Identifying your core values and beliefs. By the time I met Adrienne (we married in 1979), I knew that my life would be spent helping people to know God. Finding God had changed my life and given it purpose and meaning. In planning for marriage, we chatted about how this would impact our children. It saddened me when I met

How core values and beliefs inspire and help us thrive* The third big thing that helps us thrive is clarity in our core values and beliefs. For the other two, living with a purpose and vital relationships, see my previous blogs. I love helping couples prepare for marriage. People take lessons to drive a car, and they get training for

How are your key relationships? Along with living a life of purpose where gifts and goals align, a key to thriving* is having great relationships. Relationships that experience a healthy level of connectedness provide an atmosphere that enables us to thrive. We flourish with the right conditions. Similar to an orchid plant in an orchid house, where moisture and temperature

What is your purpose? A big key to thriving* is living with purpose. People who don’t have a purpose or have lost purpose will not live their best life. Without purpose, life focus becomes surviving and is far from thriving. You are a masterpiece created to do wonderful things. Discovering your purpose will put energy into your soul and vitality

As we came to the six-week mark of James’ passing, it seemed that life is returning to normal. I am grateful that people still ask how are you doing? While I recognise that sometimes I am not doing well, I’m grateful to be able to say, that most of the time I am doing ok. I often answer, “The time

How do you find comfort? Firstly, be with those closest to you. When we received news that we had lost our grandson, we knew we had to be with his parents, our son and his wife. I called our daughter’s husband and asked them to come and look after the grandchildren we had staying. Let some people know who can

Do you let others see when it’s tough? In May of 2019, we had a family tragedy. Our grandson James was stillborn. No cause is known, his heart just stopped beating. It was such a shock. No words. Very early on, as we started to contact people and let them know, I was faced with a choice. What would be

Do you let others see the real you? Do they know how you are really doing? One of the constant comments I get after I talk about my journey of burnout is “thank you for your transparency.” Transparency is helpful because others can get help from what you have been through. Being real and authentic is powerful. Was I always

During the process of recovery, I came to the realisation that burnout didn’t just affect me but that others connected to me were also impacted. This realisation was quite confronting. When pain is intense we lose sight of what is happening in other people because typically we are focused on ourselves. Burnout by nature has three components or indicators—high depletion