My Bridge – How I got to where I am today.

My Bridge. Recently I have found people asking about my journey from depression and anxiety to where I am today.  I think it’s time I told my story so here it is.

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The first 60 years

Don’t panic this is the very abridged version.  Suffice to say I had a ‘normal’ upbringing and family life, decent education and pretty good career.  At the ripe old age of 27 I married and we brought up two children together. By the time I reached 60, 4 grandchildren had arrived and my wife and I were still happily married.

BUT for as long as I could remember I had suffered dark moods, self doubt and anxiety.  This had reached such severe proportions on two occasions that I had attempted suicide. The doctors responded with anti depressants and these took the edge off for a while but offered no long term solution.  I assumed there was something wrong with me and I couldn’t change.  I beat myself up for feeling bad, after all my life was pretty good really, and this made me feel even worse.

Self doubt stops your dreams in their tracks

March 2014

Having set up a business in 2010, after redundancy caused by the slump, I had spent a pretty stressful few years trying to build it up.  For a number of reasons by March 2014 we had severe cashflow problems and I feared the business would fail.  I stood to lose everything so I resorted to my old friend – beating myself up!

It wasn’t long before I had convinced myself that I couldn’t go on, and my family would be better off without me.

The Bridge

On a Friday morning instead of driving to my office I drove to a bridge in North Wales with the clear intention to end things.  I remember standing in the centre of the bridge and deciding to phone my wife one last time.  She talked me in to going back to my car (at the end of the bridge) and it was then that 2 Policemen appeared.  They took care of me, I was transported to the local hospital and I started my journey to recovery.

Recovery

Over the following months I received the obligatory anti depressants but, much more importantly, help from an excellent clinical psychologist.  Katie explained to me that I was actually ‘normal’ and that the anxiety and depression I thought I suffered from were actually being created in my own mind.  This was news to me as I really believed they were in-built and unchangeable.

It wasn’t too long before I really started to see improvement in myself (Other people spotted it first!).  When my time with Katie ended I was determined to build on the foundations she had helped me to lay.  For the first time in as long as I could remember I felt in control of my feelings, emotions, and life!  I wasn’t going to let this get away.

Maintain a positive view and you will Thrive

Thriving

By now I had decided that I wanted to help other people learn what I had learn’t and live their lives to the full.  I started to volunteer at a local charity helping people with low mood and anxiety.  I discovered that I loved the work and, because of my own experiences, I was pretty good at it.

Well that was me bitten!  I started to look round for training and I was determined that this would be comprehensive and in depth so I could be sure I knew what I was doing. I discovered The Thrive Programme.

Not only was the training detailed and in depth, the Programme is evidence and research based.  I went through The Thrive Programme as a client and soon found that the self esteem and confidence I had already gained was supercharged.  Not only that but the improvement I felt was permanent and constantly growing. How could I not follow up such a great opportunity?

Thrive With Ian

In 2016, after being trained,  I qualified as a Licensed Thrive Consultant and set up Thrive With Ian.  I surprise myself daily at my new found confidence and self esteem.  Most of my friends always thought I was confident but they didn’t know what was going on under the surface.  This is genuine confidence, anxiety and depression are a thing of the past and on the odd occasion I have a bad day (I am still human after all), I know what to do and carry on.

So what is the bridge to me?  That bridge, on that rainy March morning in 2014, was meant to be a solution.  I would jump and that would solve everything!  I now understand that would’t have been the case but it was what I believed at the time.

Contrary to my plans and expectations it became the bridge to a new, thriving, life.  Gone are the days of anxiety, depression, self doubt and all those negative emotions.  Gone are the days of relying on alcohol or prescription medication to dull the pain.  They have been replaced by a positive, thriving life built on strong psychological foundations as taught in The Thrive Programme.

Can it work for you?  – Absolutely YES

I was 60 when I discovered The Thrive Programme and I am living proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks!  Anybody of any age can benefit with The Thrive Programme so  Contact me NOW and I will help you find your bridge to a great future.

Ian Crosswell

I’m Ian and I’m a qualified Thrive Programme Consultant. Using the professionally developed Thrive Programme – a proven, evidence based, positive psychology training programme – I work with people from all walks of life, providing the insights and skills they need to change their lives for the better.