“Never, ever, ever, give up!” You may have to adapt your course like I have, but trust me don’t quit! I have persevered through many obstacles in my life; the most recent occurred within the last year. Instead of giving up, I changed my approach.  Doing so has made all the difference to achieving my goals.

Through my research and athletic experience at graduate school, I saw a need to reduce bullying in sport. The research I had conducted focused on creating effective school-based bullying prevention programs.  However, towards the end of my studies, it became very apparent that prevention cannot only occur in formal classroom settings (as these programs were using). I believe this needed to reach beyond the classroom. After I graduated, I wanted to improve the climates of educational and athletic environments by focusing on healthy relationships.

I’m Sharon Hughes; from Perth, Western Australia.  I was raised in a large family (the eldest of 6).  We had a relatively adventurous life, growing up on the road – Dad was with the circus until marrying Mum, then he drove long haul trucks around Australia, with family in tow. We were often left with carnivals, the circus, acquaintances or our maternal grandmother, if dad and mum couldn’t take some or all of us with them. Unfortunately, because of dad’s mental illness, he was violent, so the adventures were often marred with sadness. I stuttered severely from the time I could speak, this meant constant taunts from fellow students and teachers at school, not to mention always being the new kid (due to moving around so much).  We went to over 20 schools around Australia (apparently).  I was taunted by dad, teased for stuttering and all sorts, my self-esteem sucked.

It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of a friend and mentor of mine, Lisa Simpson Brewster. Lisa passed away after a long battle with Breast Cancer.

Sometimes people come into your life, touch your heart, and your life will never be the same. I first met Lisa, three years ago, in an educational context.  Despite the twenty-year age difference between we connected and became friends. She was back in school starting a new career path in counselling. From the moment I met her, I noticed her enthusiasm and passion for life. It was infectious. She is also the proud mother of her son, Adam. Even with all the hardships she had endured, she pressed on and didn’t let these obstacles stop her from living. Lisa had such a beautiful heart.

"If your life was a book, how would you want your story to go?"

This was the question Amy Purdy asked the audience at the beginning of her TED Talk.   Since I referred yesterday to this year being the year of No Limits for me, I thought I would share the talk a friend shared with me today.  Amy Purdy is a pro-snowboarder who lost both her legs when she was 19 due to an illness.  She has not let that obstacle prevent her from going after her dreams and living her life to the fullest.  She is truly an inspiration.

You may have the best intentions, but if you do not know how to deal with setbacks, you will be unsuccessful at achieving your goal.

In yesterday's post, I mentioned the three stages to goal setting: planning, implementation, and maintenance.  Many people have a goal; one way of achieving that goal is to devise a great plan.  However, people often fail to take into consideration the obstacles that they may encounter in the process.

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal" - Henry Ford

I had an interesting experience on the erg (indoor rowing machine) yesterday that I have to share.

I came to the gym eager for a great workout and got on the erg.  It was going great, had my headphones on, and in a great mood.  Then out of nowhere, around the four minute mark,  my legs stopped.  It was the weirdest thing, I literally LOST my drive (in more ways than one, motivation and is part of the rowing stroke).

The drive in rowing is the part of the stroke where the rower pulls the blade through the water using their legs, back and arms to propel the boat. It is a fundamental part of the stroke, as the rowing is 80% leg muscle power.  Don't believe me - try rowing; you'll soon realize it's all about the legs.

“How do people persist despite setbacks?”  This is a question I have been asking myself recently.

I think we can learn a lot from athletes.  Last semester, while I was rowing in the provincial race, my seat fell off the track and stopped four times.  It wrecked my performance and the performance of our eight boat but I quickly took the seat off the track four times and put it back on and continued rowing.  I didn't even think for a second to stop rowing, quit, and not finish the race.

I learned a lot from this competition and many other experiences over my athletic journey .  No matter how hard you try to control life and practice for the perfect race or game (in sport and in life), things can go wrong.   As much as you try to control it, you can never control the actions of others and the environment around you.  The aspect you can control, however, is how you react to the situation (i.e., your attitude).