So many to thank

I have been so fortunate in my life that I do not think that I will ever be able to thank everyone who has impacted me. Some people have sadly passed away and I now try to thank as many people as I can as I continue my journey in this life.

Only recently I reached out to Allan Pease, a public speaker and body language/write language expert, to say thank you for the impact his knowledge and teachings have had on my life. When I was just 16 years old I was doing a traineeship in the Australian Public Service and part of our study component including communications study. The teacher put in the video (showing my age) and this smart dressed, well spoken gentleman was talking about ”body language” and I was hooked! My next payday I went to the book store searching for and buying this man’s book about body language.

My life threw a few obstacles in the way and I found myself pregnant with my first “miracle” baby. I had been told at the age of 15 that I would never have children. I am so grateful that the doctors were wrong. I ended up being the proud mother of one girl and two boys, now aged 31; 25 and 19 respectively. I am also very thankful for my two beautiful grandchildren, a girl aged 11 and a boy 9 months old.

After returning to work when I was able too, I commenced working in insurance. I was still fascinated by the topic of body language and now Mr. Pease was touring talking about “Write language” - my new topic of fascination. Allan makes it so easy to understand what he is saying. He is very entertaining whilst educating. This moment, was the moment when I knew “What I want be when I grow up”; it would take me another 20+ years to realise the significance of that moment.

Since 2005, I have spoken publicly both in Australia and Internationally, sharing my experiences living with complex mental health issues. I am so thankful to have the ability to stand in front of up to 200 people and share some of my experiences. But I am most thankful to those who took the information I provided and used it to support a friend or family member, or sought support for themselves. All of my presentations, whether at international conferences or speaking to 50 secondary students, are aimed to be entertaining and informative. This basis for my presentations goes back to that moment attending Mr. Pease’s seminar about “Write Language”; although I was not able to identify this until just recently.

Just 3 or 4 weeks ago, as part of my recovery from a recent extended depressive episode, I decided that if there is a post on social media that is helpful to me in my journey, I say thank you straight away. Then the next part of my recovery was to attempt to identify things that make me feel good and why they make me feel good. I was overwhelmed when I was able to identify why I present myself publicly the way I do, and this was the ‘AHA’ moment. I felt so bad that in over 30 years, I could not remember taking the time to write to Mr. Pease and just say “thank you”. Ironic when I consider how the techniques of ‘write language’ he taught me have been so rewarding! So I rectified that and I sent him a message on LinkedIn explaining who I am and how watching that first video, his books and his seminars had played a key role in the person I am today. Even as I write this story, I am smiling from the memories of how utilising information shared with me has benefitted me. From successful job applications, letters of complaint that I received “thank you‘s” for to having an AFL Football legend personally call me to apologise for not being able to attend a community event I was planning. It was the best rejection call of my life!

One of the most important things I have noticed since saying “thank you” to people’s post on social media, many people are surprised by the comment but more importantly more and more people are saying “thank you”. I have had people respond negatively to comments I have posted because they did not read it correctly or they disagree with my view and I respect other people’s points of view, but rather than being nasty and hurtful, I am finding that even on social media, when you are positive and share that positivity you attract positive people and experiences to your life. I think it is quite sad that a simple 2-word phrase is not utilised more often. How would your day change if when you went onto your social media page there were 5 or more messages of “thank you” in your inbox? Well every time I open my inbox, there are new messages of thanks, and it makes a difference knowing that something I have said resonates with someone and they took the time to thank me. This also motivates me to be more consciously aware of just how many people have had a positive affect on my life and I am doing the best that I can to thank all of those people. It is a massive task, but when I break it down to focus on one step at a time, I have a long, scenic and interesting journey of gratitude ahead of me.

So off I go on my gratitude journey!