Ultimate Survivor

“You have extraordinary power within you to overcome life’s difficult challenges.” – Lailah Gifty Akita

As I look at the rain battering against the window today, there is part of me wondering why I’ve signed up for this? By this, I mean the 5k Mud Run called ‘Ultimate Survivor’ that is just my latest challenge. It is one I need to get myself ready to take part in tomorrow morning.

I was thinking about the whole survivor thing recently when, following my last blog post I saw a tweet that had the hash tag ‘survivor’ (#survivor) after my name.

To be honest, I had never really thought of myself as a survivor, but I suppose when I sat down to think about it, I am in many ways.

By the same token, I’d hasten to add then, so is everyone else.

We’re pretty much all survivors in one way or another, it’s just that we don’t always realise that we are. If you are here today you are a survivor, it’s just that, well we’re somehow conditioned not to think that way.

Dealing with businesses in Donegal over the past couple of years I have heard stories time and again of how hard it is for them to survive.

And yet, many of them have done that, week after week, month after month, year after year, some doing more than just surviving. Some really thriving and growing too.

Sadly some of the businesses haven’t and yet it doesn’t mean the people involved should in any way be classed as failures.

That’s a mindset that we really need to get away from because the reality is, more often than not these are the very people who will get up and go again.

People who will not just sit around waiting, but who are willing to embrace the fear, try something new and just keep on going.

These are the people who truly understand that we learn more from our mistakes than our triumphs, people who continually take up the gauntlet and set about their very next challenge.

They know that being a survivor is difficult, that there will be obstacles and mishaps and stumbles along the way. But as long as they can get up again and inch forward then they are always going the right way.

Sometimes, all that’s needed to get someone moving again is a few words of encouragement. Sometimes they need a hand. Sometimes they just need to change their mindset and then drag themselves onwards.

That change of mindset can come in all sorts of ways and I’ve found that setting challenges for myself in personal life including my 365 poetry challenge, fitness challenge, volunteer work and even learning to dance, has all helped my confidence and determination to keep going forward, one step at a time, in business.

And that all means of course that even if I’m stuck in the mud tomorrow there just can’t be time allowed even for a few seconds of wallowing self-pity.

I am an ultimate survivor after all…

Dancing past my fears

To be honest I never thought I’d be starting a blog post by stating that in recent weeks I’ve been learning to dance, but I am, because I have been and believe me it’s almost as big a shock to me as it is to everyone else who has heard it.

Of course my initial reaction when I was asked to take part in a Strictly Come Dancing fundraiser for my local school was an outright and flat – no.

There really was no hope of me doing something like that. Putting myself out there in front of everyone was the last thing I’d ever do. It just wasn’t me.

My cunning plan instead was to try to decline gracefully but offer to help by getting someone else to take part. I could rest easy then thinking I hadn’t really let anyone down.

The plan was all going great too when the person I had in mind said she’d love to take part, but then suddenly backfired when she suggested that I join in as her dance partner.

So, before the dancing had even started I was back to square one and with no plan b springing to mind I thought, well sure, I might as well say – yes.

When I did that, I had a twofold outcome in mind. Firstly it would help me continue with an ongoing challenge for 2014 to try and help as many groups as I possibly can, but secondly I knew that in doing this I would be facing yet another of my fears head on – or feet on as this case may be.

I know that for many, taking part in something like this is hardly much of a fear to be facing – but believe me, for me it is.

A few times during the year I had listened to Everest conqueror Jason Black speak of the personal Everests each of us have to conquer and having set out on an upward climb of my own over the past few years, decided that this would be the year for me to try to triumph over a few more.

That upward journey started in earnest a few years ago, one small step at a time starting with time on a programme called Discovery Zone. This was organised by what is now the Local Enterprise Office in Donegal, an office of people dedicated to helping businesses in Donegal at every level and for whom I have the greatest respect and admiration.

I am under no doubt whatsoever that the confidence-drained me who turned up for the interview to get on that programme would have run a mile from any suggestion of taking part in a Strictly contest.

Indeed, it even took a re-scheduled meeting to get me to the interview at all in the first place, but I have always been glad that it did.

Quite simply the programme and the people I met on it and through it, set me on a path towards restoring some semblance of self-confidence, and now, self-employed in my own business it is a path that I slowly try to keep moving forward on.

And yes, I know that in many respects I still have a long way to go. That there is still climbing to be done on another Everest that dismisses my own talents and abilities – the one that will get me to put my head down when somebody says I’m great at something in a aw shucks kind of way, because I can’t really believe they’d actually think that.

There is that, and many more besides yet to conquer, but here’s the thing – I am climbing now, every day working towards new goals and challenges.

Like the dancing, that sometimes means two steps forward and one step back, but it’s all about keeping going.

By the way, there is no question that, had I run away in fright, my fantastic dance partner would have had no problem getting somebody else to dance with, but you know, right now I’m glad she backfired my, well as it turns out now, not so cunning plan.

As the deadline for the contest comes even closer, that well might change, but having committed now I know the best thing to do is to keep going and drag myself over another personal Everest before the year is out.

If you’d like to come along for a great night’s entertainment, the Strictly Come Dancing in aid of Deele College will take place in Mount Errigal Hotel (it’s still a mountain!), Letterkenny on Saturday 6^th December. Tickets will go on sale in early November, contact me on liam@liamportermedia.com if you’d like to purchase some. If any business would like to sponsor my dance partner and myself on the night you can also contact me on the e.mail listed.

 

P.S. – Aw shucks – We’re going to be great I promise!