The possibility to change stubborn behaviours

Do Lectures 2018

I battled with perfectionism, overwhelm and a series of debilitating mental health problems for 32 years. At various times I was diagnosed with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder and was told to expect to be on medication for the rest of my life. It was frequently a struggle to hold down a job and take care of my kids. I often didn’t like myself much. 

After a particularly bad time, I ended up being admitted to a psychiatric ward. It was the wake-up call I needed to show me that I couldn’t carry on living as I had; I needed to find something better. The only problem was that I had no idea where to start.

In the past, my instinct had always been to make huge changes and look for miracle cures. Over and over again I clutched onto the latest great hope, imagining that it would change everything – but in all the years I tried, I never found one that worked.

This time I tried something different.

I began studying how habits are formed, how willpower works, how personality, thinking styles and energy levels influence us. All the while, I experimented with my lifestyle to see if I could change some of the things that had caused me such unhappiness. 

It was only when I started to make tiny, positive changes and committed to them long-term that I began to see extraordinary results. 

I gradually discovered simple, practical ways to create a calmer, clearer life and became happier, healthier and more resilient than ever before.  Looking back I came to realize that many symptoms of my ‘illness’ were simply signs that I had been living in a way that was all wrong for me.

Within four months of leaving hospital I had no diagnosis of any kind for the first time in my adult life. I have remained well ever since.

I had given up hope that I could change my life, but it turns out I could. 

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Little Challenges is my attempt to make the kinds of information, inspiration and ideas that helped me more readily available to others. To open a conversation about what it means to be human - in all its wonderful messiness.