If you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, then close your eyes!

Your brain will then stop searching and focus on the more immediate situation, the present. It will need to work out what you need to do right now in order not to walk into the wall.

I thought of this one day when I was struggling to make myself go for a walk because it hurt.

It is often the case in life that we focus too much time and effort on the end game and not enough on the present. Sometimes, this can lead to being completely overwhelmed and not actually achieving anything, let alone our all important goals.

Take my arrival to Barbados for instance, when I got here I was on crutches, I couldn’t walk unaided, let alone stroll along the beach, go for a swim, hop on the reggae bus and go into town. I felt so disappointed and couldn’t imagine how I was possibly going to be able to progress to where I wanted to be – to be able to do all these things!

So I set about taking it one day at a time, I couldn’t manage any more than that, I got up every day with the intention of doing my exercises, eating well and hoping the next day it would be easier, that’s it, no pressure, I simply couldn’t handle it or I was going to get depressed and for those of you who know me, that is not somewhere I want to be.

After a week, I was able to get in the swimming pool,  a few days later, I managed my first unaided walk on the beach, albeit very short. Two weeks in, I managed to be helped into the sea so I could swim with my children before they went back home, it was wonderful.

Now three weeks in, I have been all over the place on the buses, can now swim lengths in the pool, have reached my goal of walking to the same spot as last year on the beach, total of 2 miles, I have progressed onto the next level of physio exercises and I am up to 20 mins on the exercise bike. How? Because I never gave up, I didn’t believe for a minute I would be able to do all this the day I arrived, so I broke it down into baby steps, which was basically all I could do anyway, so I had very little choice!

Never giving up has helped me recover from all my other surgeries and achieve lots of personal goals, it is, I think, probably the only way of achieving them. It is also important to recognise when you are not moving in the right direction to reach your goals and when you feel you are in that place, close your eyes, let your brain come back to the present and focus on what needs to be done right now, don’t get caught up in living the future, besides who knows what that may hold?

I have met so many talented people who are seriously fighting against the odds to achieve their goals, it is particularly difficult in the world of creative arts. I met people at the Screen writer’s festival in London last year, with some fascinating and fabulous scripts, all desperately trying to get their film made, I urge you all ‘Never give up’ I know there will be days you wonder why on earth you are bothering but if you give up you will not only be giving up on your goal and letting your talents go to waste but you will also lose a piece of your soul and spirit, the chances are you will resent life and those around you and that is infinitely worse than the hard work of ‘Never giving up’.

I am not suggesting any of this is easy but it is doable, with a huge amount of determination and wherever possible gaining the support of others. Also, thinking outside the box is always a good way forward, if you have been doing things the same way for a long time and not making any progress then change it! It may be scary, even risky but I don’t think many people will have succeeded without taking a few risks, besides that’s what makes us feel alive.

So if you find yourself feeling like giving up – close your eyes and come back to the present, maybe change your game plan, maybe ask for help or maybe just take a few days away from it  because when you take the weight off your brain it reacts in the same way your body does, it feels free and when that happens it has the ability to be creative and find solutions.

As a life coach, I would ordinarily suggest avoiding the word ‘Never’ it can be incredibly negative and is often used as an overstatement – “you never do the washing up” etc. But on this occasion I am breaking the rules, well what are there for if not to be broken. I am happy to say ‘Never give up’ because that’s what keeps me going and I hope it will keep you going too.

As an actor, I am acutely aware how hard it is to keep going when your life can be full of rejection, so to all you actors out there ‘Never give up!’