You're Stronger Than You Think: Guest, Laura Bratton. #101

Harnessing Courage: Grit, Gratitude and Finding Strength Through Adversity

What happens when life changes in a way you never asked for — and there’s no going back?

In this powerful episode of Busy Pro Fast Wellness, Alan is joined by international speaker, coach and author Laura Bratton, who was diagnosed with an eye disease at the age of nine and had lost her sight by her late teens.

Laura is refreshingly candid about what followed. There was no instant transformation or inspirational epiphany. For years, she says, life was about survival — learning how to navigate a completely different world before she had the mental or physical space to make sense of what had happened. Her experience eventually taught her something profound: we often don’t realise the strength we possess until life forces us to use it.

Together, Alan and Laura explore what adversity can teach us about courage, happiness, self-compassion and resilience. Laura explains why happiness isn't something waiting for us when life finally settles down, but something we can choose in the present — balancing the grit to acknowledge that something is genuinely difficult with the gratitude to recognise what remains good.

Laura also shares a remarkably simple strategy for anyone facing burnout, illness, loss or major change: instead of immediately trying to escape uncomfortable emotions, give yourself ten or fifteen minutes to acknowledge and feel them — and then take the next step forward.

In this episode:

Why Laura's first years without sight were about survival, not transformation

The unexpected role intuition came to play in her life

Why happiness is a choice, rather than a future destination

How grit and gratitude can coexist during genuinely difficult periods

Why acknowledging pain can actually help us move forward