Neil & Angela
Wilkinson
Like most people, my wife Angela and I have both had
our challenges. My father died very young when I was just 13
years old, which gave me a certain perspective on life. Angela
suffered from severe low self-esteem and self-image, lacking
confidence. We both left school to work at Sellafield, Nuclear
reprocessing plant in Cumbria; Angela in the Press Office and
me as an Instrument Technician. It was here one day, stood at
the top of a 12 story building looking at the workers below
that my mentor at the time nudged me and said, “That’s you
that is – A LIFER!” That comment hit me hard, as I could not
accept that I would spend the rest of my working life working
in one place.
I
left to go to university at Newcastle though found it hard
work. I met Angela, as I was about to start my final year.
Halfway through this year I felt as if I was drowning. I
didn’t understand most of my lectures and was falling behind
with other work that counted for a significant part of my
final grade. A course leader told me I could ask as many
questions as I wanted but ultimately the work had to be done
by me. The only thing in my way was ME. I didn’t know where to
start – I just did. Gradually things just seemed to click into
place and I achieved an Upper Second Honours Degree. I didn’t
know it then, but achieving this through what felt like the
worst time of my life changed my life forever. I realised I
could achieve anything I wanted if I set the goal and worked
for it with a NO MATTER WHAT attitude.
Angela remained at Sellafield during this time and I
then spent some time as a Methods-Time-Measurement Engineer
making hard working people work 20% harder for less bonus
money. I disliked the role. I could not justify the repetitive
strain injuries these people suffered to earn a living.
I
moved into telecommunications and pursued a corporate career
with Cable & Wireless for the next eight years that would
build upon my Degree. This meant we had to relocate over 300
miles from home. I worked hard as a Product
Development/Project Manager and studied two nights a week for
almost three years for a Chartered Institute of Marketing
Diploma. I believed that this role would give my family and me
everything we wanted in life and worked extremely hard chasing
this dream. Angela had quit her job to relocate and as Press
Officer for Barbie and then Panasonic, she perused her career
in a highly stressed environment.
Gradually, the politics, bureaucracy and pressure our
jobs placed on us began to take its toll on our attitudes, our
health and our relationship. We began to look more
pro-actively for other opportunities that would allow us to be
our own boss, and take control of our lives and ultimately
move back to West Cumbria.
Then we came across Herbalife and travelled over two
hours to an information day. Although cautious and a little
sceptical, we loved the potential in the opportunity for those
willing to work and ‘tested’ the products to lose the excess
weight we were carrying. The change in our health was
dramatic. Angela lost 10lb’s and 10 inches, but incredibly,
increased her waking time by two hours per day. That’s 14
hours extra every week! I lost 27lb’s in just 14 weeks, my
energy increased and my skin improved. I also noticed I no
longer suffered the symptoms of a bad dust mite allergy or hay
fever. We felt fantastic and wanted the share this with
everyone!
Doing Herbalife just in our spare time we now have a
home based business that pays our mortgage every month and has
allowed us to fulfil a dream of moving back to our roots in
the Lake District to have our first child. We’ve made some
fantastic new friends. Angela works Herbalife around being a
mother and as the I.T. Industry collapsed and job security
became increasingly rare I actually ‘volunteered’ for
redundancy from Cable & Wireless. We now live in our dream
house that Herbalife has made possible and look forward to the
incredible future we can provide our children because of this
opportunity.
