Carl Vernon is the bestselling author of four books, including the Amazon #1 bestseller, Anxiety Rebalance. As one of the country's leading anxiety and stress experts, he has been featured in top media including The BBC, GQ Magazine, The Telegraph, The Sun and Sunday Mirror. He was crippled by anxiety for fifteen years until discovering the answers that transformed his life. For the last decade, Carl Vernon has been coaching and writing to get these answers to you.
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Answers are what we are all looking for, right? Let's start there.
WHAT MAKES YOU AN ANXIETY & STRESS EXPERT? Write and coach about what you know. I've lived and breathed anxiety and stress for as long as I can remember. I was crippled by it for over fifteen years, with memories dating as far back as five years old. It all got so bad I couldn't leave my house. Today, things are very different, but it wasn't thanks to the pills that made me a zombie, or the usual, tired trash you find all over the internet. The turning point started with Einstein's definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. My life followed the same Groundhog Day pattern for years. Ten cups of coffee a day. Junk food. A bottle of wine in the evening to try and cope with the uncontrollable stress from a job that crippled me. And still, every day, I wondered why nothing changed. The most profound and yet simple bit of advice I can ever give you is if you want something different, you've got to do something different. YOU'RE NOT A COUNSELLOR, THERAPIST OR DOCTOR. WHAT GIVES YOU AUTHORITY TO WRITE AND COACH ABOUT THESE THINGS? I'm none of these things on purpose. If I did all the usual NLP and CBT type practices, it would make me the same as everyone else. My experience and the experience of many others have shown how ineffective these typical practices can be. I like the common sense approach, and believe the key to change is self-awareness and simplicity. Unless you have been personally tortured by anxiety and stress, it's hard to appreciate just how deep it can go. My success as a coach is credited to my personal experience and understanding. There isn't much that you are experiencing I haven't been through myself. I've been down the road of recovery, and I can show you the way. The daily messages from people who say they've read one of my books and felt like it was written about them and for them is that personal connection and understanding I don't ever want to lose. HOW DID YOU GET INTO WRITING AND COACHING? By chance. I left school aged sixteen with very little to show for it. I started my own business aged twenty-one, built it up, but grew to despise the corporate world. A combination of stress-induced ill health, keeping up with the Joneses and toxic people made me disillusioned with it all. Stress and anxiety were killing me, and I had to tell people about it. From fifteen years of anxiety-induced torture, my first book Anxiety Rebalance came to exist, and it reached #1 on Amazon. It still shocks me today how many people can relate to my experience, and how many lives I've had the absolute pleasure of touching. I believe in 'self-help' as much as you do. But it turns out you can turn your life around with the right answers. I find books and coaching the best methods to get these answers to you. DO YOU DO TALKS? Funny you should ask. I do. In fact, I've shared the stage with the likes of Frank Bruno and Ruby Wax. More here. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ANIMAL? Finally, a lighthearted question! There is only one animal worth mentioning. The lovely, independent furball that is the cat. They pick when they want a fuss, and they call the shots. WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME? Wow. We are getting into a conversation. You're asking me questions and you're really listening. I like you. When I'm not writing books, coaching, or putting the world to rights, you'll find me playing chess, reading, or debating whether or not to go to the gym. You'll also find me in the kitchen cooking up a treat or two. ARE YOU ON SOCIAL MEDIA? Sure am. Links below – you know what to do. |
