I love an inspirational story and wanted to share a part of Christine Clayfield’s with you, which was printed in Psychologies Magazine (February 2019).

If you are seeking change in your life but, finding it difficult to know where to start or find that just the thought of letting go of the past overwhelming, you could try hypnotherapy and life coaching. Therapy is a great way of facilitating change fast, whilst boosting confidence and self-esteem at the same time.  If you would like more information on any of the techniques that I use, please call me for an informal chat; Sophia 07391295766

‘“I replaced pain and cruelty with happiness and achievement”

The day Christine Clayfield, author of No Fourth River, decided to be brave was the turning point in her life (Interview Rin Hamburgh)

Insert from book: From the age of five, I was constantly surrounded by fear – fear of being laughed at, fear of being put down, even fear of talking to people. It started when I was sent to boarding school. I used to wet the bed and, the first night it happened, I knocked on the nuns’ door to ask for help. Instead, they made me do the ‘walk of shame’, carrying a bundle of wet sheets through all the dormitories as they announced, ‘Make way for the bed-wetter’, and encouraged the children to laugh and shout horrible things. That happened regularly.

I grew into a rebellious teenager and spent a lot of time in bars drinking to forget the despair and dread. That’s where I met my first husband, who turned out to be a violent man. It was only when he beat me into a coma that things changed. I knew I couldn’t go back – if I did, I would die. So, I decided: ‘That’s it! No one is ever going to hurt me again and no one is ever going to laugh at me again.’ In that moment, I started to peel away the layers of misery, pain and cruelty and replace them with happiness, success and achievement.

The first thing I did was start to read books about achievement; about how to think highly of yourself. I got into sport and found myself succeeding. I won a long-distance swimming competition and realised, ‘I am not a useless person like the nuns, my dad and my husband told me.’ I decided to take the principles I used in sport – my determination to keep going – and apply them to everything in my life. That’s when I discovered I was a really good business person. Since then, I’ve had many different businesses and have always made them successful.

I think, in order to be brave, you need to be able to use the things that have happened in your past and change them into good things for your future. Whatever your past has been, don’t blame it for who you are today. Try and find something positive in it. I think that’s the only possible way to get over those things, be brave and turn everything around.

‘No Fourth River’ by Christine Clayfield (Rasc Publishing, £10.49); nofourthriver.com ‘