Overcomer Mindset: Storytime

Here's an excerpt from my upcoming workbook. The aim of the workbook is to help others develop their personal toolkit for prevailing under pressure. Starting with sharing some of my own journey...

Who doesn’t love a good origin story?

On a warm autumn day in 2021, I was walking home at midday. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic, so people generally kept their distance. Despite being a major thoroughfare in a small city, there was an unusual lull in traffic at lunchtime. I noticed someone walking behind me, wearing a mask. Given the pandemic’s ongoing restrictions, I assumed he would walk on the road to maintain distance, so I continued on my path.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps rapidly approaching from behind. As I turned to see what was happening, my vision went black as I was thrown through the air. When my sight cleared, I realized that my attacker had pushed me off the bridge. Somehow, I landed on my feet, quickly turned around, and found myself wrestling with him to defend myself. Fortunately, he didn’t appear to have a weapon; he seemed more opportunistic, likely aware of the large underground tunnel system beneath the bridge and seizing the moment.

We grappled for a while, and eventually, I managed to scare him off with my pepper spray, and he retreated into the tunnel. Some bystanders who had heard the commotion rushed over, and one helped me climb back onto the main road. Though shaken, I was relatively unharmed and was able to sing at a friend’s wedding two days later.

Living on Struggle Street

In the span of about a year and a half, I experienced at least nine instances of crime: break-ins, violence on the streets, and fending off other potential attackers with pepper spray. This led to a prolonged struggle with intense PTSD. I even found myself anxious about simple tasks like hanging laundry in my yard, always bracing for an imminent attack.

Previously, I had been quite adventurous, enjoying solo runs in the mountains, exploring, and traveling. Now, even the poor elderly person who happened to walk behind me in the grocery store, triggered a heightened state of alert.

My longstanding struggle with complex PTSD served as the training ground for the concepts outlined in this book.

I had to intentionally rewire my thinking. I couldn’t let how I felt about myself or the world around me define my reality. That would be like settling for living in an internal prison.

I learned to walk a fine line between acknowledging the reality of what I felt, taking a moment for inner healing when necessary, and recognizing when and how to muster the strength to push through my negative thoughts and feelings in order to build up my life, my new business, and my relationships.