Glass Half Fuller

Image Source: Louis Fuller Instagram @louisfullerlive

By Riley Walter | @rileywalter_

If positivity equals success, then Louis Fuller can expect his fair share of good fortune in the near future.

Of all the people I’ve met, Loui may well be the most upbeat and optimistic of the lot.

From the moment you meet him, his positive energy is apparent—it engulfs you.

It’s infectious, it’s almost overwhelming, and it’s quite honestly, unexpected.

In the increasingly disconnected and pessimistic society we live in today, it seems so far from the norm for anyone to be as nice to a total stranger as Loui is.

But the more you get to know him, the more you understand that’s what he does best – which in itself is amazing, considering he’s pretty good at just about everything he tries his hand at.

Amongst a plethora of other talents, Loui’s best might be his ability to stay positive and enjoy life, no matter what comes his way.

But it hasn’t always been that easy for the Streaky Bay native.

There was a turning point that set Loui on his current life path.

As a teenager, Loui developed into one of Australia’s best junior golfers, playing alongside the likes of Jason Day, and climbed the rungs of the competitive ladder that is junior sport.

Golf was something that came easily to Loui, so naturally—as he does with every venture—he put his all into it.

As a young man he was a sponsored athlete travelling around the country living what would seem like a “dream life”.

Internally, however, it became more like a nightmare.

Years of self-imposed expectation and pressure came to a head when Loui wasn’t seeing the results he so desperately wanted, putting him on a downward trajectory mentally.

“I got to this point where I was playing golf, I wasn’t getting the results and I was putting all this energy out…so it was just sucking, sucking, sucking,” Loui said.

“I was living this dream life on the outside but internally…it was just like this black hole sucking everything out.

“I was just sort of going out on the golf course and playing, but I knew I didn’t want to be out there.”

Faced with the fear of “letting everyone down” Loui soldiered on for as long as he could before it became too much.

The tipping point for him arrived in late 2015 when he broke the news to friends and family that he’d had enough, and the relief was instantaneous.

While he knew support from those closest to him was always there in whatever decision he made, it was the reassurance he needed to take the final step.

“I sort of deep down did know that, but I needed that clarification from them as well,” he said.

Although he faced many a talented opponent on the green, it was the months following his decision to step away from golf that would prove to be his toughest challenge.

The thought of returning to golf would prompt anxiety attacks, and as a result, Loui looked to darker remedies for relief.

“That hole got really bad so I just wanted to escape reality…alcohol, drugs are pretty easy to numb the pain,” he said.

During that period, Loui’s life-long passion for music suffered, with gigs coming few and far between, as did his finances with excessive spending becoming another form of distraction.

“There was three months there where I got into a spot where I was just drinking alcohol, I was gigging once a fortnight…racking up credit cards…”

And the damage wasn’t exclusive to just him.

His wife of now six years, Kristen, was put in the unenviable position of watching her husband start to self-destruct.

“Kristen would come home and I’d be pissed…I was drinking two bottles of wine and I wasn’t even getting drunk at that stage. It was just hideous,” Loui said.

Fortunately for Loui, there was light at the end of the tunnel.

His epiphany moment came after reading Awaken the Giant Within by renowned health and wellbeing guru Tony Robbins.

“In that moment it went from this dark hole, and I’ve just punched through the hole and it was like light and it was just like ‘wow, what have I been doing? You are a dickhead’,” he said.

That realisation set Loui on a path of positivity and self-improvement, and he hasn’t looked back.

“The real dark point when I gave up was like my awakening, really, to becoming the best version of myself.”

A daily “gratitude journal” became his new outlet as he discovered a new lease on life – starting fresh with new priorities and goals.

“I set myself two goals at the start of 2016; one was to get comfortable being uncomfortable…and the other one was to say yes to every opportunity.”

And say yes he did.

Loui became a real-life ‘yes-man’, seizing every opportunity thrown at him and opening countless doors in the process.

“When you say yes to opportunities, you get a lot of stuff coming in,” he said.

If it wasn’t for this open-minded approach to such opportunities, Loui would never have been able to create the very thing that we’ve caught up to chat about—his wine label.

Image Source: Just Loui Wines

Appropriately named ‘Just Loui’, the boutique label delivers exactly what it promises: one hundred per cent Loui Fuller from start to finish.

Loui’s foray into the world of winemaking began when friend and Epsilon Wines owner Aaron Southern recruited him to work a vintage at his Greenock vineyard, on the Barossa’s renowned western slopes.

When Loui was keen to learn the art, Aaron offered to trade grapes for labour and show him the ropes, teaching him everything he knows about winemaking.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Since then, Loui has completed two solo vintages.

His 2016 Shiraz ‘The Love Juice’ was a success with friends and family, and his 2017 Shiraz sold out in just four weeks.

From picking the grapes to designing the label, Loui loves the fact that he is responsible for every stage of his project and believes that his hard work shows in the final product.

“The wine has been amazing because I’ve been able to create something that I’ve picked the grapes…fermented, barrelled…bottled and then share with people and bring people together and you can taste the love in the juice, really,” he said.

The personal touch in his wine is a signature trait of any Loui Fuller endeavour, with himself on display just as much as the bottles he’s selling.

Image Source: Just Loui Wines

Rediscovering his love for music has been a big part of that story and again, it’s the chance to share his creations with others that means the most to Loui.

“I’ve been very fortunate and [I’m] very grateful that I’ve been able to…have my creative juices flowing and be able to share that with people,” he said.

“That’s where it’s all really started from, I guess…I’ve sort of created that feeling of the creativity of making songs and sharing that and making other people happy…”.

Expressing himself through music is something that will be a permanent fixture for the talented guitarist and singer.

“I’ll always play music for the rest of my life – that’s 100 per cent.”

If there’s one other thing that will remain for Loui as long as the music does, it’s his positive outlook on pretty much everything life has to offer.

“Life’s a crazy journey…make the most of what we’ve got right now because you just don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” he said.

“You don’t know and that’s what I love about life, it’s so unpredictable.”

And if there’s anything that’s become clear while chatting to him, it’s that whatever Loui’s doing he’s not only doing it because he loves it but because he really does want to make a difference.

“Life’s about helping people and connecting with people and being a better person and trying to strive every day,” he said.

“Just finding that balance of helping myself, giving myself enough time to be the best I can and from there being able to help people.”

For most people who have had some tough times, rather than helping others, the normal reaction would be to dwell on the negativity and let the mistakes of the past stop you from moving forward.

Not for Loui though.

“I don’t regret anything in my life, you just learn from those mistakes and you learn from the way those curveballs get thrown at you, and you just learn how to deal with them,” he said.

And even though he’s learnt a lot so far, his journey of enlightenment is not coming to an end anytime soon.

“I’m frothing on life, I’ve got to just keep doing what I’m doing.”