Pete's Story

When I first went to school my teachers seemed very unhappy with me. They sent me down a year and told my mother I had learning difficulties. I was sent to a new school, and at the age of 10 was diagnosed as having dyslexia by another educational psychologist.

Exceptionally gifted at mucking about

I didn't know what it meant to have a high IQ, all I knew was that my reading and spelling were below average and I did badly in my exams. Because I was miserable I responded by becoming very naughty, seeking a different form of attention. I was exceptionally gifted at mucking about.

A different educational psychologist suggested I go to a less academic school. I was bullied. I got in with the wrong crowd, seeking identity through smoking and drinking and playing at being hard. The self-fulfilling prophecy of O-levels came true: I got none, as predicted. I managed to talk my way onto a college course in sports and recreational studies.

Determined to prove everyone else wrong

I started a diploma in higher education and although I really struggled with my essays and assignments, I was determined to prove everyone else wrong.

At the age of 20 I started a sports science degree. I'd been working as a fitness and aerobics instructor in a health club and forging my own destiny with infectious enthusiasm. After graduating I was working an 80 hour week as a fitness instructor.

I began a teaching degree because I wanted to go back into schools to try and helps kids like me. But I wasn't listening to what was really going on within myself.

Always on the move

I started helping people lose weight and this had opened up a counselling role. I was teaching psychology to other people. I was always on the move, with lots of clients dependent on me.

I needed to completely reassess...

For all my knowledge, it was still easier for me to focus my attention outwards on my clients, than on myself. Eventually I realised that I needed to completely reassess many of the lessons I had absorbed when I was small, and attempt to reorganise my thinking.

Now I'm living proof!

I am living proof that by taking your life into your own hands and learning how to take care of yourself, you can have more joy, happiness and spontaneity than you ever could have imagined.

This has been the focus of all the work I do- for enabling people to find a way to access the happiness that is already within themselves if they are prepared to look for it.