PLAY THROUGH THE PAIN

PLAY THROUGH THE PAIN

WEDNESDAY 26 SEPTEMBER

You know sometimes you may allow yourself the luxury of self-pity and wallowing, but I say most times PLAY THROUGH THE PAIN!

I play netball matches every Wednesday, I started this year. This particular Wednesday I had a

headache. Not just a headache but a seriously pounding, side-splitting, make you not think straight kind of headache. Not

wanting to let my team down, I drove slowly to  our game and got there an hour early hoping to sleep

it off before the game. By the time it had drawn near to the match the headache hadn't

relented.

 I went inside to tell our team captain that I would be sitting the game out & explained my

headache, she just looked at me and said  we were short of players and my position was needed.

 I took the uniform and put it on, coaching myself through the pain to stand in court and

block balls jump, yell etc, Netball is an aggressive sport.  I got to the middle of the game

and realised I had stopped thinking about  the headache and had rather focused on the game, and

winning.

When we finished the game, my head hadn't stopped pounding or rather I noticed my

headache again. We lost that game, but I'm glad our captain asked me to play.  I confirmed a very

important lesson: MOST OF THE TIME YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE DECISION TO PLAY THROUGH THE 

PAIN!

I once heard of a dancer who broke her toe or was it her ankle during a performance, and she caried on perfoming through the pain. When the curtains went down at the end of the show, she then collapsed in pain, and an ambulance was called. She had the injury half-way through the show! imagine dancing half-way through a show with a broken ankle?! At an actor's workshop I attended, there was a famous actress who related a part of her life. She said  her husband was telling her continuously at night before sleep and in the morning before going to work how fat she was, and how ugly she was. She would go to the bathroom and weep.  Then go straight to work and play the strong, loving, powerful woman she was expected to play. I simply left my emotions at the entrance of sabc she would say.

I read an inspiring story of a woman who had wanted to quit heroin, so she started walking and hiking as a matter of fact she wrote a book.

Here is the lesson: the situation won't always be right for you to do what you have to do, but discipline will carry you through. I also run and walk in the morning and sometimes believe me I don't feel like it or the weather isn't condusive, but most times I make the decision to leave the house and walk or run anyway. People always say I'll start in Summer, it's too cold, or it's too hot, im scared of crime etc, but the world doesn't make the circumstances hunky dorey for you to do what you have to do.

 South Africans when it rains, they stay indoors-well if you lived in Belgium you would never leave your house as it rains nine months out of the year! And guess what people carry on with their lives and whatever it is they have to do anyway.

I love the example of athletes, they force themselves to train through the most gruelling circumstances, come rain, hail, snow, headache, break-up, tiredness, pain, so that when the day of final race or competition arrives they have prepared  to endure through the worst.

My goal is to be able to swim 5h30am through all seasons, I did swim through this winter, but then it wasn't 5am it was more like 8am. So ill update you.

Mind over Matter, Mind over matter!

ARE YOU HUNGRY?!

Wednesday 5 September 2012

 Are you hungry? (ambitious,studious,goal-orientated,vision driven?)

 

Go to the  ant you sluggard;

consider her ways and be wise:

who having no guide, overseer, or ruler

Provides her food in the summer,

and gathers her food in the harvest.

How long will you sleep, O sluggard?

when will you rise out of your sleep?

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber

a little folding of the hands to sleep:

So shall your poverty come upon you like a vagabond,

and your want like an armed man.

I met a young lady about a week ago, who we started a conversation as a I did my hair. She seemed so pleasant and well-spoken.
In the conversation she felt comfortable enough to tell me she was struggling to have food to eat everyday, she has a six week old baby and her son was at home in Swaziland with her mom. She said it had become so challenging that she was considering taking her baby to her mom, and the father of the child wasn't assisting with the baby and had turned his back on them.

I am a mother, I understand the need for a mom to provide for her children and stay with them so she can raise them and give them good values and love. I appealed to her not to send such a young baby who was bonding with her mother through breast-feeding etc, the damage on the child could be immense, she said she really didn't want to so she really gave me her ear. I gave her my number and said we should keep in touch and if she was in a dire situation she could contact me. She contacted me not too long after that saying they don't have food in the house, I met with her twice more to give her money for food. The third time i met with her, I sat in the car with her and explained that me giving her money is not a sustainable solution. I explained to her that rather than give her food, or money for food everytime I'd rather impart to her knowledge of how she can be self-sufficient. I said it starts with good exercise in the morning (she is quite overweight, that just walking to the car leaves her out of breath) she retorted that she walks to work, I said yes I understand I was just trying to get her a regular walking routine so she gets stronger and healthier, and her mental alertness would then increase. I spoke to her about the importance of health, and choosing the right things to eat, so she has energy. I told her that I had dvds that she could sell to make extra money. I also told her that I knew that it wasn't easy but that I could help her and mentor her every step of the way, and would be able to assist until she gets her feet on the ground.

I noticed that she was now silent, holding the food she just bought she said I hear you and exited the car, she didn't ask me about the dvds or when we can start the program, or ask about me mentoring her etc. I really had to ask myself if she is REALLY HUNGRY?

And herein lies the problem, did shee just want pity and hand-outs? Was she just used to the damsel in distress cycle, which us women also perpetuate in our relationships. In the years since I have started my business I have disempowered people by continuing to assist them in the same way I did when I met them, i noticed growth didn't occur, so 2 years ago I decided against it and now, I only help people who can assist to fly on their own, it must have a timeline and a progress curriculum. I am not insensitive I have been in situtations where I didn't know how I was going to pay my bills, or find the next money to buy food, but this made me HUNGRY for success, I sought wisdom, I got books on successful people, I learnt how to do budgets and kept on enquiring.

The sad part about unemployment in our country is not most of the time unemployment but unemployability. The bible says the work is plenty but the laborours are few. Poverty and shame shall be to those that refuseth instruction. Another tragedy is grants, I don't believe in poverty grants, I don't believe in paying people for not working, I know im being controversial here! What motivates the one who gets money for not working, to go out and seek employment or start a business?

I am reading a book entitled The Gospel of Wealth by CK Kanu, and one page he relates how to get space to sell his goods he had to clean a basement full of excrement. Most of our adversity trains us for success, chastens us, teaches us. So our training really must be to train our minds to break the prisons we have in our minds.

Again consider the ant you sluggard, consider her ways & be wise

ANTS
Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen predatory individuals living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies that may occupy large territories and consist of millions of individuals. Larger colonies consist mostly of sterile wingless females forming castes of "workers", "soldiers", or other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called "drones" and one or more fertile females called "queens". The colonies sometimes are described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.^[5]
Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ants are Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands. Ants thrive in most ecosystems and may form 15–25% of the terrestrial animal biomass.^[6] Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organisation and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves. Their long co-evolution with other species has led to mimetic, commensal, parasitic, and mutualistic relationships.^[7]
Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems.^[8] These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study. Many human cultures make use of ants in cuisine, medication, and rituals. Some species are valued in their role as biological pest control agents.^[9] Their ability to exploit resources may bring ants into conflict with humans, however, as they can damage crops and invade buildings. Some species, such as the red imported fire ant, are regarded as invasive species, establishing themselves in areas where they have been introduced accidentally.^[10]

www.wikipedia.com