May 7, 2025 • 25 mins
What happens when life suddenly changes course and everything you know disappears? Laura Bratton's world transformed between second and third grade when a routine eye appointment revealed she would lose her sight due to a degenerative eye disease. While the full impact didn't hit immediately, by age fourteen, Laura found herself staring at indecipherable black blobs on her classroom board instead of letters—a moment that launched her into a profound journey through grief, anxiety, and ultimately, transformation.
The path from "I can't" to "I can" wasn't straightforward or quick. Laura shares how the steadfast support of her family, especially her brother who refused to treat her differently, created a foundation of grit that eventually became her own. Meanwhile, a mentor's challenge to write down three things she was grateful for each day—initially met with skepticism—gradually revealed the power of noticing what helps us navigate difficult transitions rather than fixating on what we've lost.
These twin principles of grit and gratitude now form the core of Laura's work through UB Global, where she helps others facing major life transitions. Her book "Harnessing Courage" (named after both the physical harness she uses with her guide dog and the emotional process of gathering strength) offers these same strategies to readers worldwide. Laura's most powerful insight? The importance of balancing grief with forward movement—giving yourself permission to acknowledge difficulty while taking life one moment at a time rather than trying to solve everything at once. For anyone facing change, challenge, or unexpected loss, Laura's message offers both compassion and a practical roadmap toward resilience.
Looking to transform your own approach to life's curveballs? Visit LauraBratton.com to explore her speaking, coaching, and writing—and discover how you might harness your own courage to move forward through whatever changes you face.
Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with
Curveball, if you believe youcan achieve.
Welcome to the Living the Dreamwith Curveball Podcast, a show
where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
(00:24):
Where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
Today, I am joined by authorand founder of UB Global, laura
Bratton.
Laura lost her sight due to aneye disease at the age of nine
and she founded UB Global, whichis an organization that
(00:44):
provides speech to people tohelp them overcome obstacles
with grit and gratitude.
So we're going to be talking toLaura about everything that
she's up to and what she's goingto be up to.
So, laura, thank you for takingtime out of your busy schedule
to join me.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Absolutely, I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Why don't you start off by telling everybody a
little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Why don't you start off by telling everybody a
little bit about yourself?
Yeah, so I faced the uniquechallenge.
Of life was going well, lifeseemed to be normal, and then
(01:25):
everything changed between thesummer of second grade and third
grade.
So a situation that happenedthat encapsulates the whole
experience I will still remember.
I can vividly see in my mind'seye.
I was in the doctor's office,in the pediatric ophthalmologist
, and I had read all the letters, the biggie and all the letters
that you know the doctor,nurses, to ask you to read on
(01:47):
the chart.
My eyes were dilated and I justseemed the appointment was going
fine and as the doctor came inand looked at each of my eyes, I
can still see him.
He just rolled back in hischair and he just looked
directly at my mom and, veryserious and obviously concerned,
(02:08):
he said there is a majorproblem going on with her vision
and it's something that I willrefer her to a specialist, to
that she needs to be seen by aretina specialist.
So my mom's immediate responsewas well, okay, you know I'm a
teacher, I'm getting ready tostart a new school year.
(02:30):
Obviously she's in schoolgetting ready to start a new
academic year.
We'll take care of it sometimein the fall or spring break, you
know Christmas break or fallbreak or whatever.
And he just looked back at herand, again very concerned, I'm
gonna refer you and you're gonnaleave my office and go directly
to his office so that that oneappointment started in a whole
(02:58):
significant, life-changingexperience well, walk through
the walk, the listeners.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
You know your mindset when you first, you know, began
to become blind and through thegrieving process of, you know,
having to deal with the loss ofyour sight.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah.
So the gift of being nine wasthat, even though I still can
remember and feel the emotion ofthat day, that appointment,
cognitively, as a nine-year-oldI couldn't understand the depth
of emotion.
I couldn't understand the depthof the significance of what it
meant that I eventually lose mysight, that the cells in my
(03:40):
retina were dying and they knewI would lose my sight.
They just didn't know at whatrate.
And so that's why I say, as thegift, I couldn't really process
what was going on as a nineyear old, fast forward as a 14
year old.
That's when I could process andthat's when the intense grief
(04:03):
process started, process, andthat's when the intense grief
process started.
So what I mean by that isbetween nine and 14, my vision.
It decreased some, but notsignificantly.
So again I just thought okay,this is what my life's going to
be.
My vision is just not as good.
Then in that end of middleschool, there was one particular
(04:25):
day I was sitting in geographyclass and the teacher said take
out your notebooks and writedown.
Start copying down the notesthat I'm going to put up on the
board.
So I just grabbed my notebook,grabbed pen, looked up at the
board and all I saw were theseblack like blobs.
(04:49):
It wasn't clear defined letters.
So I looked back down at mynotebook, looked up at the board
again and still all I saw wasthis kind of black, just random
markings.
Was this kind of black, justrandom markings?
So, very confused of why Ididn't see just regular print, I
(05:10):
leaned over my neighbor andsaid well, how are you copying
down the notes on the board?
You seem to be doing it with noproblem.
How are you writing down thenotes?
Are you just writing down words?
And she just leaned back overto me and said Laura, the print
is completely normal.
What are you talking about?
(05:30):
There's no issues writing downthe notes on the board.
So that's the moment I realizedthe reality of that doctor
appointment, when I was nine.
That's when I realized as a 14year old okay, I had just lost a
significant amount of visionand this is my new reality.
(05:54):
So, just as you were askingabout the grief process, that's
when the grief started and myfirst step, my first fault, was
that denial period.
Oh, this isn't that bad.
Oh, my vision might come backreally soon.
This is not permanent, it justit was denying the reality.
(06:17):
Once I was experienced thatdenial the grief was.
The mindset was I can't, Ican't, I can't, I don't have the
strength, this is too hard, Ican't, I can't, I can't.
So that was my initial reactionto the major vision loss.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
As far as the grief emotional perspective is, this
is too hard, I can't do thiswhat talk to the listeners about
how you use grit and gratitudeto be able to move forward yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
So, as I was saying the whole time, so through high
school, as I continued to lose asignificant more amount of
sites and I still was in thatmindset, that intense grief of I
can't which led to anxiety, todepression the whole time, that
I am thinking I can't do this,this is too hard.
(07:18):
Where the grit and gratitudecomes in is not first the grit
and gratitude of myself, it'sthat of the support and those
around me.
So I'll break it down into bothparts.
So the grit, what I mean bythat is it was the grit of my
(07:39):
parents who would tell me everyday we don't know the future, we
don't know how this is allgoing to work out.
We're going to take it day byday as a family and figure this
out, figure out what resourcesare out there, how to live this
new, this new life, this newnormal.
(07:59):
It was my brother, who's fiveyears older.
It was his grit of he didn'ttreat me any different all of a
sudden.
He didn't start babying me orpitying me or feeling sorry for
me.
He treated me no different thanhe'd always treated me.
It's just like his annoyinglittle younger baby sister that
(08:21):
her job was to drive her bigbrother crazy.
He didn't treat me anydifferent.
My friends continue to be myfriends, treat me any different.
My friends continue to be myfriends.
They again, they didn't treatme any different just because I
couldn't see as well.
So, being surrounded by acommunity, by teachers, by
(08:42):
parents, by a brother thatcontinued to move forward and
continued to just take itliterally day by day, by day,
that's what I mean by the grit.
It was as they held that gritfor me.
My mindset slowly began toshift from I can't do this to oh
(09:08):
OK, maybe I can do this for thenext hour, maybe I can get
through English class today andthen Spanish class at the end of
the day and then lunch duringthe day.
So it was that mindset ofslowly changing from I can't to
(09:30):
accepting and believing thatgrit within myself.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And and I it was again, it was a.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It was a slow process .
It wasn't just I woke up oneday and said, okay, now I have
grit, now I believe in myself,now I have the strength, let's
go forward.
But it was a very slow processof just all these moments
building up to finally acceptingthat grit for myself, and I can
(09:59):
give countless examples of howthat grit finally came to be.
But before I give thoseexamples, just balance with that
grit, what I experienced wasthe gratitude.
And again, the gratitude wasnot me waking up and saying, oh,
(10:21):
wow, I am just so grateful tonow be blind, I am so grateful
to be a teenager this differentthan I used to be.
Rather, it was just thegratitude of what helped me
navigate through each day, andthe way I got there was again
(10:45):
just like the grit.
It was that support around methat taught me the gratitude.
So one day in high school, amentor of mine said to me after
school one day Laura, I want youto start writing down three
things that you're grateful for,and every day, at the end of
each day, I want you to reflectback on the day and just think
(11:09):
about what are those threepeople or situations or events
that you're thankful for.
And immediately, as she told methis, thankfully I just kind of
didn't, I just didn't reallyreact.
But in my mind I'm thinking I'mnot sure you're a good mentor.
Here I am with extremedepression, panic attacks, I
(11:34):
have just lost most of my vision.
I have nothing to be gratefulfor.
And you're telling me, you'reasking me, you're inviting me to
be grateful.
I don't think that's a goodidea.
So in my stubbornness, in mydetermination to prove her wrong
(11:55):
, that's why I started thegratitude journal.
So, as I sort of write down,one night became three nights,
three nights became a week, aweek became two weeks.
And I slowly realized the valueof that mentor.
She wasn't teaching me andsaying wake up and be grateful
(12:18):
for the blindness.
What she was teaching me isnotice throughout the day what
you're grateful for that helpsyou navigate through the intense
change, what helps you navigatethrough the adjustment period,
what helped you adapt everymoment and every day.
(12:41):
So again, it's not beinggrateful, positive, happy, happy
.
Rather, it's being deeplygrateful and appreciative for
what helps me get through everyday.
So that's how the grit andgratitude started.
It didn't first start by mechoosing to have that.
It started by me realizing Ihad this around me, so then I
(13:05):
can choose to have it for myself.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Well, talk about UB Global.
Tell us what your organizationdoes and why you decided to
found it, and how it's helpingpeople.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah.
So what it does is it helpspeople as they're navigating
through change and they're goingthrough that grief process and
the loss process of just thedifficulty of change, the
overwhelm of change, to usethese same two principles of
grit and gratitude to help themmove forward in change.
(13:42):
Often, when we experiencetransition, change and diversity
, we're overwhelmed by theintensity and then the magnitude
of the change.
So we just shut down, like inmy situation I just got so
overwhelmed with the anxiety andthe depression.
So, rather than people justbeing stuck and locked in that
(14:05):
overwhelm and locked in thatfear of the future, what I do,
through both speaking andcoaching, is help people and
provide people the resources toacknowledge the difficulty of
the change and then, at theexact same time, choose to move
(14:26):
forward through the grit and thegratitude.
And the reason that I do that,the reason that I founded the
organization and have so muchpassion, is because of my lived
experience, because of what Ijust shared about.
I was surrounded by such anincredible community and support
(14:47):
.
I am passionate and want tospend my life work giving that
support to other people who arealso going through change, not
just, specifically, vision loss,but any type of major changes,
overwhelming and fearful, andanxiety producing, helping them
(15:08):
and supporting them and beingthat grit and gratitude for them
as they move forward.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Okay, well, tell us about your book.
Tell us you know what we canexpect when we read it.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, okay.
So Harnessing Courage.
There were two driving againthe passion, the two driving
forces of why I wrote that book.
The first was, for me, it wasincredibly healing and was so
(15:49):
intense and that in thoseinitial years of the vision loss
were so difficult and stillliving every day as a person
without sight in a sighted world.
It was incredibly healing and asource of strength.
Just to get to write out mystory, just to get to write out
my story and through thatprocess is where I realized the
(16:15):
grit and gratitude that wassurrounding me.
So, again, I wrote the bookfrom the perspective of yes,
this was the major change Iexperienced and through this
change, here's how I continue tomove forward, here's how I live
a full productive life and,rather than being depressed and
anxious, here's how I moveforward with joy and strength,
(16:39):
with those two resources.
So the first reason I wrote thebook is just, it was incredibly
healing, just to write out mystory and to reflect on the grit
and gratitude that I hadreceived, received Again.
(17:02):
The second major passion wasthe exact same passion for why I
founded the organization forspeaking coaching.
So I was deeply passionate andwanted to write a book that
people could pick up and read,to know and have that resource
of yes, I'm going through thismajor change and here's how I
can move forward.
Yes, I'm going through thismajor loss in my life, whether
(17:24):
it be job, relational, death ofa loved one, whatever it might
be, there's still strength tomove forward and using my story
as a source of strength.
That was my passion for writingthe book and the reason for the
title Harnessing Courage.
(17:45):
That was a very deliberatedecision.
So the harness is the handle,that.
So what goes around the dog andthen what the person who's
flying holds on a guide dog,that is called a harness.
So what's strapped around thedog and then the end of the
(18:05):
strap is the handle, is theharness.
So the reason I named itHarnessing Courage is because,
literally that first guide dogthat I've had, and then my
second guide dog as well, bothof those dogs empower me to have
the courage to physically moveforward and feel safe in this
world.
So that was one reason for thetitle Harness the Courage.
(18:30):
And then the other reason wasjust to send the message and,
through the book again and again, make the point very clear that
it takes a lot of strength toharness the courage to move
forward in times of change.
So again, that title was very,very deliberate.
(18:53):
I was very specific in wantingto have that title because of
the strength, harness andcourage, both physically and
emotionally, has given me.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Okay, well, tell us about any upcoming projects that
you're working on thatlisteners need to be aware of.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, so what I'm working on now is just expanding
the speaking and expanding thecoaching.
I've done a lot of speaking andcoaching to different
organizations, to differentcolleges, high schools, just to
find where does this message ofchange connect?
(19:35):
Obviously, we all go throughchange, but through the speaking
, just to be able to connectwith those people who can best
connect with the message of thisis how we can navigate through
change.
Yes, it is an intense griefprocess and also we can grieve
(19:57):
while choosing to move forward.
So that's what's upcoming andthat's what I'm so passionate
about is just that the speakingand the coaching continue to
grow.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
But they'll add your contact info so people can keep
up with everything that you'reup to.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So the best place is my website.
Laurarattoncom has all theinformation about the speaking,
the coaching and the book, soit's all on that one website.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Okay, close us out with some final thoughts.
Maybe, if that was something Iforgot to talk about, that you
would like to touch on, or anyfinal thoughts you have for the
listeners.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I thought you have for the listeners.
Yeah.
So the one final thought andI've touched on this a little
bit, but the one final thoughtwould be to know that as we go
through change, whatever thatchange might be it can be a loss
, a difficult transitionwhatever the magnitude is of
that loss, give yourself thespace to acknowledge the
(21:03):
difficulty, to acknowledge thatis a time of change, that is a
difficult situation that it'sokay to grieve.
And the reason I say that isfrom my own experience of I
initially thought, ok, I justhave to be strong and push
forward and it'll all work out.
(21:24):
What I didn't realize and theadvice I wish I knew and that's
why I'm so passionate aboutgiving it is just letting
ourselves stop and grieve andfeel the magnitude and the
difficulty of the transition.
The purpose of that, the reasonis that is, once we sit in that
(21:47):
place of pain, once we sit inthat acknowledgement of wow,
this is really really hard, thisis a difficult situation, that
then gives us the mental powerand the mindset to move forward.
So I'm not it's not saying sitin the grief for the rest of
your life and just stay there.
(22:08):
Rather, it's saying just sit inthe grief for a time and give
yourself that space to feel thedifficulty, feel the pain, feel
the anxiety.
And then, once you do that, mynext advice is take it moment by
moment, by moment, and I saythat from my own lived
(22:30):
experience of I was trying tofigure out the whole future at
one time in one moment.
That was overwhelming, that'swhat created that deep anxiety,
that deep, deep, deep depression.
Rather, when I learned themindset of just taking it day by
day, moment by moment, hour byhour, that's when I realized I
(22:56):
could move forward and that itwasn't so overwhelming.
So my advice would be toperfectly balance that, allowing
yourself to grieve while alsomoving forward minute by minute,
moment by moment.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
All right.
Ladies and gentlemen,laurabrattoncom, please be sure
to keep up with everything thatshe's up, to Check out her book,
follow, rate review.
Share this episode to as manypeople as possible.
Follow us on your favoritepodcast app.
Go to wwwcurveball337.com formore information on the Living
(23:33):
the Dream with Curveball podcast.
Thank you for listening andsupporting the show and, laura,
thank you for all that you doand thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Absolutely.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
For more information on the Living the Dream with
Curveball podcast, visitwwwcurveball337.com.
Until next time, keep livingthe dream.
Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with
Curveball, if you believe youcan achieve.
Welcome to the Living the Dreamwith Curveball Podcast, a show
where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
(00:24):
Where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
Today, I am joined by authorand founder of UB Global, laura
Bratton.
Laura lost her sight due to aneye disease at the age of nine
and she founded UB Global, whichis an organization that
(00:44):
provides speech to people tohelp them overcome obstacles
with grit and gratitude.
So we're going to be talking toLaura about everything that
she's up to and what she's goingto be up to.
So, laura, thank you for takingtime out of your busy schedule
to join me.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Absolutely, I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Why don't you start off by telling everybody a
little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Why don't you start off by telling everybody a
little bit about yourself?
Yeah, so I faced the uniquechallenge.
Of life was going well, lifeseemed to be normal, and then
(01:25):
everything changed between thesummer of second grade and third
grade.
So a situation that happenedthat encapsulates the whole
experience I will still remember.
I can vividly see in my mind'seye.
I was in the doctor's office,in the pediatric ophthalmologist
, and I had read all the letters, the biggie and all the letters
that you know the doctor,nurses, to ask you to read on
(01:47):
the chart.
My eyes were dilated and I justseemed the appointment was going
fine and as the doctor came inand looked at each of my eyes, I
can still see him.
He just rolled back in hischair and he just looked
directly at my mom and, veryserious and obviously concerned,
(02:08):
he said there is a majorproblem going on with her vision
and it's something that I willrefer her to a specialist, to
that she needs to be seen by aretina specialist.
So my mom's immediate responsewas well, okay, you know I'm a
teacher, I'm getting ready tostart a new school year.
(02:30):
Obviously she's in schoolgetting ready to start a new
academic year.
We'll take care of it sometimein the fall or spring break, you
know Christmas break or fallbreak or whatever.
And he just looked back at herand, again very concerned, I'm
gonna refer you and you're gonnaleave my office and go directly
to his office so that that oneappointment started in a whole
(02:58):
significant, life-changingexperience well, walk through
the walk, the listeners.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
You know your mindset when you first, you know, began
to become blind and through thegrieving process of, you know,
having to deal with the loss ofyour sight.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah.
So the gift of being nine wasthat, even though I still can
remember and feel the emotion ofthat day, that appointment,
cognitively, as a nine-year-oldI couldn't understand the depth
of emotion.
I couldn't understand the depthof the significance of what it
meant that I eventually lose mysight, that the cells in my
(03:40):
retina were dying and they knewI would lose my sight.
They just didn't know at whatrate.
And so that's why I say, as thegift, I couldn't really process
what was going on as a nineyear old, fast forward as a 14
year old.
That's when I could process andthat's when the intense grief
(04:03):
process started, process, andthat's when the intense grief
process started.
So what I mean by that isbetween nine and 14, my vision.
It decreased some, but notsignificantly.
So again I just thought okay,this is what my life's going to
be.
My vision is just not as good.
Then in that end of middleschool, there was one particular
(04:25):
day I was sitting in geographyclass and the teacher said take
out your notebooks and writedown.
Start copying down the notesthat I'm going to put up on the
board.
So I just grabbed my notebook,grabbed pen, looked up at the
board and all I saw were theseblack like blobs.
(04:49):
It wasn't clear defined letters.
So I looked back down at mynotebook, looked up at the board
again and still all I saw wasthis kind of black, just random
markings.
Was this kind of black, justrandom markings?
So, very confused of why Ididn't see just regular print, I
(05:10):
leaned over my neighbor andsaid well, how are you copying
down the notes on the board?
You seem to be doing it with noproblem.
How are you writing down thenotes?
Are you just writing down words?
And she just leaned back overto me and said Laura, the print
is completely normal.
What are you talking about?
(05:30):
There's no issues writing downthe notes on the board.
So that's the moment I realizedthe reality of that doctor
appointment, when I was nine.
That's when I realized as a 14year old okay, I had just lost a
significant amount of visionand this is my new reality.
(05:54):
So, just as you were askingabout the grief process, that's
when the grief started and myfirst step, my first fault, was
that denial period.
Oh, this isn't that bad.
Oh, my vision might come backreally soon.
This is not permanent, it justit was denying the reality.
(06:17):
Once I was experienced thatdenial the grief was.
The mindset was I can't, Ican't, I can't, I don't have the
strength, this is too hard, Ican't, I can't, I can't.
So that was my initial reactionto the major vision loss.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
As far as the grief emotional perspective is, this
is too hard, I can't do thiswhat talk to the listeners about
how you use grit and gratitudeto be able to move forward yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
So, as I was saying the whole time, so through high
school, as I continued to lose asignificant more amount of
sites and I still was in thatmindset, that intense grief of I
can't which led to anxiety, todepression the whole time, that
I am thinking I can't do this,this is too hard.
(07:18):
Where the grit and gratitudecomes in is not first the grit
and gratitude of myself, it'sthat of the support and those
around me.
So I'll break it down into bothparts.
So the grit, what I mean bythat is it was the grit of my
(07:39):
parents who would tell me everyday we don't know the future, we
don't know how this is allgoing to work out.
We're going to take it day byday as a family and figure this
out, figure out what resourcesare out there, how to live this
new, this new life, this newnormal.
(07:59):
It was my brother, who's fiveyears older.
It was his grit of he didn'ttreat me any different all of a
sudden.
He didn't start babying me orpitying me or feeling sorry for
me.
He treated me no different thanhe'd always treated me.
It's just like his annoyinglittle younger baby sister that
(08:21):
her job was to drive her bigbrother crazy.
He didn't treat me anydifferent.
My friends continue to be myfriends, treat me any different.
My friends continue to be myfriends.
They again, they didn't treatme any different just because I
couldn't see as well.
So, being surrounded by acommunity, by teachers, by
(08:42):
parents, by a brother thatcontinued to move forward and
continued to just take itliterally day by day, by day,
that's what I mean by the grit.
It was as they held that gritfor me.
My mindset slowly began toshift from I can't do this to oh
(09:08):
OK, maybe I can do this for thenext hour, maybe I can get
through English class today andthen Spanish class at the end of
the day and then lunch duringthe day.
So it was that mindset ofslowly changing from I can't to
(09:30):
accepting and believing thatgrit within myself.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
And and I it was again, it was a.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
It was a slow process .
It wasn't just I woke up oneday and said, okay, now I have
grit, now I believe in myself,now I have the strength, let's
go forward.
But it was a very slow processof just all these moments
building up to finally acceptingthat grit for myself, and I can
(09:59):
give countless examples of howthat grit finally came to be.
But before I give thoseexamples, just balance with that
grit, what I experienced wasthe gratitude.
And again, the gratitude wasnot me waking up and saying, oh,
(10:21):
wow, I am just so grateful tonow be blind, I am so grateful
to be a teenager this differentthan I used to be.
Rather, it was just thegratitude of what helped me
navigate through each day, andthe way I got there was again
(10:45):
just like the grit.
It was that support around methat taught me the gratitude.
So one day in high school, amentor of mine said to me after
school one day Laura, I want youto start writing down three
things that you're grateful for,and every day, at the end of
each day, I want you to reflectback on the day and just think
(11:09):
about what are those threepeople or situations or events
that you're thankful for.
And immediately, as she told methis, thankfully I just kind of
didn't, I just didn't reallyreact.
But in my mind I'm thinking I'mnot sure you're a good mentor.
Here I am with extremedepression, panic attacks, I
(11:34):
have just lost most of my vision.
I have nothing to be gratefulfor.
And you're telling me, you'reasking me, you're inviting me to
be grateful.
I don't think that's a goodidea.
So in my stubbornness, in mydetermination to prove her wrong
(11:55):
, that's why I started thegratitude journal.
So, as I sort of write down,one night became three nights,
three nights became a week, aweek became two weeks.
And I slowly realized the valueof that mentor.
She wasn't teaching me andsaying wake up and be grateful
(12:18):
for the blindness.
What she was teaching me isnotice throughout the day what
you're grateful for that helpsyou navigate through the intense
change, what helps you navigatethrough the adjustment period,
what helped you adapt everymoment and every day.
(12:41):
So again, it's not beinggrateful, positive, happy, happy
.
Rather, it's being deeplygrateful and appreciative for
what helps me get through everyday.
So that's how the grit andgratitude started.
It didn't first start by mechoosing to have that.
It started by me realizing Ihad this around me, so then I
(13:05):
can choose to have it for myself.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Well, talk about UB Global.
Tell us what your organizationdoes and why you decided to
found it, and how it's helpingpeople.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah.
So what it does is it helpspeople as they're navigating
through change and they're goingthrough that grief process and
the loss process of just thedifficulty of change, the
overwhelm of change, to usethese same two principles of
grit and gratitude to help themmove forward in change.
(13:42):
Often, when we experiencetransition, change and diversity
, we're overwhelmed by theintensity and then the magnitude
of the change.
So we just shut down, like inmy situation I just got so
overwhelmed with the anxiety andthe depression.
So, rather than people justbeing stuck and locked in that
(14:05):
overwhelm and locked in thatfear of the future, what I do,
through both speaking andcoaching, is help people and
provide people the resources toacknowledge the difficulty of
the change and then, at theexact same time, choose to move
(14:26):
forward through the grit and thegratitude.
And the reason that I do that,the reason that I founded the
organization and have so muchpassion, is because of my lived
experience, because of what Ijust shared about.
I was surrounded by such anincredible community and support
(14:47):
.
I am passionate and want tospend my life work giving that
support to other people who arealso going through change, not
just, specifically, vision loss,but any type of major changes,
overwhelming and fearful, andanxiety producing, helping them
(15:08):
and supporting them and beingthat grit and gratitude for them
as they move forward.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Okay, well, tell us about your book.
Tell us you know what we canexpect when we read it.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, okay.
So Harnessing Courage.
There were two driving againthe passion, the two driving
forces of why I wrote that book.
The first was, for me, it wasincredibly healing and was so
(15:49):
intense and that in thoseinitial years of the vision loss
were so difficult and stillliving every day as a person
without sight in a sighted world.
It was incredibly healing and asource of strength.
Just to get to write out mystory, just to get to write out
my story and through thatprocess is where I realized the
(16:15):
grit and gratitude that wassurrounding me.
So, again, I wrote the bookfrom the perspective of yes,
this was the major change Iexperienced and through this
change, here's how I continue tomove forward, here's how I live
a full productive life and,rather than being depressed and
anxious, here's how I moveforward with joy and strength,
(16:39):
with those two resources.
So the first reason I wrote thebook is just, it was incredibly
healing, just to write out mystory and to reflect on the grit
and gratitude that I hadreceived, received Again.
(17:02):
The second major passion wasthe exact same passion for why I
founded the organization forspeaking coaching.
So I was deeply passionate andwanted to write a book that
people could pick up and read,to know and have that resource
of yes, I'm going through thismajor change and here's how I
can move forward.
Yes, I'm going through thismajor loss in my life, whether
(17:24):
it be job, relational, death ofa loved one, whatever it might
be, there's still strength tomove forward and using my story
as a source of strength.
That was my passion for writingthe book and the reason for the
title Harnessing Courage.
(17:45):
That was a very deliberatedecision.
So the harness is the handle,that.
So what goes around the dog andthen what the person who's
flying holds on a guide dog,that is called a harness.
So what's strapped around thedog and then the end of the
(18:05):
strap is the handle, is theharness.
So the reason I named itHarnessing Courage is because,
literally that first guide dogthat I've had, and then my
second guide dog as well, bothof those dogs empower me to have
the courage to physically moveforward and feel safe in this
world.
So that was one reason for thetitle Harness the Courage.
(18:30):
And then the other reason wasjust to send the message and,
through the book again and again, make the point very clear that
it takes a lot of strength toharness the courage to move
forward in times of change.
So again, that title was very,very deliberate.
(18:53):
I was very specific in wantingto have that title because of
the strength, harness andcourage, both physically and
emotionally, has given me.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Okay, well, tell us about any upcoming projects that
you're working on thatlisteners need to be aware of.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, so what I'm working on now is just expanding
the speaking and expanding thecoaching.
I've done a lot of speaking andcoaching to different
organizations, to differentcolleges, high schools, just to
find where does this message ofchange connect?
(19:35):
Obviously, we all go throughchange, but through the speaking
, just to be able to connectwith those people who can best
connect with the message of thisis how we can navigate through
change.
Yes, it is an intense griefprocess and also we can grieve
(19:57):
while choosing to move forward.
So that's what's upcoming andthat's what I'm so passionate
about is just that the speakingand the coaching continue to
grow.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
But they'll add your contact info so people can keep
up with everything that you'reup to.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So the best place is my website.
Laurarattoncom has all theinformation about the speaking,
the coaching and the book, soit's all on that one website.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Okay, close us out with some final thoughts.
Maybe, if that was something Iforgot to talk about, that you
would like to touch on, or anyfinal thoughts you have for the
listeners.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
I thought you have for the listeners.
Yeah.
So the one final thought andI've touched on this a little
bit, but the one final thoughtwould be to know that as we go
through change, whatever thatchange might be it can be a loss
, a difficult transitionwhatever the magnitude is of
that loss, give yourself thespace to acknowledge the
(21:03):
difficulty, to acknowledge thatis a time of change, that is a
difficult situation that it'sokay to grieve.
And the reason I say that isfrom my own experience of I
initially thought, ok, I justhave to be strong and push
forward and it'll all work out.
(21:24):
What I didn't realize and theadvice I wish I knew and that's
why I'm so passionate aboutgiving it is just letting
ourselves stop and grieve andfeel the magnitude and the
difficulty of the transition.
The purpose of that, the reasonis that is, once we sit in that
(21:47):
place of pain, once we sit inthat acknowledgement of wow,
this is really really hard, thisis a difficult situation, that
then gives us the mental powerand the mindset to move forward.
So I'm not it's not saying sitin the grief for the rest of
your life and just stay there.
(22:08):
Rather, it's saying just sit inthe grief for a time and give
yourself that space to feel thedifficulty, feel the pain, feel
the anxiety.
And then, once you do that, mynext advice is take it moment by
moment, by moment, and I saythat from my own lived
(22:30):
experience of I was trying tofigure out the whole future at
one time in one moment.
That was overwhelming, that'swhat created that deep anxiety,
that deep, deep, deep depression.
Rather, when I learned themindset of just taking it day by
day, moment by moment, hour byhour, that's when I realized I
(22:56):
could move forward and that itwasn't so overwhelming.
So my advice would be toperfectly balance that, allowing
yourself to grieve while alsomoving forward minute by minute,
moment by moment.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
All right.
Ladies and gentlemen,laurabrattoncom, please be sure
to keep up with everything thatshe's up, to Check out her book,
follow, rate review.
Share this episode to as manypeople as possible.
Follow us on your favoritepodcast app.
Go to wwwcurveball337.com formore information on the Living
(23:33):
the Dream with Curveball podcast.
Thank you for listening andsupporting the show and, laura,
thank you for all that you doand thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
Absolutely.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
For more information on the Living the Dream with
Curveball podcast, visitwwwcurveball337.com.
Until next time, keep livingthe dream.
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