Introduction
Introduction By: Patrick Nolan
Patrick Nolan here.
This week’s chapter hits a little different. It’s not just about what you’re made of. It’s about what’s acting on you. Paul opens up about a phase of his journey where the Elements Mind, Body, and Soul were being tugged in different directions by pressures both seen and unseen.
If you’ve ever tried to “power through” stress, pretend things are okay when they’re not, or felt the slow erosion of your energy from forces you couldn’t quite name… you’ll feel this one in your bones.
Paul takes us into the storm of grief, therapy, executive pressure, and the pivotal moment when he stopped swimming upstream and started mapping the currents.
We’re talking about Forces. The internal ones that whisper stories in your head. The external ones that demand more than you’ve got to give. And most importantly, how to notice them before they run your life on autopilot.
The Forces At Play
Written By: Paul Cobbin
Narrated By: Paul Cobbin
For me, the early stages post-diagnosis were somewhat of a false start. Life went on, because the first stage of grief is denial, so I continued on from that first outpouring under the Betel Nut tree. Maintaining my stoic composure, like execs should, it was business as usual.
Silently however, my mind and body had a difference of opinion and it took a good two to three months for cracks to appear because during that time I still had a corporate role to up keep, it was christmas time with family and work stresses like quarterly board reports still had to be done and then there were rounds of medical analysis to undergo.
As the true extent of my condition began to be clear, the cracks began to appear.
The cracks first surfaced in my temperament and then migrated out into my personality and that’s when my wife politely guided me towards mental health therapy. All of a sudden I went from being an extrovert to being insular, defensive and introverted.
