Silver Linings

About

mission

To provide a positive voice of encouragement, perspective and hope in a challenging world.

objective

To encourage people to try things without a fear of failure, to learn from their mistakes, and to make a positive difference in the world around them.

To instil hope by offering a greater vision of life’s possibilities and a realisation that we are all created for purpose.

To offer perspective so that regardless of the current struggles a person may be facing, they can be grateful each day knowing the blessings they have relative to so many others.

why silver linings?

I woke up one morning, 25 years old, and decided I no longer wanted to live. I had been suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome for 18 months and everything just started to go wrong. My illness had not been diagnosed at the time and so I assumed that the problem was just me – I simply wasn’t good enough. I was in constant pain, couldn’t work more than half a day at work, had no money and began suffering clinical depression. Fortunately, that morning I found the strength to seek medical help instead of doing anything stupid, and within two years I was back on my feet, had fulfilled my dreams of owning a cocktail bar, and had a new outlook on life.

Although those years were a terrible time in my life, I look back on the experience as the best thing that has ever happened. It has given me a greater perspective on life and now I know I have the strength to cope no matter how low things get.

defining moments

The experience also started me thinking about defining moments in my life and what I had learnt from the things that have gone wrong. I remembered a visit to our school from an amazing guy called Billy Graham. I had just returned to school after the best part of two years off with a bad back. I had always been a top student and done well in school, but on returning from surgery, had decided that no one could reasonably expect me to do as well as I used to and that I had a really good excuse not to try. Secretly I was probably scared of trying in case I was actually so far behind that I couldn’t get the type of grades I used to get. Through his visit to my school and his inspirational message, Billy fired me with a new motivation to succeed and through hard work I received a number of top awards at our school prize-giving.

The time I spent in hospital recovering from back surgeries was also a great lesson in life and perspective. Across from my bed was a boy the same age as me who had been in a motorbike accident and would possibly never walk again. In the corner was a man in a coma with brain damage who had been in an accident at work on the wharves, and in the bed to my left was a man who had just been diagnosed as having an inoperable brain tumor and was going to die within a month or two, leaving a wife and 18 year old daughter. Life as a 16 year old with a treatable back injury was pretty good in comparison.

the book

From my reflections on these events and others in my life, I reached three conclusions, and with them, the motivation to publish my first book, Silver Linings on the Long White Cloud.

1)    There is always a silver lining, but even if you can’t find it, there will always be someone else worse off, so don’t lose sleep when things go wrong.
2)    Making mistakes and failing can provide great learning experiences. New Zealanders are too quick to criticize people who fail and too slow to celebrate people who are putting themselves on the line and actually having a crack.
3)    The opportunity to hear stories and wisdom from inspirational people can make a significant difference in your life.

This website is a result of the positive feedback from the book. The stories on this site aren’t the usual success stories. They celebrate the adversities, failures and mistakes of some of the most successful people around and offer thoughts on how we can lead a more fulfilling life if we are prepared to get outside our comfort zone, find strength from our adversities and learn the lessons from failure, living without the fear of making mistakes.

I hope this site provides you with some encouragement, hope and perspective for life. Please let your friends know about this site and share your feedback with me.