How strong is your resilience, do you give up before you've even started because what you really want to do looks too daunting or unachievable and then regret it? Or do you try it and then give up because you've encountered a few hurdles and it's knocked your confidence?
Last week my husband and I took part in the Tough Guy challenge. It was 5 degrees with a freezing cold wind and intermittent ice rain, great!
The course covers 15km and is designed to challenge body and mind with an exhausting course and intimidating names - the Somme, the Killing Fields, the Torture Chamber. It starts with a pretty standard run across fields but then quickly turns into the stuff of nightmares, slalom running up and down steep muddy fells, wading waist deep through mud filled trenches. You think it can't get any worse, and then it does, 50ft high obstacles, crawling through tunnels, more water courses and barbed wire, electric cables, jumping through fire.....all this whilst hearing sirens from ambulances picking up people who broke bones, suffered deep cuts and hypothermia! I am now covered in bruises, lumps and ache in places that I didn't think could ache. Would I do it again? No thanks. Am I glad I did it? Yes without a doubt.
How do you challenge yourself?
Are you content with the norm (fine if you are, good for you) Tough Guy certainly isn't everyones idea of fun, but what do you do that pushes you that little bit further. When faced with a challenge, whether it's going for a step up in your career, or having to do something in your current role that makes you feel uncomfortable, is it easier just to give up and walk away and always wonder 'what could have been'?
Our minds are amazing tools that we sometimes take for granted. Even when faced with the extraordinary, both personal and professional, the power of our minds push us forward. Sometimes it may take a while to kick in - did I want to swim through another freezing cold river, or should I just give up and go and have a cup of hot tea - tempting for a second or two. But I didn't because I knew I'd regret it. My amazing, strong and resilient mind, even when faced with the hardest of challenges fired up and ignited pushing the rest of me on. Sometimes you need to push yourself to conquer your fears, sometimes it doesn't work out and you take learnings from it, but sometimes it does! Either way you'll be okay at least you tried.
Who's supporting you?
We all need support, me from my husband motivating and encouraging me, helping me re-focus when I just didn't have any energy or motivation left. Also people can be incredibly generous, whether they're in your team or not, stopping to pull you up, or out, of situations, motivating you and cheering you on knowing that you're all in it together.
Sometimes just asking for support can be daunting, it isn't a sign of weakness it's a sign that you want to learn, want to do better, don't quite get it and don't want to get it wrong.
Also knowing that you can pass it on at the next opportunity, putting out a hand to help people conquer their fears, giving them encouragement, self-belief and re-firing their, slightly damp, but still wonderful minds to help them achieve their goals.
What's your next challenge, how are you going to get there and who's supporting you?
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