I grew up in a family that was fractured and dysfunctional. My earliest memories are of my parents’ fighting. My father had a gambling addiction and both my parents struggled with drugs and alcohol. We never seemed to have any money. I remember my grandmother regularly giving my mother money to buy groceries. I became a surrogate mum to my younger brother as parenting was ver....
I was born in rural NSW in 1952. As the youngest of my parents’ eight children I enjoyed a more relaxed upbringing than my siblings. Whilst my older sisters helped my mother out in the house I was allowed to shadow my father around the property. Everything about my father was larger than life to me, his strength, stature, confidence and especially his humour. I was definite....
I was 13 years old when my friend, younger sister and I experienced something that forever changed the course of my life. It was a hot day and so the three of us popped on our swimmers and went down to the local creek to go fishing. One minute we were innocently playing, the next, we were being confronted by a stranger who wanted to ‘help us fish’. What this actually meant ....
I grew up with a brother and sister on a farm in country New South Wales. It was a very simple life. We lived off the land. My dad had been a shearer but after we were born he got a job at the local timber mill and mum stayed at home to raise us. My mum didn’t have much of an education and never learned to drive a car. Although we didn’t have much, country …....
In 2013, I started working for a fitness apparel company. I was immediately attracted to, border line obsessed with, the organization’s culture of goal setting. Upon being hired, each employee was given a packet of questions and a goal coaching session. The packet contained questions like ‘what would you do if you could not fail?’ or ‘if money were no object, what wou....
