*Niall Minogue
Corofin resident Niall Minogue has hit back against the negativity of life by creating a pocket-sized book whereby people can document the positive aspects of their day.
Take Back My Life 28 Days is Niall’s way of giving something back to the universe. Last year, life hit Niall and his family of four quite hard. In August, his wife Oonagh suffered a stroke at the age of 36.
“You hear a lot of stories of people getting strokes and their lives being destroyed after it. My wife survived. We are very lucky. We’ve almost won the lotto in that way,” he states.
Oonagh began to experience anxiety as a result of the trauma caused by the stroke, Niall explains. A follow up hospital appointment led to the discovery of a hole in two chambers of her heart. In November, Oonagh received A Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) Repair. In the same week, their daughter Sophie got her tonsils out and Abbie decided to join in and got her appendix out, he informs.
“I sat down with the kids to create something for my wife, so that she could document what made her feel good. Initially we called it ‘The Minogue Magic Book.’ It allowed her to document all her happy thoughts,” he states.
Niall decided to test out his creation over Christmas, printing 20 copies and handed them out to friends and family that were feeling the pain of the pandemic. Each page contains quotes and challenges as part of the 28-day structure. One such quote featured on the back page comes from the Dalai Lama, “The purpose of life is to be happy.” Niall decided to opt for a pocket-sized book so that people could open it when they are feeling down and look back at the positive times.
Niall stresses: “This is a time where people need to look at the positives of life. I remember some old lad saying to me ‘you should be treating your mind like your stomach. If you’re eating McDonalds every day, something will eventually go wrong. If your mind is thinking of negative thoughts the whole time, something will go wrong.'”
The feedback and interest in Taking Back My Life 28 Days is something the Scariff native “never dreamed would happen.” His initial target was 200 books. He admits that orders have skyrocketed up to 800 so far, following a live interview on national radio station Today FM. Niall has also been balancing orders with a very dedicated family life and a full-time job with Cummins Tarmac Limited.
Initially the book contained several detailed pages of Niall and Oonagh’s challenging year but Niall decided to scale back the personal information to a single page. “I want people to think of their own story when they pick up the book, not ours,” he adds.
Copies can be purchased online on https://takingbackmylife28days.com/ for €4.95 each.
