Thursday 19 September 2013

Inspiration & Support

Two incidents have occurred this week, the first was a visit from a colleague at work we never worked directly together but my job meant on occasion we saw and chatted.   She has retired now but does some part time work.  She came into the office dressed in a red sports top and running bottoms and the first words out of her mouth were "your looking really trim", which was a lovely thing to say, for those of you who don't know I contracted type 2 diabetees through my own fault and have after a few years manage to reverse my condition, the main factors being: exercise, weightloss and diet.

So Carol's comment was a nice reminder for me, well we got chatting a little more and i told her about my Jogle and she fell into that category of positive and supporting.  Much further than that she was very concerned about me getting enough support and made me promise to take her number and email so that if I got into trouble she would come with her husband and drive out to me wherever I was...She said we are retired now so we have plenty of time for this kind of nonsense :-)

Now I am not a weepy type but I can tell you that brought a lump to my throat, she was genuine and insistant and reminded me of how many truly lovely people are out there.  It also made me think again how long I had known her without actually knowing anything about her, during our brief conversation I found out she and her hustband are Marathon runners, she started at 34 having never run before.   She has offered to help me with my next challenge which will include some running and just that conversation gave me so much about her as a person, imagine how much i would have learned from her if I had taken the time to get to know her better.

I know it's not practical to know everyone you meet, but I am saying you should actively try and seek out people who can be a positive force in your life.

The second incident happened yesterday, I have contracted a cold (man flu) I have got the aches, temprature, chesty cough, bringing up evil substances and feeling cold even though hot...  This occurred amazingly quick, I was feeling fine at 3:00 by the time I was home I felt like a zombie.  Yet perversely all I could think was that I am so glad it happened now and not before I was about to leave, you just have to be grateful for small mercies!

 I went to bed with my hot orange juice, sugar and squeezed limes concoction a couple of painkillers and sat with my laptop for some YouTube surfing, when I came across a video of a young lad called George Killick and his video record of a solo unsuported JOGLE in 2012.

He was cold, wet, he had numerous setbacks, it seemed at times he had left a trail of spokes from Scotland to wales, he had puncture after puncture, a broken pannier and a cold at the begining.  But the lad just kept going.    He had a quiet determination, no self pity and even in the face of disaster after disaster was of the disposition, "bugger bugger I can't believe this" and no more than that.  Required watching if your going on a solo JOGLE.

George Killick - 2012 JOGLE

The majority of people I have spoken to have said a variation of the following:

1. you won't make it
2. your crazy
3. at yourage (43 hmm life is over i guess)
4. you will be miserable

Then there are those who fall into the following category:

1. Good luck
2. It is going to be amazing
3. What an adventure

Ive had some time to think about this, and I have come to the conclusion that it is only a small minority of people that would go from contemplation to actually taking something like this kind of challenge on.  I have decided that the first group fall into that and the second group are pretty much the type who see the adventure and the possibility, I also think that what the first group are really saying is "I couldn't do it" or that they would be miserable and they aren't really talking about me more themselves.

I guess some people prefer it comfortable and there's nothing wrong with that, but some of us have also worked out that you can never truly appreciate being comfortable unless you have been uncomfortable, as they say until you have been in the dark you don't appreciate the light.


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