Chris really has been on a hero’s journey, from child abuse, being a dad and husband at 19 , breaking his back, a house fire, divorce, homeless for 13 weeks, a stroke at 40, and now author, business owner, new wife and baby no 3 on the way.
Age 8 Chris was abused by his babysitter and only spoke out in the last 4 years. Then bullied at school for 2 years and again said nothing again. By 19 he was married with a child so his life was work hard, get a house and do it up.
Two years later he broke his back after kicking a coke can and it wasn’t untill 2 weeks later when a private scan revealed a broken back. Chris always likes to see the silver linings in everything and this injury helped him get out of a job he didnt like, and led him to a better opportunity.
In 1999 his home burned down. The silver linings? His fab insurance policy meant his house went up in value by £25k and he could move to a better area and a bigger house.
He knew the marriage wasn’t happy, and so they decided to have another baby. This didn’t help but determined to stay, he put all his energy into his daughter taking her everywhere and doing everything for her. Exchanging 16th year anniversary cards was the pivotal moment when they decided to separate.
In 2014 Chris started a business, but ended up homeless. His business partner pulled out from letting him stay with him the day before he was moving in and rather than ask for help he slept in his car, by a dumpster. This rolled into 13 weeks. He even attending his brothers stag do and wedding through this time and no one knew. The whole process has humbled him to appreciate everything he has now.
Those 13 weeks came to an end when he had a stroke in Tesco. This was the real pivotal moment for Chris to start being honest and telling his loved ones what he’d been through and that he needed help.
A year later he met his soon to be Columbian wife, 13 years his junior, on Tinder, but instantly deleted the app. Then 2 weeks later he reinstalled it and BANG they were a match. She lived in Paris, but they fell in love straight away, and he took on a new house for her to move in, just before she was told she had to move to Denver with her job. Undeterred he flew there every month for 4 years until she eventually got the visa to live in the UK. Not long after arriving lockdown happened, and they went from a very long distance relationship to being together all day and night. he loved it and they still haven’t had a row.
Although he says he’s an athiest and his wife is a Christian one of his favourite books is the Bible. Its the community, faith and parables that feed Chris’s soul, not that there is one God. Tatiana, his wife, is the inspiration and reason for his creative agency and he claims he owes her everything.
Chris is now writing book to detail his story and his bigger vision to help young men to be their best versions. Patience is a virtue is the first line in his book and he believes we all need to sit back, break life and things into smaller chunks and have patience. You can find Chris on LinkedIn and Insta.
As well as podcast host Mel Clarke is also a Life Purpose Coach & Reiki Healer helping people come out of chaos to find their purpose driven direction in life. You can find out more about Mel on her Website, Insta or Facebook
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