![Andrew D Pope](https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fill:96:96/1*HyRHnDnZVI2mOqf6EAcVEw.png)
Hello there, I'm Andrew D Pope.
I'm mad-busy building out my passion project which will be an interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence online learning resource. It sounds a bit pretentious and grandiose, but I really do want as many people as possible to have access to what I know and what turned my life around.
I'm 58+ years of age as I write this, and the reason I'm doing it all is because for many years, up to about the age of 35 as I recall, I was clueless about all the things I now talk and write so passionately about.
I had minimal emotional intelligence (I didn't even know it was a thing) and very underdeveloped interpersonal skills.
Don't misunderstand me, I got through life okay. I did quite well in fact. I had plenty of money and I generally had fun, I think. But I was not right inside. Not right in a mental well-being kind of way. Nothing was working smoothly for me. Life wasn't working out the way I felt it ought to and I didn't understand why.
The reality was that I was operating in victim mode. From my POV, life was unfair. People were out to get me. I couldn't get a break. No matter what I did, somebody was trying to stop me. Nothing was my fault. That was one of the big things. Nothing I ever did was my fault. It was always somebody else's responsibility.
I was very lucky. I met some good people, and they helped me to help myself. I had some coaching. I had all sorts of support at one point. I had to. I had to change.
I often thought I was being cool and edgy back in the day. I was just being a scared jerk. I didn't have a clue about how life worked.
When I finally got myself out of my full-on victim mentality, and I would urge you to do the same if you're in the same position, that was what made the difference. That was the game-changer for me.
I finally took total ownership of and total responsibility for my own life.
Anything I had messed up; I could also be the solution for.
I'm not talking about trying to fix everything but taking responsibility does mean I can control my responses to the world and the things that happen to me in that world.
So, that's what I discovered and what I want to share with people.
If you've got this far you presumably have found something of interest.
Of course, I'm still a work in progress. There are no gurus here. There are no advisors to give you the ancient secrets of life and all that kind of thing.
I'm just way better than I used to be and, even though I'm still learning and growing as a person, what I'm doing now is paying what I do know forward.
If it helps you on your own journey, happy days.
BTW I'm a professional freelance interpersonal skills trainer, course designer and one to one transformative coach, amongst other pursuits, and this is what funds my project. Hopefully in time the passion project will be self-sustaining, and I can work on building it on a full-time basis.
Fingers and toes crossed.
Anyway, that's just a little bit about my background and aims.
All the best to you and yours on your unique journey. And, if you are on the road to a better you, I wish you well on that journey. Perhaps we can share the path together for a while. I'll leave it up to you.
I hope all this has given you some food for thought.
See you on the other side.
Andrew D Pope