I was born into a world of wonder and excitement in 1972. The swinging sixties were over, and the world was changing.
I was born in Australia in the western suburbs of NSW. I was smaller than the average boy, with partial mix race, my grandfather on my father’s side was Maori and my grandfather on my Mother’s side was European/Irish. My grandmothers were both born in Australia as were my parents.
I was small for my age, shy, adventurous and a little effeminate. I did not have any communication skills, nor any confidence and I don’t remember having many friends.
Our life as I can remember it was great.
I have two sisters, one older and one younger. We were better off than the average person, living the great Australian dream. It was to be a wonderful time in my life, until the dreaded day it all came crashing down.
My father’s infidelity destroyed everything, and our happy life came like a major car crash. He moved out and we moved on. It was the summer of 1979, my mother remarried, and we moved closer to my mothers’ parents in Manly NSW. The life I knew was now a distant memory, I had to try to fit into a new life which is not easy when you are an outsider.
We lived by the beach in a very nice part of Sydney’s Northern beaches, coming from the western suburbs this was a major change of scenery. The only issue was I didn’t fit in, rather a normal pattern for me. I was picked on and bullied relentlessly from the first day of school, I had no friends and our life at home was darken by domestic violence and alcoholism from my stepfather.
Each day I had to live a lie, put on a happy face as they say, and try to hide the torture of life at home. Life was terrible for me, I became a loner, I loved to be alone and would often disappear for hours in a day, finding solitude in my adventures and pretending I was someone else, living in a different family, a different life.
Although I really loved school and was very good at it, life for me at school was awful. I was consistently bullied for being smart, which continued into my high school years which only got worse, I basically threw away my education, so I wouldn’t be bullied or beaten up which was a daily occurrence. In 1982, my mother had my stepfather arrested after she had enough of the beatings, soon after this, they divorced, and we were left alone and broke. I was broken and damaged emotionally.
By the time I had reached year 10, I was uneducated due to my lack of school days, I was physically and emotionally drained from the constant bullying, I felt no love or support from my mother who had to work day and night to support us, my sisters were off doing there own thing and I was questioning my sexual orientation. I was confused, angry and lonely. I didn’t have many friends and was miserable.
Although through all my adversity I had faith that life must be better than this, what I needed was a change of pace and that started me off into a journey of self-discovery and building a solid skill set.
I started working and chasing dream, after dream, chasing job after job trying to find what I loved to do. I didn’t love any jobs I had, and I continued to search for something that I really loved doing, besides I was also enjoying my twenties, partying a lot.
Maybe too much, I partied for ten years and by the time I reached 29, I was underweight, had a poor diet and drinking a little more than I should be. I was basically homeless, poor and in debt. I was angry, bitter and nasty. I have given up on love and was very reckless burning the candle at both ends. Something had to give. I was extremely tired of the partying, endless moves, chasing jobs I didn’t like and numerous so-called friends. I was partied out, burnt out and I needed to change. However, I had thought there was no escape this is the only life I knew.
Then in September 2001, all that changed, when I met my future partner.
We had an instant connection. A connection that would see us build an incredible life together with so many great adventures, many ups with very few downs. It is often said that there is one person for everyone on this planet, whether it is your soul mate, best friend or partner I knew that I had found mine. I did not really believe in this saying prior to this chance encounter but truly believe it now.
My partner saved my life. If I had continued down this destructive path I am not exactly sure where I would be today, but I doubt it would be writing this blog.
Over the next ten years, I made some momentous changes. I used the skills and lessons I learned over the years to find my passion, inspiration and motivation, which lead me to the world of Personal/Professional development, Health, Fitness, Nutrition, Life coaching and Business.
Hi, my name is Marc Matthews-Indovino and I am going to share with you what I did to change my life. Increase my self-esteem, overcome adversity and increase my self-confidence.
How I became wealthier, stronger, fitter, friendlier, happier and at the same time become a professional person, a better man, partner and friend. I want to share with you how I did all that and created a wonderful life, using skills learnt from my past jobs, advice from mentors, books and educational seminars.
How I used education to become smarter, fitter, stronger. To finally buying a home and starting a family.
This blog is a story of my life lessons, what I learnt and how I used what I learnt to change my life for the better. I want to help guide all those that might need some help to become a better person.
I used to think that being twenty was the best thing ever. I still think this way but being in my forties and now almost fifty, everything is even better, harder but a lot better than twenty. I love the fact that I made a change just in time. With this wisdom and maturity, I want to help as many people make a change to become the best person that they can be. Come on this journey with me as I bring you many diverse articles that are all related to making you a better person.
You may not agree with everything I say and that is ok, your feedback is welcomed both positive and negative. I do hope you will enjoy reading as much as I do writing.
Be the Best Person you can be
Marc Matthews-Indovino
Art of Personal Development 