When I was 29, I set a goal to take a year off work to travel hoping to find more purpose to my life.

Of course, whenever we set goals in life, life tests us. And I was no exception. Successfully meeting my travel goal ultimately meant I had a difficult choice to make far from home :

Facing major life challenges while 17,195 km away from family

In 2001 I had ended up living and working in Sydney, Australia, at a place in my life I absolutely loved. But in a space of a few weeks everything crumbled and I'd found myself

1) Out of work during the Dot Com crash

2) Going through a painful breakup

To make matters worse

• Friends I'd made were her friends so I felt especially isolated from my family on the other side of the world in the UK.

• With no work my Resident Visa was expiring in a few weeks and I couldn't even get an interview.

The situation in my mind seemed hopeless and without understanding what was happening to me I slid into reactive depression.

The happy go lucky person who had travelled for twelve months around USA, Thailand, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia confidently on his own was no longer someone I remembered being.

I felt worse than worthless because my mind was telling me
' I WILL ALWAYS FEEL LIKE THIS AND IT WON'T GET BETTER'

My family were frantic about this severe personality change and outlook and, quite reasonably, insisted I should just come home, get help and sort things out.

But I instinctively felt if I made that choice then I wouldn't come back to Australia - I place I had grown to love. And I wanted to leave on my own terms.

Although it would have been easy to throw the towel in and go back home. Instead I threw myself into eating well, exercising and yes finding a good Counsellor (after a few false starts - Men's Mental Health back in 2001 wasn't the most socially acceptable topic). The job setbacks hurt more than ever but eventually and just in time I secured a role and found the black fog in my mind lifting. I went from strength to strength from there.

And here's the thing:

As dark as it was being forced to make these choices ultimately got me to where I am today which is

• Happily married for 20 years to my beautiful Sydney born wife I met not a few months later

• Have friends who met me at my lowest point and are brothers and sisters to me today

• Humble and grateful compared to the cocky youngster I was before

• Empathic and sympathetic to any one having mental wellness issues

• Stronger from the resilience and grit I've proved exists when times get tough

My takeaway : Difficult choices create an easier life in the long run.