Ryan Nurse: How a Brain Injury Survivor Turned His Life From Depression to Progression

By Sujany Baleswaran

After being brutally attacked and rushed to hospital with a fractured skull and a blood clot due to a bleed on the brain, Ryan Nurse was placed into an induced coma, with his life in the hands of a machine, just one switch away from death. However, after experiencing an out-of-body experience, Ryan woke up and went on to make a miraculous full recovery. With the simple thought of dying with regrets, Ryan vowed to change his life around. Ten years later, Ryan has changed his life from depression to progression and is using his wounds as wisdom to inspire others to become the very best version of themselves.  

Many of our readers are unaware of how extraordinary this is – you sitting down and having an interview with us is a miracle. Your loved ones were told you would never walk or talk again, but here you are today. Can you tell us more about this period of your life? 

This period of my life was very traumatic. However, it was more of a traumatic experience for my loved ones, who were the ones who had to see this and deal with the stress and emotions every single day. The first thought that went through my head after waking up from my coma was wow, I’m back on earth! This is because I was gifted an out-of-body experience whilst in a coma.

Could you describe your out-of-body experience to us? 

I viewed myself through the eyes of my creator. And when viewing this experience, I ended up seeing every single face I have ever seen. And right at the end of my bed were my immediate loved ones. Every single face I saw was crying. I believe they were all crying because I hadn’t completed my mission. My life was spared. I was sent back to complete the task which I was put on this earth to accomplish. I suffered from extreme fatigue and short-term memory loss for years afterwards. And I noticed that I wanted to take a completely different direction on my life’s journey. 

You took your life from depression to progression. How did your personal development journey begin?

My depression started at the end of 2018. My long-term relationship began to crumble, and then throughout 2019, I was living alone through months of mental misery. My self-discovery/development journey started in late 2019 after one single thought completely transformed my life. “Could I live with the thought of dying with regrets?” This is when I started to climb out of the ditch of depression, and since that one thought that day, I have focused on improving myself a small amount on a daily basis. 

In 2021, you joined Clubhouse, and in a way, it changed your life. How much has Clubhouse played a part in your personal development and business journey?

I went through 2020 improving myself, however, towards the end I felt as if my life had yet again flatlined. I wasn’t progressing, and progress equals happiness. And then came along CLUBHOUSE! It was an absolute blessing in disguise. After spending a few weeks on this new and exciting app, I hopped on a zoom call which resulted in quitting my one and only unfulfilling day job of over 13 years the week after. This app has allowed me to connect with so many like-minded and phenomenal individuals who have helped me to progress into the person I am today. 

You started writing a book at the end of 2020 – what was the inspiration behind this book? Can you tell us more about that single thought that transformed your life?

The book I’m currently writing is titled “Could I live with the thought of dying with regrets” as that single thought completely changed the perspective of my life in that current moment and made me realise how lucky I was. I soon realised that the nightmare I was going through was actually a dream for somebody else. I then began to practice daily gratitude and by doing this attracted positive things into my life. The reason I started writing this book is that I believe that I have faced and overcome many adversities in my life, and this could be the “Haynes manual” for somebody else’s life. 

You now dedicate your time to helping others gain clarity in their own lives. What are three key pieces of advice you would give to someone at a low point in their life?

Three suggestions from my experience would be: 

• Begin with the end in mind by setting your life’s GPS. Goal, Plan, See. Write this down on paper. Because in life you can’t hit a target that you can’t see. All your GPS needs are two precise locations. Where you are, and where do you want to be. Life will give us red lights, roadblocks, and the wrong turns, however, if we have set our GPS, we will always find an alternative way over or around.

• Write down the things that you are willing to give up in order to achieve the life that you want and desire. Make note of everything that you are willing to sacrifice. What got you here will never get you there. You must give up the life that you are currently living in order to live the life of your dreams.

• Practice writing gratitude every day, because gratitude makes what you have enough. If you can’t be grateful for the smallest things in life, then why would you think that having more will ever make you happy.