Let’s begin

My mission for this newsletter is driven by a desire to bring something positive to the world, and where better to start than the story behind the name.

The Nil Desperandum newsletter will talk about serious subjects at times. However, ultimately I want to make you smile and bring some fun to your day too.

That being said, this first Newsletter may not make you laugh, but hopefully it will leave you intrigued and inspired.

Anyway, let me get into it…

A day to forget that will always be remembered

It’s hard to describe how I felt when I walked out of the consultants small hospital office having been told I had cancer. It was an almost out of body experience walking back through those corridors. Even the action of walking itself felt weird. Maybe my body was aware I’d been put on a new path, one with plenty of difficult terrain to navigate ahead.

My wife Jenni was waiting in the car. It was the beginning of 2021 and Covid rules and regulations were still rampant. As I crossed the carpark, seeing her face through the windscreen jolted me back to reality. I broke down in tears when I sat in the passenger seat beside her. This wasn’t just my life that had been drastically altered.

The journey home

It was on our journey back home from the hospital that two things happened:

1. I decided to ditch my superstition of counting down from ten to avoid bad luck when I saw a single magpie - clearly that was a load of rubbish!

2. I would find a purpose for this rather inconvenient (and to be honest, scary) upheaval of my life. I started to think about if there was a way to help others in a similar situation.

Our new life

The next few days were a blur as we attempted to get used to our situation. I still remember the feeling of waking every morning. I would experience a blissful five to ten seconds as I transitioned from asleep to awake where I was oblivious to my diagnosis.

Then suddenly it would hit me.

There it was again.

The weight was reintroduced to my shoulders.

Something that was particularly difficult was telling family and friends. I hated the thought of delivering depressing news to the ones I love.

But then my Auntie said this…

It was around this time I received a message from my Auntie. She is someone who for many years has had her own medical issues to deal with. Since she was a young woman she faced challenges with her health, and I’d always admired how stoic she was. Her message told me to remember the Latin saying that was present on a family crest that had been passed down for many generations.

Those words were… yep you guessed it:

Nil Desperandum

Nil Desperandum translates to Never Despair.

As silly as it sounds, I immediately found strength in those words.

In fact I started seeing them as more than words.

Generations of my family had been exposed to that crest. As a result I like to think they were encouraged (perhaps subconsciously) to adopt a Never Despair attitude. Therefore, perhaps this powerful mindset is now in some way part of my DNA.

From there, I started to share my story through my YouTube channel, and now here we are.

It’s three years later, and I want to see if I can build on what I have created.

I want this Newsletter to help others find the strength to Never Despair when times get tough. The great thing is, I think there is a lot of scope around this subject. Many aspects of life feed into building a strong mindset. Exercise, nutrition, sleep, relationships, and much more play a role.

So, I want to thank you for subscribing, and I hope you enjoy what’s to come!

-Peter