39. "Focus on the next step." With Vincent Van den Broeck

In 2024, Vincent was busy restructuring his restaurant business when he was hit by a car. He sustained a serious brain injury and was given a ten per cent chance of survival. He spent weeks in a coma, and then months in rehab, learning how to walk, talk, and feed himself again. Two years on, he is back at work, and is now sharing what he has learnt from his experiences. Amongst many other things, Vincent and I talk about how his priorities shifted after the accident and how spending time with people he loves is now “non-negotiable”; the many losses he’d sustained beforehand; and having people hold him accountable. We touch on our love of life, including the adversities and obstacles; simplicity and overcomplication; growing outside your comfort zone; and realising that “nobody is setting the rules but yourself.” We discuss improving our relationship with loss; taking the next steps, however small they may be; facing rather than avoiding; and asking, “Why not me?” We also mention doing, and making a commitment to yourself; body and mind being one; the co-existence of beauty and heartbreak; and the idea of putting things in a jar for the future you. Vincent Van den Broeck is a restauranteur, the author of Everything Feels Impossible Until It's Done: How the life you build becomes the life that saves you; and the founder of The Until It’s Done Club. He combines real-life experience with a simple, practical system designed to help people take control of their habits, decisions, and direction — and build a life they don’t need to escape from. He lives in Brussels, Belgium. Connect with VincentFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works one to one with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaIf you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share.You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit