Avery’s indomitable spirit and optimism crowd out his long COVID symptoms and the loss of his home.
Life coach turns personal adversity into learning opportunities
By Alan Wolf, YSN
Best-selling author and two-time AVB Summit speaker Ryan Avery is no stranger to adversity, but it came by the bucketful for him and his family this month.
One week after completing a yearlong and long-saved-for renovation, the Averys lost their dream home and all their possessions in an electrical fire. (Mercifully, no one was hurt.)
Within days, the EMT trainee (yes, he does that too) was felled by a particularly nasty bout of COVID that sent him to two separate emergency rooms.
But through it all, Avery’s live, weekly 15-minute video homilies on becoming the best we can be continued unabated, with his wife Chelsea filling in during the worst of the virus for the first time in 78 episodes.
Not surprisingly, given his eternal optimism, Avery used the setbacks as learning experiences for himself and his audience. From the ashes of his home, he learned that his worth wasn’t in the valuables he kept but in the value he gives. “Things are not that important,” he said.
Similarly, his COVID impairments have given the Ironman competitor and world record holder a better perspective on the difference between what is permanent and what is annoyance with regard to one’s physical, mental and spiritual health. His advice: “Don’t wait, initiate” when it comes to asking for help.
YSN wishes Ryan a speedy recovery and looks forward to his next AVB engagement. Until then, you can catch his live “Tuesday Takeaways” here and his on-demand replays here.
BrandSource, a unit of YSN publisher AVB Inc., is a nationwide buying group for independent appliance, furniture, mattress and CE dealers.
