Rick Sharpe hit rock bottom when he realised that he didn't know or like the man he saw looking back at him from the mirror. He knew that he'd manifested the demise and painful breakup of a relationship and that history was recurring in some way shape or form. To better understand what had happened and to try to manage his debilitating thoughts and feelings he sat down and started journaling.  

Now Rick is on a mission to raise awareness about emotional struggle and help others suffering emotionally.

Kenya Sheat describes herself a natural born writer and her love of writing was the turning point and therapy she needed to recover her emotional strength when she suffered a breakdown following the death of her much loved Grandma and 2 close friends.

It was at the 'rock bottom' moment that Kenya followed the advice of her therapist and turned to her journal.  She began recording her thoughts and feelings and this kept her focused on the things she was grateful for and allowed her to express her emotions in a way that made sense to her. 

Kenya says "Writing is how I've been able to handle a lot of things and then reading it back to myself. It helps me to understand exactly what I'm going through. Its one thing to be going through something and people can see what your going through from the outside but by writing it down I'm taking my inside and turning it to the outside. I'm flipping the inside out so I can visually see and better understand." She learned the power of seeing her feelings on the page in front of her and the sense of peace and understanding that came from"

When she finished her degree studies Kenya joined corporate America and prepared for the long hours and commitment needed to be successful. But she had a dream to start her own business and took a leap of faith, left her corporate job and started on her entrepreneurial journey.  It was tough and for a while she was homeless and living in a shelter in New York City.  But she know she wasn't meant to stay there and looks back on that time as a necessary part of her journey towards creating her own business but also to understanding herself.

Hanna Bier was a drunk 20-something trying to find Spirit in electronic music, parties and alcohol. The abuse she had endured as a child had left her feeling disconnected and lost.

She couldn’t know it then, but dancing her heart out for days set her on a path to being a healer.

Hanna Bier is a Soulful Success Coach, Energy Healer, Family Constellation Therapist and a Priestess of the Divine Feminine. She runs the podcast 'Mystics On A Mission Show' and currently lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

She offers 1:1 coaching, E-courses and soulful podcast episodes for kind creatives who don't know how to achieve the success they desire (yet)

British entrepreneur, piano player, international racing driver and business coach Jonny Cooper hit rock bottom when in 2007 he was forced to declare himself bankrupt and lost everything.

He had sold his thriving 8 figure financial services business on an 'earn out'  but the buyer failed to pay up.

Never doubting that 'he'd be back' Johnny drew on every ounce of emotional strength and skill he had and started to look for ways to earn money.  He fell into online business coaching as a way to put food on the table but quickly found that his passion for helping people who helped others meant that his coaching became more than just another job. 

Now Johnny supports coaches, trainers, therapists and consultants who are serious about growing their practice and enjoying a life of effortless abundance.

Johnny is the founder of www.TheSuccessParty.com, helping transformation professionals find more of their ideal clients, more easily.

He’s also the voice behind the legendary Jonny Hates Marketing Facebook Group, and swears that he really, really does.......hate marketing, that is.

With thanks to http://www.purple-planet.com/ for the music

This week I'm sharing my 4 top tips to feeling emotionally strong when you walk in the door after a busy and stressful day at work and the kids launch themselves at you demanding attention.

How it's hard to disconnect and leave the stress at work and the effects this has on your relationship with your children.

As one man I spoke to put it " I wanted my children to remember me as a dad who played with them so I knew I had to change" 

With thanks to http://www.purple-planet.com/ for the royalty free music

Krysti Turznik's rock bottom moment came quite unexpectedly one day whilst she was in the shower and she experienced the overwhelming symptoms of dizziness that were associated with a heart condition she had developed in her late teens.

She felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and despair at the way that her life had come to that point because she knew that she wasn't going to be able to fulfil the dreams and potential that she had within her.

But she decided at that moment that she could choose to continue her life the way that it was in that moment or she could allow herself to claim something different.

So she started to explore some of the deeper emotions that she had been suppressing and not wanting to deal with and miraculously as she did so her heart condition healed as well.

She learned that "we have more power than we claim and that we are the creators in our lives and we have the ability if we give ourselves permission to really make our lives that beautiful and magical and create that ideal life that we set for ourselves."

Now Krysti is a motivational speaker who shows people how to shine light on their shadows, understand that mindset is everything and helps them to  create a life that they don't need to escape from and where every day can feel like a day at the beach.

What is emotional strength in a man? A week of conversations with friends about the stress of working in a modern corporate environment prompted me to think about the way that men particularly manage their stress and feelings by being stoic, and just carrying on.  Is it true that real men don't cry and they definitely don't ask for help?

Sarah Clark plans for the future hit rock bottom when at 28 years old, she received a diagnosis of premature ovarian failure.

She accepted the diagnosis and chose to have both her children through in vitro fertilisation using donor eggs. Years later she retrained as a life and health coach with a special interest in diet and lifestyle and realised the root cause of her infertility and allergies was a food intolerance.

Now Sarah is the author of Fabulously Fertile - Supercharge your Fertility Naturally.  The Fabulously Fertile Cookbook and Fertility Preparation Program. Her fertility coaching program, which includes functional lab testing, supports couples to make diet and lifestyle changes that dramatically improve the chances of a healthy pregnancy and baby!

Where does emotional strength come from?  Is it something you're born with or do you have to nurture and build it just like physical strength? 

This week I'm sharing some of the ways I've learned to notice and change the things I think and say about and to myself.