How to Begin Again After Tragedy

H G Wells not only recovered from suffering but built a better life out of it – and we can do the same.

H G Wells almost did not become the writer we know him as today, and he almost failed to become that writer several times. From a young age, Wells spent long periods convalescing in bed as the result of various illnesses and accidents. His first spell of time off sick was caused by a broken leg. As it mended, Wells read his way through stacks of library books and nurtured his fascination with alien worlds. This malady became the origin story of the sci-fi writer.

At the age of fourteen, he was removed from education and made to work to support his family. The miserable thirteen-hour work days might have broken him, or he may simply have vanished into the pedestrian obscurity of an ordinary life, but instead this experience informed three of his later novels and their critiques of class and wealth distribution in his society.

Wells fought his way out of his dire situation and began a science degree under “Darwin’s Bulldog”, T H Huxley. He set his sights high and raised himself higher. An…