Episode 39 — Who Am I Now? | Finding Your Identity After a Heart Attack

Episode 39 — Who Am I Now? | Finding Your Identity After a Heart Attack

Episode 39 — Who Am I Now? | Finding Your Identity After a Heart Attack When I got home from hospital after my heart attack, I walked through the front door, sat on the couch, and looked at my family photos on the wall. I thought I'd seen them for the last time. Within days the fear and anxiety hit. I'd lie on the pillow every night listening to my own heartbeat, asking it to keep going until morning. But fear wasn't the only thing that came. There was euphoria too. Anger. Grief for the man I used to be. And eventually a quiet reckoning with the question I wasn't ready for. Who am I now? This episode opens a new chapter — life after the initial recovery, and the deeper work of figuring out who you've become on the other side of it. 🔗 Free 7-Day Mind Reset Plan:  👉 https://strongerafterthestorm.com/the-7-day-mind-reset-plan/ [https://strongerafterthestorm.com/the-7-day-mind-reset-plan/] This is Stronger After the Storm. I'm Dougie — a Scottish Borders forestry contractor who had a heart attack at 50, and I'm here to be the man a few steps further down the road that I wish I'd met when I first got home. 💻 Visit StrongerAfterTheStorm.com — the home of the podcast and weekly Reflection Letters.   📩 Each week I write an honest letter for men rebuilding life after a heart attack. You can sign up on the site.   🎧 Make sure to follow the podcast so you don’t miss the next episode.   ⭐ If something in this episode helped you, please leave a review on Apple or Spotify — it really helps more men find us.   🤝 And if you know someone going through the same storm, share this with him. It might be just what he needs today.

Episode 38 Helping Others Without Losing Yourself

Episode 38 Helping Others Without Losing Yourself In this episode I talk about something that crept up on me without me realising it — the weight of carrying other people's struggles when you've been open about your own. When you've been honest about what you've been through, people start opening up to you. That's a good thing. But I found myself pouring out more than I was putting back in, and that's not something you can sustain. I share what that felt like, what I had to get honest with myself about, and why just showing up — steady, honest, not running on empty — is more useful than trying to fix anything for anyone. If you're the one people lean on, your own head needs looking after first. The 7-Day Mind Reset Plan is free, and it's in the link below. https://strongerafterthestorm.com/the-7-day-mind-reset-plan/ [https://strongerafterthestorm.com/the-7-day-mind-reset-plan/]  I'm taking a short break over the next couple of weeks, but I'll be back with more soon.  This is Stronger After the Storm. I'm Dougie — a Scottish Borders forestry contractor who had a heart attack at 50, and I'm here to be the man a few steps further down the road that I wish I'd met when I first got home. 💻 Visit StrongerAfterTheStorm.com — the home of the podcast and weekly Reflection Letters.   📩 Each week I write an honest letter for men rebuilding life after a heart attack. You can sign up on the site.   🎧 Make sure to follow the podcast so you don’t miss the next episode.   ⭐ If something in this episode helped you, please leave a review on Apple or Spotify — it really helps more men find us.   🤝 And if you know someone going through the same storm, share this with him. It might be just what he needs today.

Episode 37 - Saying Goodbye To The Life Before

Episode 37 - Saying Goodbye To The Life Before There's a part of recovery nobody really talks about. For me, it looked a lot like grief — but nobody had died. This week I talk about saying goodbye to the life I had before the heart attack. Not just the man I was on the inside, but the shape of my days. The pace I kept. The quiet assumptions about how it was all going to go. There's even a name for it — ambiguous loss. Grief without a death. Mourning something that's gone in a way nobody quite sees, sometimes including yourself. If you're missing who you were, missing the way life used to be, and not yet sure who you're becoming — you're not on your own with it. I think there's a lot of us in that space. 🔗 Free 7-Day Mind Reset Plan — for that in-between place when you're not quite sure who you're becoming yet:  👉 https://strongerafterthestorm.com/the-7-day-mind-reset-plan/ [https://strongerafterthestorm.com/the-7-day-mind-reset-plan/] 💻 Visit StrongerAfterTheStorm.com — the home of the podcast and weekly Reflection Letters.   📩 Each week I write an honest letter for men rebuilding life after a heart attack. You can sign up on the site.   🎧 Make sure to follow the podcast so you don’t miss the next episode.   ⭐ If something in this episode helped you, please leave a review on Apple or Spotify — it really helps more men find us.   🤝 And if you know someone going through the same storm, share this with him. It might be just what he needs today.

Episode 36 | The Gap Between Knowing and Doing

Episode 36 | The Gap Between Knowing and Doing After everything I'd been through — the heart attack, the recovery, the lessons — you'd think I'd be the first to stop when my body told me to. This week I wasn't. And it caught me out. In this episode I talk about something every man who's been through a cardiac event wrestles with. The gap between what you know you should do — and what life makes you do anyway. The signals were there. The fatigue. The breathlessness. That running on empty feeling. But finances, responsibility, and that deep instinct to just keep going overrode all of it. Until my body stopped asking politely. If any of that sounds familiar — this one's for you. 🔗 Free 7-Day Mind Reset Plan: 👉 https://strongerafterthestorm.com/the-7-day-mind-reset-plan/ [https://strongerafterthestorm.com/the-7-day-mind-reset-plan/] 💻 Visit StrongerAfterTheStorm.com — the home of the podcast and weekly Reflection Letters.   📩 Each week I write an honest letter for men rebuilding life after a heart attack. You can sign up on the site.   🎧 Make sure to follow the podcast so you don’t miss the next episode.   ⭐ If something in this episode helped you, please leave a review on Apple or Spotify — it really helps more men find us.   🤝 And if you know someone going through the same storm, share this with him. It might be just what he needs today.

Episode 35 - You're Not The Same Man After A Heart Attack — Here's Why That's Okay

Episode 35 - You're Not The Same Man After A Heart Attack — Here's Why That's Okay You survived the heart attack. You did the rehab. You went back to work. But something underneath has changed — and nobody warned you about that part. In this episode I talk about what it really feels like when you start to realise you're not the same man you were before. The shift in how you think, what you notice, what you care about. The frustration of wanting the old you back. And the quiet adjustment that happens when you finally accept that recovery isn't about going backwards — it's about figuring out who you are now. If you've been carrying this quietly, you're not the only one. FREE 7-DAY MIND RESET PLAN Built from the things that actually helped me in those early raw days after my heart attack. Download it free at  https://strongerafterthestorm.com/the-7-day-mind-reset-plan/ Stronger After the Storm — honest conversations for men rebuilding life after difficult things. Website:  https://strongerafterthestorm.com/youre-not-the-same-man-after-a-heart-attack/ New podcast episodes every Tuesday. 💻 Visit StrongerAfterTheStorm.com — the home of the podcast and weekly Reflection Letters.   📩 Each week I write an honest letter for men rebuilding life after a heart attack. You can sign up on the site.   🎧 Make sure to follow the podcast so you don’t miss the next episode.   ⭐ If something in this episode helped you, please leave a review on Apple or Spotify — it really helps more men find us.   🤝 And if you know someone going through the same storm, share this with him. It might be just what he needs today.