Thriving beyond hearing loss: The power of psychological strength

In this episode, Lucy sits down with Anne Best – a Thrive Programme Coach based in Glasgow, Scotland – to discuss how The Thrive Programme helped her (and continues to help her) navigate her journey of living with hearing loss.  

Anne lost her hearing after a complicated journey with asthma and repeated ear, nose and throat infections, and now has bone-anchored hearing aids. 

Anne reflects on her mental health at the start of her journey and says, “I was allowing my poor thinking to control my life”. She initially thought her way out of having the operation she needed to give her a better quality of life and was worried what people would think about seeing her with hearing aids.  

But then she got herself thriving! Anne reveals how getting herself thriving empowered her to take responsibility for the thoughts in her head, the feelings she creates, the way she responds to situations in life, and the words she chooses both inside her head and what she says out loud. She now sees her hearing aids as her power tool!

She says, “There’s fact and there’s fiction, and what I was inclined to do was make up a story – almost as a way of controlling something - and I don’t it anymore. I stick to the facts”. 

This inspiring episode is full of things you can do to take control of your experience of dealing with something challenging in your life. Practical takeaways, mindset shifts, coping skills, a sense of humour even. 

If you’d like to talk to one of the team and get some help with something going on in your life right now, please reach out. We’d love to help.