The thing that defines me, like you, is my family. I am the person I am because of my Mum, Dad, brother and sisters.
Growing up, I was known as the guy with the beautiful sisters. I have older and younger twin sisters, who taught me a lot about women, for which I'm super grateful.
There's someone though, who I haven't written a lot about on my blog. That's my brother. I was in year five when he moved to South Australia. Two years later he moved to outback Queensland and a few years after that to country Victoria, before finally settling in Newcastle. He was chasing his own dream in the radio industry. He made it when he settled in Brisbane and had a prime time position with B105. It turned out for my brother that the view from the top wasn't what he'd dreamed of.
He married and had a baby girl. And another baby girl, and another, and another, and another. Seriously, five baby girls. Pretty soon, he realised that his career in radio had equipped him with the skills he needed to communicate with celebrities on a daily basis but not his children.
So, like me, or me like him, he quit his job to pursue something he felt passionately for.
It turns out that all this time I thought my brother was just my brother...and he's actually a genius. At almost thirty, he went back to TAFE, before being accepted into a Bachelor of Psychology. He then completed his honours, before receiving a scholarship to complete his PhD in parenting and the way we see our role as a parent and the how this impacts our happiness and our children's happiness.
My brother is a Doctor now. I always joked with him that I would never call him a Doctor. He's earned it though and he deserves that title.
I'm proud of my brother. It takes a brave man with a family the size of his, at the pinnacle of his career, to walk away from the security of an income and employment to try and make his family's life better. I know he has. His beautiful girls are a testament of that.
It hasn't ended there for my brother though. He signed a book deal and his first publication has just been released. During a meeting with his publisher, the issue of a cover image came up.
'You're not related to Tim Coulson, are you?'
He laughed and told them that I was his little brother. In this crazy online space, apparently his publishing team knew my work and loved the idea of one of my images being on the cover. A few emails later and it was, courtesy of Stacey Clark :)
The ultimate collaboration.
Like I said, my brother is a genius. He completed a degree in psychology, with honours, and a PhD with five girls under twelve and the most supportive wife in Kylie. His book is called What Your Child Needs From You - Creating A Connected Family.
If you're a parent, you should buy his book. It might just change your life.
