Trigger warning, this podcast contains discussions relating to PTSD, trauma, mental health, suicide and other potentially distressing experiences. If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, you can call Lifeline on 131114.

Sometimes the moments that nearly break us are the ones that completely change how we choose to live.

Sharon Morrish had spent decades building. A career that saw her become a young female leader in male-dominated industries, a family of three children and, alongside her husband John, a crane business they grew from a single crane into a multi-million-dollar operation.

Then, without warning, a brain aneurysm ruptured.

Sharon woke days later on life support, with no memory of what had happened or of the goodbye letter she'd written to her family before emergency surgery. What followed gave her a very different perspective on resilience, success and how she wanted to spend the life she'd been incredibly lucky to keep.

Sharon's story is about backing yourself when others tell you not to, finding another way when the path in front of you disappears and recognising just how much strength we can find when life gives us no choice but to use it.

In this episode we share:

- Sharon’s early career and what she learnt about backing herself as a young female leader in male-dominated industries.

- Finding the inner strength to keep going when people around her actively didn't want her to succeed.

- The reality of balancing a demanding career with raising three children and feeling guilty whether she was at work or at home.

- Why Sharon and her husband backed themselves to start their own crane business when everyone around them told them not to.

- The risks, setbacks and sacrifices behind building their business over 20 years, including surviving the GFC, union battles and COVID.

- The brain aneurysm that ruptured without warning and left Sharon fighting for her life.

- The goodbye letter Sharon somehow wrote to her family before emergency surgery, despite having no memory of doing it.

- How surviving something she had only a small chance of walking away from changed Sharon’s perspective on life, resilience and what really matters.

- Why gratitude and recognising what is still good can coexist with some of the hardest moments of our lives.

- What it really means to rise when moving forward can sometimes mean simply getting through what is in front of you.

Key Quotes

“You go home and you have a big cry and you go, you're not going to beat me.”

“My subconscious was like, don't know whether I'm going to live or die, but I'm going to say goodbye.”

“You have to zig and zag. You have to go, all right, what can we do to make this happen?”

More about

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