October 11, 2023 • 24 mins
Despite living in Australia for his entire life, my dad speaks with a Polish accent. But that’s not all that’s different about him since he suffered a stroke in 2009…
Martin Imber always considered himself a logical, “right-brained” person - he was a computer programmer, after all. But since his stroke, he believes he’s become more empathetic, more compassionate.
Martin shares what he’s learned about life, love, family and himself since his stroke, as well as the lessons he learned from his own parents, who survived the holocaust.
***
My new book Time Wise is out now. You can grab a copy here.
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If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co
Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.
Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au
CREDITS
Produced by Inventium
Host: Amantha Imber
Sound Engineer: Martin Imber
Episode Producer: Liam Riordan
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
For the last five years, my dad, Martin Imbert, has
done the sound mix for every single How I Work
and How I Live episode. In fact, I think he's
the only person on the planet that has had to
sit through every one of the several hundred interviews that
I have done since twenty eighteen now, so I decided
it was time to turn the microphone around onto my dad,
(00:27):
because he is an extraordinary person. He trained as an
electrical engineer back in his UNI days and spent most
of his career working as a computer programmer. But fourteen
years ago his life changed out of the blue. At
fifty nine years old, he suffered from a massive stroke
(00:47):
that left him unable to literally make a sound or communicate,
and the entire right side of his body became completely paralyzed.
But through the power of neuroplasticity and a lot of
rehab and hard work, my dad learned to move again,
and he also learned to talk again. I'm doctor Amantha Imbach,
(01:17):
an organizational psychologist and the host of How I Work,
and I'm trying something a little different for the next
few weeks. This is How I Live, a series that
gives you an inside look but some super accomplished people's
top strategies for living a happy, productive, and impactful life.
(01:39):
My dad's stroke has been by far the biggest challenge
thrown at him in his seventy plus years on the planet.
And that is where I chat begins.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
When I had my stroke, he was the first big
health scare that I have had, and it was a
very major one and it caused me all sorts of
different reactions. It changed the way I think about things,
(02:09):
It changed the way I see other people. It changed
my mind because I was always a left brain and
logical thinking person. But I'm still am a logical person,
but I'm using my right brain more and it's more emotional,
(02:32):
so I am more emotional.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So I obviously know all about the stroke that happened
in two thousand and nine, but can you can you
explain what actually happened in that twenty four hour period
when the stroke happened.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So we were at a dance camp in Frankston, and
it was relatively cold, and I was dancing with Mum
and I've noticed at about ten thirty I was feeling
a bit shivery, sha shaking, and I didn't mention anything
(03:16):
to anyone because I didn't think it was significant, And
when we broke for lunch, I realized that I couldn't
put sentences together and I was talking to people around me,
and when I told Mom that I couldn't find words
(03:42):
to express myself, she immediately knew what was happening and
told me to lie down and called for an ambulance.
So when we went to Frankston Hospital, which was the
closest hospital, I got a cat scan and it didn't
see anything in my brain. I could talk or write,
(04:06):
but hesitantly, and I could.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Write and you could move like I could move.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Nothing externally in my motor coordination was a problem. So
they decided to keep me overnight and I didn't sleep
well and I was restless during the night. But when
(04:34):
it came to the morning, I felt, I need you
to go to the toilet, and while I was sitting
on the toilet, I felt dizzy and a wave of
dizzy it's come over me and my whole right side
was paralyzed. I somehow made my way back to the bed,
(04:58):
and I didn't even occurred to me to press the
nurse's call button because I was disoriented. So I waited
for someone to arrive, and when the nurse finally arrived.
I couldn't speak, and the nurse called the doctor, and
(05:23):
the doctor scheduled another cat scan. And when we had
that second cat scan, it showed a massive bleed in
my brain.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And when you say couldn't speak, can you explain that
in a bit more detail.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Not only could I not speak, I couldn't make any
sounds other than grunting sounds. And although I was conscious,
I couldn't I couldn't express myself.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And you remember what that felt like to go from
being able to communicate perfectly one day to having that
taken away from you so suddenly.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Helpless, helpless. I just lay in bed on my right
side was still paralyzed. I couldn't get up to walk.
I had to be helped to get to the toilet
by a nurse. And the occupy passional therapist came in
(06:33):
at some stage and asked me to look at a
few diagrams. And I could. When I looked at the
diagram with both eyes open, I only see the left side.
I couldn't see the right side. When it was pointed
out to me and I shifted my head, I could
(06:55):
see it. But when I shifted to look straight on.
I couldn't see it.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Do you remember what was going through your mind in
that first week after the stroke in terms of whether
this was your life from now on or that things
would change and get better.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I never considered that this would be my life from
now on.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
I was.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Always going to fight what was happening to my body
and fix it. And I knew that. My mum told
me later that the doctors or had depressing prognosis, but
(07:43):
she didn't relay that to me. But if she had
of I would have ignored, and I would have said,
I'll fight to the end.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
It's interesting because back in two thousand and nine when
this all happened, neuroplasticity was not earth that was or
a concept that was being talked about at medical schools,
or that many doctors even knew about. And so I
remember those really negative prognoses. But Marm and I both
(08:14):
having an understanding of psychology and science and both being
aware of neuroplasticity and the sort of emerging research in
that area. I think you know, we were also very
determined on your behalf that this was not permanent. What
was it that kept you motivated? Because I remember, I mean,
you must have done thousands of hours of rehab, both
(08:38):
physically and also for like verbal communication as well. What
was it that kept you motivated.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I don't know really what it was, but I just
wanted to get to get better and be normal again
and do the things that I liked doing. I liked dancing,
for one, and would working and photography, helping out my family,
(09:12):
all those sorts of things. And while I was in
a hospital, I couldn't do anything but do the therapy,
and I did the therapy as much as it could
I could.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
You mentioned that you like your personality changed. How did
your personality change?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, I am more emotional and aligned to people other
people's feelings. When I watch a sad movie, I cry,
and I never used to do that, and I'm I
(09:54):
think I listened more to people than I did it before,
and I'm more aware of their feelings as well.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
What was that like? Like, do you remember the first
time where, like, say, you did cry in a movie
after your stroke?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
It was as soon as I've I've recovered, And I
recovered substantially after only three months or so, which is
when I went back to dancing and I could dance
because I had ninety five percent of full movement. And
(10:38):
I got my driver's license again soon after that, because
after a stroke you have to go for your license
test again. But I was aware pretty soon that I
was changed and I was more aware of emotions. And
(10:58):
when I saw my first Fields film, which was sad,
I cried and I realized that that was the new
normal for me.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And I know you've spoken about having more empathy for people,
what's that being Like?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
It's been good because part of empathy, I believe, is
listening to other people's point of view, and I don't
think I did that properly before the stroke. I always
I was very opinionated, and I think I was insular,
(11:43):
and I didn't have many friends except a small group.
But after the stroke, I found myself being aware of
other people's feelings and other people's considering other people people's feelings,
and I generally think that's been a good thing.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, I've definitely experienced that. Like I feel like, you know,
when like whenever I express my opinion on something to you,
I feel like I'm treated as a fellow adult as
opposed to a child. And I feel like, you know,
in a lot of parent child relationships, it stays that
(12:29):
way like throughout life, and the parent always sees the
child as the child. But I think for me, something
that I feel that's changed in our relationship is that
it feels more like peers, which is nice, particularly because
we've been working on this podcast as Peers together for
five years. I agree completely, Yeah, and for me, that's
(12:51):
it's very special. Have you like had other people in
your life like comment on I don't know, like, have
there been particular situations or examples that come to mind
where you know, the post stroke you has responded really
(13:12):
differently to the pre stroke you.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Even though I speak slowly and I speak like I'm disabled,
people are very aware of treating disabled people in quotes normally.
So I don't think I haven't had an experience where
(13:37):
people have treated me differently. I think that's mostly because
they're aware of treating me differently. Would be a scene
as a bad thing on there, but half.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
I'll be back talking with my dad about what the
biggest lessons that going through a stroke, taughting, and how
it feels for your speaking voice to sound a certain
way that's different to other people, yet to have everything
working perfectly well on the inside. In terms of his
ability to think. If you're looking for more tips to
(14:18):
improve the way you live. I write a short fortnightly
newsletter that contains three cool things that I've discovered that
help make my life better in some way. You can
sign up for that at how I Work dot co.
That's how I Work dot co. In your own words,
you know, you just described yourself as sounding sort of
(14:43):
disabled in the way that you speak, but cognitively, like
it's all completely happening in your brain, like you're one
of the smartest people. I know. What's that kind of juxtaposition.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Like I'm aware of everything that's going on, and after
the stroke, I was aware of searching for words. When
I couldn't find the correct word, I had to think
(15:24):
about it a bit and even look up Addictionary. But
that stayed with me to a certain extent. But I
eventually find the right word, and if I can't, I
know that I can't, and I look for it. So
(15:47):
I'm aware that I'm not one hundred percent in my
speech capabilities as well as my expressive capabilities. So that
doesn't worry be because I know that internally. If I
didn't know that and I had to have someone pointed
(16:09):
out to me.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
I be worried, what about what other people might think? Like,
I mean, I feel like you've always been someone that
just doesn't care what other people think. Like, is that
the case? Is that still the case?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yes? I don't care what other people think. I care
what my family think, I care what my friends think,
But I don't care what the general public think. And
I'm my own person.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Have you always been that way from a young age?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I think so?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I think so what taught you to be like that?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I think my parents, parents teach you a lot, if
not everything.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
My dad.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Is my was one of my role models, and he
taught me a lot about wooden working. And I went
with him to help with the shop fitting when he
was in that phase. And I worked with him and
(17:31):
hampered the odd nail and painted the odd piece of shelving.
So I learned a lot from being with him and
having him point out my mistakes and my successes.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
How do you think their experience of surviving the Holocaust
impacted You know this idea that it doesn't matter what
other people think? And I keep dwelling on that because
I feel like it's it's like a curse for so
many people that people spend so much time worrying about
(18:12):
what others think and comparing themselves to others, like on
social media and just through day to day interactions.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I think it's a disease. I can't explain why my
parents never had it or I haven't got it. But
after the Holocaust, which I had explained to me years
later by my father, what he went through, I can
(18:47):
see that the only person he had to depend on
was himself, and he couldn't depend on anybody else because
everybody else was against him or had their own agenda.
So he had no choice but to rely upon himself,
(19:10):
and he did, and he'd got him out of the
war alive, and out of the war with my mother.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Would have been the biggest lessons that going through the
whole experience of a stroke has taught you.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I think it was a teaching moment that some things
are more important than others. My health is important, my
family is important, my close friends are important. Whereas before
(19:51):
the stroke I never thought about those things. I guess
I was more selfish in some respects, and I travel
along thinking about myself. But after the stroke, I finish
(20:13):
up thinking about others more.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
And how does that play out? Like on a day
to day level.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Hard to tell on a day to day level because
my whole attitude has changed for the better, I think,
and the day to day. In the back of my mind,
I think about those things all the time. So what
(20:47):
can I do for others? What can I do to
help my family? What can I do after those things
have done to enjoy my life? Those sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Things, that's that's very beautiful. Something I ask everyone on
How I Live is if I gifted you a plaque
to put on your wall, what would you want it
to say?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Family is important?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Family is important? Tell me more about that.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Without family, I don't think there's much of a reason
to live after the stroke. I wouldn't have before the stroke.
I wouldn't have said that living before the stroke was
a solitary experience for me. But after the stroke, I
(21:48):
realized a lot of things were much more important. So family.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Hmm. Well, Dad, it's been after five years of doing
this podcast together How I Work and now How I Live,
it's been just such a joy to have you in
front of the microphone instead of just editing what everyone
else has said to me over the last few years,
(22:18):
and like just thank you for the honesty that you've
brought to this interview. It's been such a privilege to,
you know, chat to you about how your life has
changed from a really really big health event. And for me,
like I, you know, I think of you as like
(22:40):
there's pre stroke Dad and there's poststroke Dad, and they're
quite different people. And I feel very lucky that I've
had post stroke Dad in my life for the last
fourteen years. So thank you.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I hope my discussion of my stroke helps the people
with their health events in their lives.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I hope you liked this insight into the person who
sits behind the mixing desk making How I work possible.
I love this chance to interview my dad, and for me,
it's been one of the most special interviews of how
I work or live that I've done so far. Thank
you so much for sharing part of your day with
me by listening to How I Live. If you're keen
(23:30):
for more tips on how to work better and live better,
connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram to search for
Amantha Imba. How I Live was recorded on the traditional
land of the Warrangery people, part of the Cooler Nation.
I'm so grateful for being able to work and live
on this beautiful land, and I want to pay my
respects to elders, past, present and emerging. How I Live
(23:53):
is produced by Inventium with production support from Dead Set Studios.
The producer for this episode was Liam Riddan and sound
engineering was done by Martin Imba
For the last five years, my dad, Martin Imbert, has
done the sound mix for every single How I Work
and How I Live episode. In fact, I think he's
the only person on the planet that has had to
sit through every one of the several hundred interviews that
I have done since twenty eighteen now, so I decided
it was time to turn the microphone around onto my dad,
(00:27):
because he is an extraordinary person. He trained as an
electrical engineer back in his UNI days and spent most
of his career working as a computer programmer. But fourteen
years ago his life changed out of the blue. At
fifty nine years old, he suffered from a massive stroke
(00:47):
that left him unable to literally make a sound or communicate,
and the entire right side of his body became completely paralyzed.
But through the power of neuroplasticity and a lot of
rehab and hard work, my dad learned to move again,
and he also learned to talk again. I'm doctor Amantha Imbach,
(01:17):
an organizational psychologist and the host of How I Work,
and I'm trying something a little different for the next
few weeks. This is How I Live, a series that
gives you an inside look but some super accomplished people's
top strategies for living a happy, productive, and impactful life.
(01:39):
My dad's stroke has been by far the biggest challenge
thrown at him in his seventy plus years on the planet.
And that is where I chat begins.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
When I had my stroke, he was the first big
health scare that I have had, and it was a
very major one and it caused me all sorts of
different reactions. It changed the way I think about things,
(02:09):
It changed the way I see other people. It changed
my mind because I was always a left brain and
logical thinking person. But I'm still am a logical person,
but I'm using my right brain more and it's more emotional,
(02:32):
so I am more emotional.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So I obviously know all about the stroke that happened
in two thousand and nine, but can you can you
explain what actually happened in that twenty four hour period
when the stroke happened.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So we were at a dance camp in Frankston, and
it was relatively cold, and I was dancing with Mum
and I've noticed at about ten thirty I was feeling
a bit shivery, sha shaking, and I didn't mention anything
(03:16):
to anyone because I didn't think it was significant, And
when we broke for lunch, I realized that I couldn't
put sentences together and I was talking to people around me,
and when I told Mom that I couldn't find words
(03:42):
to express myself, she immediately knew what was happening and
told me to lie down and called for an ambulance.
So when we went to Frankston Hospital, which was the
closest hospital, I got a cat scan and it didn't
see anything in my brain. I could talk or write,
(04:06):
but hesitantly, and I could.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Write and you could move like I could move.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Nothing externally in my motor coordination was a problem. So
they decided to keep me overnight and I didn't sleep
well and I was restless during the night. But when
(04:34):
it came to the morning, I felt, I need you
to go to the toilet, and while I was sitting
on the toilet, I felt dizzy and a wave of
dizzy it's come over me and my whole right side
was paralyzed. I somehow made my way back to the bed,
(04:58):
and I didn't even occurred to me to press the
nurse's call button because I was disoriented. So I waited
for someone to arrive, and when the nurse finally arrived.
I couldn't speak, and the nurse called the doctor, and
(05:23):
the doctor scheduled another cat scan. And when we had
that second cat scan, it showed a massive bleed in
my brain.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
And when you say couldn't speak, can you explain that
in a bit more detail.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Not only could I not speak, I couldn't make any
sounds other than grunting sounds. And although I was conscious,
I couldn't I couldn't express myself.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And you remember what that felt like to go from
being able to communicate perfectly one day to having that
taken away from you so suddenly.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Helpless, helpless. I just lay in bed on my right
side was still paralyzed. I couldn't get up to walk.
I had to be helped to get to the toilet
by a nurse. And the occupy passional therapist came in
(06:33):
at some stage and asked me to look at a
few diagrams. And I could. When I looked at the
diagram with both eyes open, I only see the left side.
I couldn't see the right side. When it was pointed
out to me and I shifted my head, I could
(06:55):
see it. But when I shifted to look straight on.
I couldn't see it.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Do you remember what was going through your mind in
that first week after the stroke in terms of whether
this was your life from now on or that things
would change and get better.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I never considered that this would be my life from
now on.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
I was.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Always going to fight what was happening to my body
and fix it. And I knew that. My mum told
me later that the doctors or had depressing prognosis, but
(07:43):
she didn't relay that to me. But if she had
of I would have ignored, and I would have said,
I'll fight to the end.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
It's interesting because back in two thousand and nine when
this all happened, neuroplasticity was not earth that was or
a concept that was being talked about at medical schools,
or that many doctors even knew about. And so I
remember those really negative prognoses. But Marm and I both
(08:14):
having an understanding of psychology and science and both being
aware of neuroplasticity and the sort of emerging research in
that area. I think you know, we were also very
determined on your behalf that this was not permanent. What
was it that kept you motivated? Because I remember, I mean,
you must have done thousands of hours of rehab, both
(08:38):
physically and also for like verbal communication as well. What
was it that kept you motivated.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I don't know really what it was, but I just
wanted to get to get better and be normal again
and do the things that I liked doing. I liked dancing,
for one, and would working and photography, helping out my family,
(09:12):
all those sorts of things. And while I was in
a hospital, I couldn't do anything but do the therapy,
and I did the therapy as much as it could
I could.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
You mentioned that you like your personality changed. How did
your personality change?
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Well, I am more emotional and aligned to people other
people's feelings. When I watch a sad movie, I cry,
and I never used to do that, and I'm I
(09:54):
think I listened more to people than I did it before,
and I'm more aware of their feelings as well.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
What was that like? Like, do you remember the first
time where, like, say, you did cry in a movie
after your stroke?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
It was as soon as I've I've recovered, And I
recovered substantially after only three months or so, which is
when I went back to dancing and I could dance
because I had ninety five percent of full movement. And
(10:38):
I got my driver's license again soon after that, because
after a stroke you have to go for your license
test again. But I was aware pretty soon that I
was changed and I was more aware of emotions. And
(10:58):
when I saw my first Fields film, which was sad,
I cried and I realized that that was the new
normal for me.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
And I know you've spoken about having more empathy for people,
what's that being Like?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
It's been good because part of empathy, I believe, is
listening to other people's point of view, and I don't
think I did that properly before the stroke. I always
I was very opinionated, and I think I was insular,
(11:43):
and I didn't have many friends except a small group.
But after the stroke, I found myself being aware of
other people's feelings and other people's considering other people people's feelings,
and I generally think that's been a good thing.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, I've definitely experienced that. Like I feel like, you know,
when like whenever I express my opinion on something to you,
I feel like I'm treated as a fellow adult as
opposed to a child. And I feel like, you know,
in a lot of parent child relationships, it stays that
(12:29):
way like throughout life, and the parent always sees the
child as the child. But I think for me, something
that I feel that's changed in our relationship is that
it feels more like peers, which is nice, particularly because
we've been working on this podcast as Peers together for
five years. I agree completely, Yeah, and for me, that's
(12:51):
it's very special. Have you like had other people in
your life like comment on I don't know, like, have
there been particular situations or examples that come to mind
where you know, the post stroke you has responded really
(13:12):
differently to the pre stroke you.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Even though I speak slowly and I speak like I'm disabled,
people are very aware of treating disabled people in quotes normally.
So I don't think I haven't had an experience where
(13:37):
people have treated me differently. I think that's mostly because
they're aware of treating me differently. Would be a scene
as a bad thing on there, but half.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
I'll be back talking with my dad about what the
biggest lessons that going through a stroke, taughting, and how
it feels for your speaking voice to sound a certain
way that's different to other people, yet to have everything
working perfectly well on the inside. In terms of his
ability to think. If you're looking for more tips to
(14:18):
improve the way you live. I write a short fortnightly
newsletter that contains three cool things that I've discovered that
help make my life better in some way. You can
sign up for that at how I Work dot co.
That's how I Work dot co. In your own words,
you know, you just described yourself as sounding sort of
(14:43):
disabled in the way that you speak, but cognitively, like
it's all completely happening in your brain, like you're one
of the smartest people. I know. What's that kind of juxtaposition.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Like I'm aware of everything that's going on, and after
the stroke, I was aware of searching for words. When
I couldn't find the correct word, I had to think
(15:24):
about it a bit and even look up Addictionary. But
that stayed with me to a certain extent. But I
eventually find the right word, and if I can't, I
know that I can't, and I look for it. So
(15:47):
I'm aware that I'm not one hundred percent in my
speech capabilities as well as my expressive capabilities. So that
doesn't worry be because I know that internally. If I
didn't know that and I had to have someone pointed
(16:09):
out to me.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
I be worried, what about what other people might think? Like,
I mean, I feel like you've always been someone that
just doesn't care what other people think. Like, is that
the case? Is that still the case?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yes? I don't care what other people think. I care
what my family think, I care what my friends think,
But I don't care what the general public think. And
I'm my own person.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
Have you always been that way from a young age?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
I think so?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I think so what taught you to be like that?
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I think my parents, parents teach you a lot, if
not everything.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
My dad.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Is my was one of my role models, and he
taught me a lot about wooden working. And I went
with him to help with the shop fitting when he
was in that phase. And I worked with him and
(17:31):
hampered the odd nail and painted the odd piece of shelving.
So I learned a lot from being with him and
having him point out my mistakes and my successes.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
How do you think their experience of surviving the Holocaust
impacted You know this idea that it doesn't matter what
other people think? And I keep dwelling on that because
I feel like it's it's like a curse for so
many people that people spend so much time worrying about
(18:12):
what others think and comparing themselves to others, like on
social media and just through day to day interactions.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I think it's a disease. I can't explain why my
parents never had it or I haven't got it. But
after the Holocaust, which I had explained to me years
later by my father, what he went through, I can
(18:47):
see that the only person he had to depend on
was himself, and he couldn't depend on anybody else because
everybody else was against him or had their own agenda.
So he had no choice but to rely upon himself,
(19:10):
and he did, and he'd got him out of the
war alive, and out of the war with my mother.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Would have been the biggest lessons that going through the
whole experience of a stroke has taught you.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
I think it was a teaching moment that some things
are more important than others. My health is important, my
family is important, my close friends are important. Whereas before
(19:51):
the stroke I never thought about those things. I guess
I was more selfish in some respects, and I travel
along thinking about myself. But after the stroke, I finish
(20:13):
up thinking about others more.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
And how does that play out? Like on a day
to day level.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Hard to tell on a day to day level because
my whole attitude has changed for the better, I think,
and the day to day. In the back of my mind,
I think about those things all the time. So what
(20:47):
can I do for others? What can I do to
help my family? What can I do after those things
have done to enjoy my life? Those sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Things, that's that's very beautiful. Something I ask everyone on
How I Live is if I gifted you a plaque
to put on your wall, what would you want it
to say?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Family is important?
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Family is important? Tell me more about that.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Without family, I don't think there's much of a reason
to live after the stroke. I wouldn't have before the stroke.
I wouldn't have said that living before the stroke was
a solitary experience for me. But after the stroke, I
(21:48):
realized a lot of things were much more important. So family.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
Hmm. Well, Dad, it's been after five years of doing
this podcast together How I Work and now How I Live,
it's been just such a joy to have you in
front of the microphone instead of just editing what everyone
else has said to me over the last few years,
(22:18):
and like just thank you for the honesty that you've
brought to this interview. It's been such a privilege to,
you know, chat to you about how your life has
changed from a really really big health event. And for me,
like I, you know, I think of you as like
(22:40):
there's pre stroke Dad and there's poststroke Dad, and they're
quite different people. And I feel very lucky that I've
had post stroke Dad in my life for the last
fourteen years. So thank you.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
I hope my discussion of my stroke helps the people
with their health events in their lives.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I hope you liked this insight into the person who
sits behind the mixing desk making How I work possible.
I love this chance to interview my dad, and for me,
it's been one of the most special interviews of how
I work or live that I've done so far. Thank
you so much for sharing part of your day with
me by listening to How I Live. If you're keen
(23:30):
for more tips on how to work better and live better,
connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram to search for
Amantha Imba. How I Live was recorded on the traditional
land of the Warrangery people, part of the Cooler Nation.
I'm so grateful for being able to work and live
on this beautiful land, and I want to pay my
respects to elders, past, present and emerging. How I Live
(23:53):
is produced by Inventium with production support from Dead Set Studios.
The producer for this episode was Liam Riddan and sound
engineering was done by Martin Imba
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