list is very different.

• More sleep.
• Less stress and anxiety.
• More connections with friends.
• More time to myself.
• Less pain and frustration.
• Lose a little weight.
• Eat more healthy.
• Ultimately, peace of mind.

At the age of 40, struggling to sleep, lacking energy and my thoughts wouldn’t give me any peace. All I wanted to do was shut myself away from the world.

I started drinking every night just so I could at least fall asleep.

I’d never felt so alone in my life. Being paralysed was still a problem, although that was nothing compared to how much I was struggling with my thoughts. Suddenly, without warning I found myself to be negative, very anxious, lacking any self-worth and there seemed to be no end.

If you know my story you’ll realise that I’ve had a pretty hard life, I’ve had people say after everything I’ve been through how can I possibly have come through it as positive as I am today.

Well, because sometimes when we are given such a difficult time we have no choice but to face our problems.

The gift of no choice

It really is a gift, a gift of no choice.

Sometimes life knocks you your butt so hard that you just sit for a while and you have no words or any answers to do anything about it. It is the gift you need to force you to take time out, re-evaluate what is happening and take a really deep breath before rolling up your sleeves and doing something about it.

Sometimes it can last a few hours, days or a years.

I’m going to tell you now, no matter what you’re going through in life you can turn it around.

I know this, because I had to do it more than once. And when we eventually realise we’ve suffered enough we have no choice but to do something about it.

You can find your inner strength that you need to carry on. Right now, you have a 100% track record of surviving. Today is not the day to give in, it’s the day to stop saying ‘someday I will do something with my life.’

Whether it’s picking up the phone to a friend, reading a book or going for a walk. All you need to do is take the first step to doing something for yourself. Nobody is going to do it for you. Everybody else is struggling with their lives, their own thoughts, their own shadows and demons that we all have. The only person you can truly rely on is yourself.

No matter what your circumstances are, you can free yourself from the constant emotional pain and the overthinking. You have to be willing to say ‘that’s enough now’ and truly mean it.

All it takes is one step at a time, just changing a little aspect of your life and seeing things from a slightly different perspective.

You have everything you need right now to make that start your journey toward peace of mind

As my new bucket list consisted of finding more peace and genuine fulfilment from within I knew I had to learn a new way of living. The old way was no longer serving me, it wasn’t giving me the satisfaction and joy I desperately needed. I needed a new way to think about things. Take a new perspective, to see things differently.

I started reading books, and by breaking the habits that brought negativity into my life. Stopped watching the news, daytime TV, hanging around with people that just brought me down.

Reading was incredibly difficult, diagnosed dyslexic at the age of 7 I believed I couldn’t read in any meaningful way. I only read headlines, scanned articles for the odd sentence so when I picked up a book to read 30 years later it was like trying to understand a different language. It took me 3 weeks to read a small 30 page book.

I now read a book every 2 weeks!

Of all the practices, knowledge and wisdom I have built up over many years I now help people like you move on in life. As a Peace of Mind Coach I give you the tools and the ability to see your life differently so you can achieve not only the bucket list of when you were a teenager, but also the mature bucket list that enables you to be happy from within.

How does more energy, confidence, calmness and the ability to take control and deal with whatever situation arises sound to you?

Want peace of mind but have no idea how to get it?

Download The 5 Secret Practices You Need for Peace of Mind, this is a book I recently wrote with the practices that I do on a daily basis.

So you want to know how I stay positive, happy and love my life? Even being severely paralysed coupled together with all the everyday problems we all face?

I took control of my life, I realised I was not my thoughts or my emotions.

If any of this sounds familiar to you, take the first step and download the 5 secret practices above.

I would love to hear from you, please leave a comment below by telling me your bigger struggle right now.