No Stopping Me!

You haven't seen a blog posted on this site recently because of an intense training schedule for the last three weeks.  So what life lessons have I learned during this time? Well the biggest one is that there can be 'no stopping me' if I re-assure myself ’it will be ok' and just go for it. What have you done recently to tell yourself to go for it and see what happens?  It can be quite enlightening when you prove to yourself that it can be done and if you keep the momentum going, it becomes self-fulfilling until there really is 'no stopping you'.

What have I been doing to feel like there's 'no stopping me'? I respond well to motivation, cajoling and flattery or however you might refer to it, by my Indonesian aerobics instructor who says "ah you so beautiful ..... I make you young and slim like before".  The fact that he never knew me before is beside the point - I have a wonderful imagination. So I keep returning to his classes like a child going back for more candy. He even persuaded me to attend his new Saturday class - I wasn't sure at first as I don't go the gym at the weekends - it was my self-made rule, sacrosanct. It was hard enough to force myself to go during the week, let alone the weekend. 

Not wanting to let down my instructor, I turned up on the first Saturday to discover that it was just him; a super fit young Indonesian woman, and me. I had no-one to hide behind and was beckoned to take the first row.  Reluctantly, I moved forward towards the full length mirror, feeling totally exposed, like a rabbit caught in headlights.  This feeling rapidly intensified when five young Indonesian men who had muscles like 'Rambo' joined the class and stood behind me. Briefly, I wondered whether the 'you've been framed' cameras would move in. Then the familiar, fast paced aerobics music started up and I moved into action like a clock work toy that had been set to go. I can tell you that I have never worked out so hard before in my life! Luckily I survived and I have proved to myself that I can go to the gym on a Saturday.

This 'no stopping me' feeling gained momentum in the following week, when a too heavily loaded lorry leaned over too far while turning a sharp corner and crashed onto its side, blocking all traffic from both directions. In Bali this sort of predicament can take hours or days to resolve and I had to not only to get my children to school but more importantly, I simply had to make it to my aerobics class! I decided to take a gamble and show my driver a short cut.  This short cut can only be described as a severely pot-holed, single track that is mainly used for motorbikes or four wheel vehicles like our 45 year old Toyota Landcruiser.  My sensible self-talk tried to persuade me that we should stay put and wait in the long queue.  

Although generally an optimist, I couldn't help picturing us getting stuck in a pot hole, half way up a hill. Our driver doesn't usually drive fast enough to get into fifth gear, let alone rev the engine for some speed. To add to my dilemma, it was violently pouring with rain and I had already experienced a couple of times getting stuck in the mud in the rain Bali. My 'stay in the queue' thoughts were overturned by my compelling, 'no stopping me' desire to get to my class. Luckily my three daughters and I knew the Indonesian word for fast, 'cepat' (pronounced chapat). We egged on our driver, encouraging him to drive 'cepat' while we all held our breath. We were overcome by an extreme feeling of relief, excitement and a sense of invincibility when we finally made it.

The week after the overturned lorry incident, I was training a group of Finance professionals in presenting skills at a Finance conference for 250 people in Phuket, Thailand. I was asked to take part in an Amazing Race. Although quite tempted just to relax on my own for an afternoon at our beautiful resort, rather than network, I decided to ‘go for it’, not knowing what I was signing myself up to do, apart from a work colleague asking me if I had ever seen this programme on TV and that the participants had to do some awful things! 

The night before the Race, the Head of Finance advised me to wear my shorts and tee-shirt to the first morning of my presenting programme as there would be no time to change before we left for our Amazing Race. Usually I turn up all ‘suited and booted’ in my corporate wear, especially for our presenting training as the person who presents is the message.  I noticed at breakfast that many people were dressed in smart casual and certainly not in their gym gear like me.  Wondering whether I should quickly run back to my room on the way to the training room and change, I read the following message on the back of a young woman’s tee-shirt ‘THERE’S NO GOING BACK NOW!’ As if being warned by somebody above, I looked at my watch and knew I had no time to change.  I had to keep going and turn up as I was, in spite of the non-corporate first impression I was going to create to my audience. To my surprise, my audience quite happily accepted me as I was and I now wish I could run every one of my training programmes in my trainers – no aching feet for me at the end of the day.

Although I didn’t know anyone in my Amazing Race team, I soon got to know them and we had such a hoot driving around Phuket Island in an old, open bus with a driver who looked as wrinkled as a prune and as though his retirement date had expired. As we hunted for clues along the roads, at the temples, parks and supermarkets and took part in several challenges including eating fried insects, I was so glad to take the plunge and have such fun. Our ‘old’ bus driver turned out to be the fastest and on the way back he further surprised us with his loud and lively disco music – his bus was equipped with 6 speakers and 4 subwoofers! Even more surprising was that our team came second out of seventeen teams!!

What are you going to do so there’s no stopping in you?  As the song by McFadden and Whitehead goes:-

“Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, we’re on the move,

Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, we’ve got the groove”

Enjoy being ‘on the move’ and ‘getting in the groove’ because there’ll be no stopping in you.

Janet