I got married and had three wonderful children. Then I also started my own small Transport Company and things should have been ok. My marriage began to break down however, and my life and how I conducted myself, began to change. We sought help of course and there were Psychologists and Counselors involved but none of that seemed to improve the situation. Eventually I turned to Self Help books and began to read and learn. 

By now I’m thirty something years old and I’m learning that people are writing books about the Black Sheep stuff that I had suppressed for so long. This began a lifetime of books, courses, Seminars and travel that broadened my outlook on life. I was learning but the marriage of almost 20 years and the business of about 15 years, both eventually failed.

I changed my life a little and after a couple of years began another long term relationship. This one lasted around 15 years and was eventually doomed to failure. The truth is that I grew and matured as a person immensely through this troubled period of my life. I thank both those women for whatever circumstances, both good and bad, that we lived through. I know that I was not blameless but obviously some lessons have to be learned the hard way. By now I have realised that, through those difficult times, if I haven’t been consumed by the process then I should have learned some valuable lessons. It’s sort of like - if it didn’t kill me then it made you stronger. 

By now I am in my late 60’s, I’ve blown up two retirement plans, I have no life partner, I’m in pretty good health and I’ve learned heaps of valuable spiritual knowledge. Me, myself, I am going ok. What do I do with my life?

Well, with my new hard earned positive mental outlook, and all that life experience that I had gained, I summoned up a huge amount of courage and began to court a beautiful Chinese Malaysian woman who is twenty years my junior. She told me that she didn’t want a boyfriend. Well, she now has a life partner and we’ve been together for more than seven very happy years.

I also engaged a mentor. I told her that I wanted to be a powerful public speaker, one of the things that I had suppressed with my Black Sheep mentality. I also told her that for three quarters of my life I had found it difficult to speak up when I really needed to. I now regularly speak up at meetings and offer my perspective to others. I occasionally do public speaking at meetings, and I now take on roles that I would never have attempted even 10 years ago.

So, I’m now 75. Don’t ever think that your “race is run”. Since I turned fifty years of age I have:

Walked the Kokoda Track in New Guinea - nine days in the jungle carrying a backpack, some of it so steep that when a person was two metres in front of me, I was looking at the back of his boots.

Walked the Milford Track in New Zealand - a four day trek through challenging terrain.

Travelled to Antarctica on an adventure tour - went ice climbing up sheer ice cliffs, camped out on the ice for one night, visited Research Stations and travelled around icebergs and the coast in icy water in rubber Zodiac boats.

Found my current life partner and began a beautiful relationship.

Travelled to Asia and helped with charity work in Malaysia and Cambodia.

Travelled to Sarawak and made a gruelling climb to view the Mulu Pinnacles - the last 500 metres involved negotiating 17 steel ladders that had been used because the terrain was so difficult.

In 2012 I had a quadruple bypass operation and worked hard on my fitness so that I could return to truck driving after 3 months off. I had to argue with the heart specialist - even though I was fit and passed all his tests, he didn’t want to pass me because I wouldn’t take his medication.

A couple of years previous to that I overcame Prostate Cancer without surgery or any other intervention by the medical profession. I adjusted my attitude to life and changed my diet to begin a fresh fruit and vegetable juicing regime every day.

Finally, my last driving job was driving triple roadtrains carting cattle in Northern Australia. That is about as challenging a job as you will find anywhere, both physically and mentally.

Having now given up driving I am starting to pursue things in life that are important to me. I’m not really sure what is next but I am looking forward to what the future may hold.

Given that I achieved way more in the last third of my life than I did in the first two thirds - you can be sure that I’m not finished yet.