My Personal Journey
It’s hard to open yourself and write about areas that would normally go unseen, as by doing this you’re opening up to critics and ‘unbelievers’, but at the end of the day no one can argue with your story.
As I look back over the last 10 years, I’ve managed to have an ankle reconstruction, start a business, sell a business, move to Melbourne, start working for Xero - taking on the Australian small business market with this new online software - move to Sydney, travel Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Korea, Canada, USA, then join another couple of online softwares, have a 5 month career break (best thing ever), join another new startup and this was pre having the software or clients - a whole other experience - back to Canada, USA and New Zealand and then whilst building a team and finding clients, head to Papua New Guinea to achieve Kokoda.
In the middle of all of this I thought I was suffering from depression and struggled to get out of bed, turns out stress and burnout is not so good for the body and it got to the point my body said no, no more (read more here) and now I get to live with the consequences of this time, as I work to heal my Hashimotos/Hypothyroidism, and walk a balance of keeping stress under control but yet still working hard and living life.
This is why I decided in November 2016 that I needed a goal, something to focus on for me. As I looked back over the 8 years prior I hadn’t set any, I was letting life pass me by and enjoying living in the moment with work and work travel, tying on personal travel and making friends all across Australia - and yes, don’t get me wrong it was an amazing time! But the feeling of setting, working toward and achieving a goal that was personal, one that consumed my every thought, action, moment, there is something special about that.
Deciding November 2016 that I would do Kokoda, booking with Back Track Adventures in April 2017 and then training with that goal in mind for nearly two years has given me so much satisfaction and extra drive to keep going. I’ve been guilty of it in the past, achieve a goal and then stop, but I didn’t want to do that this time I want to keep going, keep the momentum up and inspire others to get out there and enjoy moving through nature as I have re learnt to.
I’ve learnt that even with my asthma and thyroid issues, I can still push my body to the limit. Sure it requires management, training, testing, knowing limits, but all up if we set our mind to it then we can achieve. I love this statement by Jordan Peterson:
“You only see what you aim at – not only metaphorically but also literally and physiologically. Your perception is adjusted to your aims.”
It sums up how I saw my body responding to my goal, I started off hardly being able to walk from the bedroom when I woke to the bathroom and then as each month went on improvements happened, walking became easier and decisions not to use any medical intervention was the best thing I did. Finally early this year my heel spur pain started to subside and that was when I knew I’d be ok, that my body had worked to adjust itself to my goal.
So, if I can inspire anyone today, or through this Kokoda journey I’ve been on then let it be with the following quote by Marianne Williamson:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves who am I gorgeous brilliant talented fabulous, actually who are you not too be.
If you have any self doubt, or others have stolen that belief in what you can achieve (or have achieved) from you, take it from me - you can get it back! It’s never to late to take control and believe in yourself and back yourself.
We all have a story to tell and our story is our own story, but you never know who it will inspire so step out and tell it, share it, own it!
xx
