Challenges That Change Us

In today’s episode we will be talking about the waiting game that comes with medical issues and just how much stress that can cause.This episode’s guest is Elizabeth McNeil, a good friend of mine and an incredible women.Her husband was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of 30. At the time they had a 1 year old daughter and were soon to be pregnant with their second child.This is a discussion of diagnosis and treatment and the chaotic nature of the medical world.On top of watching a loved one suffer through cancer, whilst also pregnant, Elizabeth had to deal with the unknown, the challenges of the waiting period, Dr Google and more.In today’s episode Elizabeth shares with us:-How she had to learn to accept help in order to survive this process-The things that helped the most-The surprising and unlikely dangerous times that she struggled through the mostKey Quotes“Try as hard as you can to let go of the things that you can’t control because there will be so many things out of your control.”“I think I will always get that same knot in my stomach walking into any hospital.”“Even that moment after, when everything has stopped, you almost feel a little bit of a loss, how do you move on with your life without appointments?”‘Night times were hard for me…the quiet, it just felt so lonely.”If you’d like to hear and learn more from our community, join the facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeusFor my other businesses you can find them through the websites:www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.auwww.trialtitudeperformance.com.auOr you can follow them on Instagram:@Veravidyayoga@Altitudefitnessarmidale@trialtitudeperformance

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of depression, anxiety and suicide.This may not be the right time or the right episode today. Give yourself permission to skip this episode and we will see you next week.If you find that this material concerns you or you ever need some health, reach out to Lifeline on 13 11 14.I also want to take a moment to acknowledge anyone who has lost someone or has ever been affected by suicide.I also want to thank Dylan Lewis, today’s guest, for sharing his story.In today’s episode I speak with Dylan about his personal mental health struggles , knock backs when seeking help and how it wasn’t until his second near fatal attempt to suicide that he finally got some support and the help he needed.Dylan shares with us:-His views on managing mental health in combination with your whole health-How he personally manages the dark thoughts when they return-Th development of his amazing initiative Mental Mates that strives to help educate and build skills to prevent suicide.Key Quotes“Your mental health is about wholeness. Your whole health and wellbeing.”“The spiralling starts before you even realise and you’re feeling like shit for no reason.”“You need to have the guts to ask some hard questions. It’s only talking, you’re not going to make the problem worse.”‘Once someone has talked about it once, that’s the start of the road to recovery.”If you want to reach out to Dylan, this is still quite raw for him so we ask that you limit yourself to posting a message in our facebook group, which he will be watchinghttps://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeusBut if you want to find out more about his initiative Mental Mates, you can do so at https://www.mentalmates.org/Or on Instagram at @mental_mates_incFor my other businesses you can find them through the websites:www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.auwww.trialtitudeperformance.com.auOr you can follow them on Instagram:@Veravidyayoga@Altitudefitnessarmidale@trialtitudeperformance

In episode 5 of Challenges That Change Us we will be speaking with the incredible Grace Hamilton. Grace is an Australian Rugby union player and Captain of the Australian Women's team the Wallaroos currently playing for the NSW Waratahs and The University of Sydney.She is the 2019 Player of the year and RUPA people's choice amongst all international teams. Hamilton juggles rugby whilst working full-time in Sport at The Scots College, Sydney.Hailing from a farm in Panuara in Country NSW, Grace Hamilton started playing Rugby on a University exchange in the USA. Growing up around Rugby with her family, Hamilton was always on the sidelines cheering her father and brother yet playing netball and doing all types of athletics. Although never thinking she would play rugby debut for the Brumbies in 2014 and joined the Sydney team later that year.Over the past few years Grace has had to handle the truly agonising feeling of limbo, training for international events for 2 years, with no idea when she might actually play another game. This only further compounds that challenge of trying to succeed in the world of women’s competitive sport in Australia.On top of that Grace suffered the loss of her father, the figure who inspired her and supported her through her Rugby Union journey.Throughout the episode Grace shares:-How she handled the loss of her father and the surprising time it hit her the hardest-Her advice for how other women can succeed in international sport in Australia-Just how crushing it was having to train without playing and with no end in sight.-Her advice for how to overcome a stumble or mistake in the middle of a gameKey Quotes“Allow yourself to get in situations where you don’t necessarily have to think about it [the loss].”“I was probably the worst I was a year and a half later.”“Every situation you can either make it really great or make it really bad.”If you want to follow what Grace does you can follow her on Instagram @graciehamilton4_ or follow the Wallaroos @wallaroosrugby or head to their website https://wallaroos.rugbyIf you’d like to hear and learn more from our community, join the facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeusFor my other businesses you can find them through the websites:www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.auwww.trialtitudeperformance.com.auOr you can follow them on Instagram:@Veravidyayoga@Altitudefitnessarmidale@trialtitudeperformance

Welcome to episode 4 of Challenges =That Change Us, which will be quite different to the others.Every few episodes I will be taking to an expert in their field about challenges they see on a daily basis and get some great tips for you in this space.Today’s podcast is with the legendary Dave Ballard, aka Classy.He is currently the Head Of Performance for the Bronco’s and is also my business partner and helped found the company Tri-Altitude Performance.He has 17 years experience in the sporting industry and has working with the dragons, the knights, the reds and now the bronco’s.For this episode Classy and I talk about mindset around returning to play or the gym after injury.Through the episode Classy will share:-His career and just the ups and downs and experiences he has gathered-How different people respond differently to injuries-The importance of having direction’-His cool strategy for ensuring a player has prepared properly to returnKey Quotes“Some people love detail and are goal focused, and the other person just wants day to day, don’t want to look too far ahead”“It’s having the conversations and dealing with the person based on the style of person they are”“You need to be consistent in what you’re doing with your rehab if you want it to work or with pretty much anything in work.If you want to follow what Classy does, check out the business he helped me found, Tri-altitude Performance: www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au or on Instagram @trialtitudeperformanceIf you’d like to hear and learn more from our community, join the facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeusFor my other businesses you can find them through the website:www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.auOr you can follow them on Instagram:@Veravidyayoga@Altitudefitnessarmidale

Welcome to the third episode of Challenges That Change Us, today’s episode discusses medical testing, the waiting game and the inner critic.Physical challenges can hit us at any stage and one of the many hurdles that can come with these is how we feel others will perceive us afterwards.Sarah Hayles is the host of All Things Small Biz podcast. Sarah is a mum, a career woman and an incredible entrepreneur who made it to the top in a very male dominated industry.She is a qualified engineer, has worked internationally, has managed joint ventures all over the world and has negotiated 9 figure business deals.However she is now playing in the space of running her own business. West of The Waves, All Things Small Biz and E-Commerce with Sarah Hayles.But when she was younger she suffered a physical injury after some routine surgery.In today’s episode Sarah shares:-The traumatic process of being stuck in the ‘waiting game’ of medical testing when there is no clear answer-How dealing with her physical injury caused her to change how she handled friendship imbalances-How she approaches helping her children understand her physical injury as a lesson in kindnessKey Quotes“Validation is not going to come from someone else outside of yourself”“I’m the only person who can make my kids ok with that and it’s how I deal with my injury that is going to teach them how to be, how to do, how to act, how to support, how to care”“If I was the one having to make 70% of the effort, well I stopped making an effort because I was going through a really traumatic time and if people weren’t prepared to put in 50% then I wasn’t able to do it”.You can listen to Sarah’s podcast ‘All Things Small Biz’ online on any of your normal podcast apps and you can follow the podcast and her e-commerce business on Instagram at @the_ecomm_hub or via the website https://www.sarahhayles.com/You can also follow her clothing and jewellery business West Of The Waves on Instagram at @west_of_the_wavesYou can find everything else on her website https://www.westofthewaves.com/For Ali’s businesses you can find them through their websiteswww.trialtitudeperformance.com.auwww.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.auOr you can follow them on Instagram:@trialtitudeperformance@Veravidyayoga@Altitudefitnessarmidale

Welcome to the second episode of the podcast Challenges that Change Us, where we interview people who have overcome or dealt with challenges to find out how dealt with them and what lessons they have learnt.For this episode I’m really excited to introduce you to one of the most incredible men I know, James Horsburgh Aka Teddy. His perseverance, determination and positive attitude is admired by so many.Teddy and I both lived on campus together while studying law.On the 7th of October 2004 I found out that something had gone seriously wrong for Teddy after he had dived into a water fountain after a night out with our mate and was airlifted to Royal North Shore Hospital after dislocating his neck.In today’s episode Teddy shares:-Exactly what it was like in the initial moments of this horrible trauma-How he kept going and stayed afloat mentally in some of the darkest moments while in hospital-How he personally embraces and deals with negativity in a way that allows him to lead a positive life.Key Quotes“If you focus on the negative then of course it’s going to be negative. But if you focus on the positive then life’s much more enjoyable I’ve found”“If you have a positive frame of mind and you have the ability to focus on what’s important and distract yourself from those things that are getting you down, then the rest of your life seems to have a positive overtone to it”“Allow yourself to be negative for 5 or 10 minute, but have a strategy to diver your mind”You can find James working with McIntosh McPhillamy & Co legal services here: https://www.mcmc.com.au/james-horsburghAnd you can also find him on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-horsburgh-429b4930/?originalSubdomain=auFor Ali’s businesses you can find them through their websiteswww.trialtitudeperformance.com.auwww.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.auOr you can follow them on Instagram:@trialtitudeperformance@Veravidyayoga@Altitudefitnessarmidale