“Our sense of Identity is the lid to how high we can rise in life.“
John Maxwell
To those who are not aware of you, who are you? What do you do and what benefit do you desire for the world?
My name is Eric, born in Ghana, raised in New Zealand and moved to Melbourne in 1997. As the only African in my school at the time, I was heavily racially bullied, the side effects of that were quite traumatizing, leading to anxiety, depression and eventually suicidal thoughts.
The biggest killer in Australia for young people between 12-25 years is suicide as a result of mental health issues, in which bullying is a leading factor, therefore my work and mission is to significantly improve the mental health and spiritual health of young people so that self-harm, depression and suicidal thoughts are NOT an option.
I desire a world, where young people have a strong sense of identity, resilience and purpose so their youthful years can be their best years also!
When did you have your light bulb moment of who you are or who you wanted to become?
It happened in 2002, I was in a meeting where I was deeply encouraged about the future despite all the craziness of my teenagehood, funny enough, I believed in the encouragement that I could have a bright future and that was the beginning for me.
What unique and motivating actions did you take to become who you are now?
I surrounded myself with people I wanted to be like, so a lot of coaches and mentors, I dived deep into personal development, I also started some initiatives like writing 3 books, businesses, the idea behind those actions was fail fast so you can learn the lessons to become better. I still have mentors and coaches, not a week goes by where I haven’t spoken to at least 1 mentor.
What changed in your behaviour, attitude and mindset when you started to grow more on your
journey.
One of the changes in my behaviour and attitude was definitely the idea that ‘the thing is never the thing, it just leads to the thing’, Earlier on in my journey, I thought I knew exactly what I was doing, but then that thing wouldn’t work out as I planned, but it would always lead to the next ‘thing’, ‘idea’ or ‘venture’ so staying flexible and not being attached to 1 idea has been a massive blessing as to why I am where I am today.
What qualities did you discover or realise about yourself on your journey that you didn’t belief
you had or could do?
The mindset that ‘all things are possible to those who believe’, for someone who failed in English, yet goes on to publish 3 books, I’m grateful for the possibilities when someone believes and actions on their beliefs, despite even their past failures.
From a third-person perspective, how would you answer the question; who am I?
Who Am I? Eric is a proud husband, a father, friend but most importantly the concept of his spiritual identity is what drives him in his roles and his passion to serve to make the world a better place for young people and for everyone.
What is the best piece of advice about self-discovery that you have received or came across and would like to share with everyone?
- In John Maxwell’s law of lid principle, he mentions that our sense of Identity is the lid to how high we can rise in life. Our achievements cannot exceed the level of our identity, value and worth, so once you discover your identity and worth, you will become truly unstoppable, breaking every lid and limitation. For me my Identity, worth and value are spiritual in nature through my faith in God.
Connect with Eric and follow his journey.