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In this episode of From Survivor to Thriver, we sat down with Johnny Sirpilla to talk about his journey with anxiety and how an enormous tragedy changed his perspective on life and gratitude. This led to him helping others in similar situations develop resilience in the face of anxiety, grief, and hardships so that they can grow and thrive.

Johnny Sirpilla is the founder of Encourage, LLC., an entrepreneur, a passionate leader, a committed family man and the author of Life Is Hard but I’ll Be OK: The Power of Hope, Emerging through Pain and Learning to Live with Gratitude.  

A legend in the RV Industry, Johnny endured personal tragedies that led him to repurpose himself in his early 50’s focused on driving meaningful change in the workplace allowing employees to return home empowered. This passion inspired the creation of Encourage, LLC., a self-funded small family office with four divisions; Encourage Healthy Living, Encourage Leadership, Encourage Investment, and Encourage Adoption.  

Johnny is an active public speaker and promoter of reshaping thoughts through difficult times to accept, grow and eventually thrive. He retired in 2017 as Chief Business Development Offer and past President of Camping World and Good Sam after a successful IPO.  

Johnny has been married to his college sweetheart, Susan, for over 30 years and has three grown children, Beau, Bella, and Stone ... one of which is adopted but he can’t remember which one.  

In today’s episode we cover: 

• Overlooked signs of anxiety
• Why you can’t believe everything that you think
• Why we can’t thrive all the time
• How Johnny’s anxiety has impacted his leadership
• How he embraces being countercultural 
• The power of a “why not me” mindset
• Why your biggest emotions are not necessarily a bad thing
• The importance of perspective and resilience
• Johnny’s infertility journey with his wife
• Being cautious in our words of comfort

We hope you enjoyed our conversation with Johnny. If you want to learn more from him, make sure to check out his website here and check out his book. You can also follow him on Instagram here. 

Thanks again for tuning in. We are so grateful to each and every one of you. Please remember to leave a rating and review of our show. It helps us grow and reach those who need it. Also, make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode! 

Links: 

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Check out Johnny’s book

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Get in touch: [email protected]

“It’s important to take a negative thought and reframe it for good.” -Johnny

“We had to learn that resilience and gratitude often go hand in hand because many of the things we were grateful for were ultimately sad.” -Johnny

“We all want to thrive, but we can’t thrive all the time. Shit happens. It’s important to have people in our lives and therapy to help us.” -Marc

“Feeling the extremes of joy and the extremes of grief is important because it also